Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

A BASEBALL PIONEER
The Card: Ila Borders 1999 Sports Illustrated for Kids card #768
The Buzz On This One: OK, this is the rare inclusion in this series that wasn't found in a traditional MiLB team set, but with a lot of women making baseball headlines in recent months (and years) I figured I'd revisit a key name from the past. Borders was the first woman to get a win in a men's minor-league game back in 1998 when she was a pitcher for the Duluth–Superior Dukes. You can read more about her career -- which included more than this first -- right here. She doesn't have a ton of baseball cards and if you search her name here on The Buzz you can see where I previously picked up her lone traditional MiLB team set card. I figured I'd grab this to go with it. Meanwhile, (tip time) these cards from sheets in magazines seem to be capturing a lot of attention from some buyers in some instances. If you have interests in names who don't have traditional cards, you might try a search for SI for Kids singles or full magazines, which included nine cards per issue for a long, long time.

Keep reading for more examples of weird baseball cards you can (almost) only find in MiLB.

Continue reading →

Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals just might be to rip fewer blasters this year and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention. Would they capture yours? I'd be interested to know -- sometimes they might, sometimes they won't and that's fine. It's a buyer's market out there with plenty of options and bargains as well as high-end gems to chase.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around there are a dozen weird, cheap or interesting cards.

--

BEFORE THE NBA CAREER ... 
The Card: LeBron James 2003 Sports Illustrated For Kids #264 (BGS 9)
The Price: $11
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: There was a time when this was a popular card in the hobby -- maybe not Tiger Woods SI For Kids big, but popular. What is it? It's a card pulled from a perforated sheet in an issue of the kids' magazine, something it has done since the 1980s, showcasing countless big-name athletes and many others who don't have much -- or any -- cardboard. Everybody knows how much hype there was for James back then -- and his first cardboard from SAGE was huge -- but this one was one of only a few options until his NBA cardboard arrival on Rookie Cards (and plenty more) on 2003-04 releases. Ultimately all those early cards don't command as much interest as NBA stuff, but I liked the look and price on this one for a slab -- especially when you consider higher-graded cards can push $50-100 and 10s can be quite big at auction even today ... at least for a card found in a magazine.
Grab a box right here: No boxes for this one ... click here for NBA boxes

Keep reading for five more interesting items ...

Continue reading →