Alvin Kamara’s impressive start intensifies after Saints make moves

It wasn’t the flashiest day in the NFL for rookies, but a slow-building superstar scenario might be happening with the New Orleans Saints with their recent trading of a future Hall of Famer.

Rookie RB Alvin Kamara put up his strongest game of the year so far in a 30-10 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday with 10 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown and six catches for 84 yards and a score.

He’s still sharing time with Mark Ingram — a seventh-year pro and former Heisman winner — but both have picked up steam since the Saints traded Adrian Peterson on Oct. 10. For the year, Kamara has 311 yards on 52 carries — Peterson had 37 on Sunday alone for the Cardinals — and 341 yards on 37 catches with a total of five TDs for the year.

First Buzz: 2017 Donruss Optic football cards (updated)

What: 2017 Donruss Optic football cards
Arrives: Dec. 13
Box basics: One autograph per 20-pack hobby box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here to view

What’s buzz-worthy: Optic takes to the gridiron with a familiar look for 2017 Donruss NFL fans and a familiar format for those who ripped into this brand hard last season.

Keep reading for more info as well as some early images.

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1981 Donruss baseball pack (Hour 11)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour all day long … and this is Hour 11.

The pack: 1981 Donruss baseball cards
The cost now: $2
The cost then: 30 cents

What’s inside this pack? Keep reading …

First Buzz: 2017 Panini Chronicles baseball cards

What: 2017 Panini Chronicles baseball cards
Arrives: Nov. 15
Box basics:  Four autographs or memorabilia cards per 12-pack box (16 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here to view

What’s buzz-worthy: Panini’s updates some of its baseball releases from this year and offers us a glimpse at others from Panini’s overall past and present portfolio that collectors may have been wanting — all in one place and at a not-high-end price.

Keep reading for more info and a full gallery of images released so far.

First Buzz: 2017 Panini Chronicles baseball cards (early retail details)

What: 2017 Panini Chronicles baseball cards
Arrives: Mid/late November
Box basics: One Absolute Rookies Blue card per blaster with autographs or memorabilia cards found one in every fourth box (20 boxes per case)

What’s buzz-worthy: We’ve got early word on a new line coming to the retail aisle just in time for Thanksgiving sales and it will pack some big, big names in today’s hobby — Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Mickey Mantle for starters — on a number of designs/brands in the Panini baseball portfolio that help update the season’s offerings all in one place.

Keep reading for more info and a visual teaser of two cards to come.

Board Buzz: Must-read threads on the Blowout Forums (June 2)

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What’s Buzzing Today: Nothing but breaks as we truck into the weekend.

Board Buzz: Must-read threads on the Blowout Forums (May 26)

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What’s Buzzing Today: Bowman Mega Boxes delivering well, retro wax ripping, big breaks and NSCC prep.

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1981 Donruss Dallas pack (Hour 8)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is Hour 8.

The pack: 1981 Donruss Dallas trading cards
The cost now: $2
The cost then: 25 cents

What’s inside this one? Keep reading …

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1987 Donruss baseball wax pack (Hour 4)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is Hour 4.

The pack: 1987 Donruss baseball
The cost now: 55 cents ($20 for a 36-pack box; this pack randomly chosen)
The cost then: Under $1

What’s inside this one? Keep reading …

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1978 Donruss Elvis wax pack (Hour 11)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is Hour 11.

The pack: 1978 Donruss Elvis wax pack
The cost now: $1.50
The cost then: 15 cents

What’s inside this one? Keep reading …

Buzz Break: 1986 Donruss MLB pack

Do you like Buzz Breaks? We recently launched 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. This is a single-pack break in that style — but not the launching of a new 12 in 12. (We’ll perhaps have one of those next month. Click the logo below to see the previous posts in the series.)

The pack: 1986 Donruss MLB wax pack
The cost now: $1.50
The cost then: Less than $1

What’s inside this pack? Keep reading …

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1990 Leaf Series 2 MLB wax pack (Hour 12)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … and this is the final post of this first run.

The pack: 1990 Leaf Series 2 wax pack
The cost now: $2.50
The cost then: 89 cents (That’s the suggested retail price … but who paid that back then?)

What’s inside this pack? Keep reading …

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1981 Donruss Pro Golf Stars pack (Hour 3)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … and this is Hour 3.

The pack: 1981 Donruss Pro Golf Stars
The cost now: $4
The cost then: 25 cents

What’s inside this pack? Keep reading …

Tim Raines’ Rookie Cards are easily affordable … unless they’re graded

Update: Raines was voted into the Hall of Fame Wednesday night along with 1991 rookies Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez.

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If Tim Raines makes it into the Baseball Hall of Fame later today, he just might be one of the easier Cooperstown residents to collect based on his early cardboard.

He’s got just four regular-issue cards and one team-issued release from his Rookie Card season of 1981 and all but one of them can be easily found for a few bucks. These quickly printed and often roughly cut gems of the past are not easy finds in high grade, though — even straight out of packs opened today — so graded copies have been where the biggest action has been of late.

Buzz Poll: Looking back in time, which Bo did you prefer to know?

Bo was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s as a college football star, a professional baseball and football star and a marketing star. Everybody knew his name and they still know why.

And then suddenly one day it was gone.

Sure, Vincent Edward Jackson played some baseball after his final NFL game — that hip injury was 26 years ago tomorrow — but he was never the same. And in an interview today he had a different take on his career.

“If I knew back then what I know now,” he told USA TODAY Sports, “I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody.”

His career as a pro — in both sports — lasted less than a decade but he’s easily one of the biggest icons of his time. It’s a story worth checking out if you missed it and it’s worth revisiting if you didn’t.

Here, though, we simply have one bit of curiosity presented below.

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to buy cards on BlowoutCards.com

Buzz Break: 2008 Donruss Americana Celebrity Cuts

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there’s a box you’d want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2008 Donruss Americana Celebrity Cuts
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 1
Cards per pack: 6
Cards in this box: 6
Base set completion: 
3 of 100 (3 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards (3) – Ashley Judd, John Wooden, Ron Howard

First Buzz: 2016 Super Break Football cards

What: 2016 Super Break Football cards
Arrives: Dec. 9
Box basics: Between one and three buyback cards per box (three boxes per case)

What’s buzz-worthy: Super Break’s latest NFL buyback brand is one that includes the greats of the gridiron from yesterday and today — all on cards.

Alex Rodriguez rips into a pack of 1991 Donruss baseball cards

Yahoo! Sports’ Mike Oz had some 1991 Donruss Series 1 packs in storage and he’s made a habit of tearing into a pack or two when the time is right.

That latest bit of time came in the presence of Alex Rodriguez, who joined the Big League Stew writer to tear into a pack, see who he got inside and pull off a trade while fielding some questions.

Board Buzz: Must-read threads on the Blowout Forums (Sept. 19)

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What’s Buzzing Today: Tebow’s a Met, big Walmart hits, big breaks and … where in the world is Manny Ramirez?

First Buzz: 2016-17 Donruss basketball cards

What: 2016-17 Donruss basketball cards
Arrives: Nov. 16
Box basics: One autograph and one memorabilia card per 24-pack box (20 boxes per case)

What’s buzz-worthy: Panini’s Donruss brand comes to the hardcourt with a mix of familiar looks and even a preview of more to come later in an Optic NBA release.

Keep reading for more info and a full gallery of images released so far.

Board Buzz: Must-read threads on the Blowout Forums (Sept. 6)

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What’s Buzzing Today: Carson Wentz, surprising finds, Donruss Optic, Gotham & more.

Gallery: 2016 Donruss baseball cards

Panini America’s flagship baseball card release for the year is here in the form of 2016 Donruss, which is a brand that packs three hits per hobby box and even some chicken.

The brand is one that relies on the staples of collecting — top players from the past and present, autographs, memorabilia, strong photos, vibrant designs and more — while also harkening back to 1982 and other past Donruss releases.

And more is what you just might find inside a box.

Panini teases what could be most-unique memorabilia cards ever

Panini America posted this photo online this weekend with a simple statement.

“Why did this chicken cross the road? That’s easy: To become a clucking cool memorabilia card in @paniniamerica’s upcoming 2016 Donruss baseball.”

If you’ve read The Buzz this past week, then it’s not a surprise — but here are more details.