Another Great Scott Moment

 I did get the cards I'll share in the next few days a while ago (a couple months), I just didn't get a chance to scan them given the busy summer, until recently. I had met up with local collector Jeff Scott to give him some more Bruins I had collected, and he had n 800 count box of varying stuff to give me. Some I keep, some hits the collection nicely, and some goes to trade and help me bring in more Bruins cards for him.

Most of it's hockey, but there is some baseball and other stuff, so let me share some highlights of the non-hockey stuff as the hockey alone will take a couple days.

Well, my kids are going to be getting a few cards out of this one. I don't mind getting any Pokémon cards since they like to collect them, so there isn't anything special with the bunch, but they will enjoy them, and the few being non-English will be a kick for them too.

As for the baseball...

A good bunch of 1972 O Pee Chee. It's not a set I am collecting, and the condition for most is decent, so hopefully will be able to get some Bruins in exchange, but they are nice too see in hand too.

A sole 1975 O Pee Chee card as well, and then a couple cards I will likely keep - Tony Fernandez of course, and I think the Hank insert is one I don't have.

Continuing to more recent years...

A Cavan pick up is always nice,and then into some more recent Donruss sets...

as well as a bit of 2023 Topps Update. Will have to see how many of the Topps Update will be keepers as it is a slow build set I am working on.

Anything I am not keeping though, of course, will be on my TCDB trade list, so please reach out, happy to trade away and ideally get something for Jeff. If hockey is more your jam - will start sharing on those tomorrow.

JCD Trade With Me

 A hockey card trade with TCDB member JCD for today.

Four more cards towards the 1994 set from Parkhurst which was providing a 1956-57 set, a Missing Link set as it were. I am working on the set as a whole as it's a great, more recent print, highlighting players from about 75 years ago, and done in a great way.

We also get a shot of more recent Leafs with a solid infusion of 2025-26 O Pee Chee.

The Authentic Profiles cards win as my fave in the trade because I am a suckere for a serial numbered card. It doesn't hurt that it is also my one and done Leaf cards for the insert set.

Great trade JCD, and thank you!

CT Scans

 A TCDB trade with CTChris provides some scans to share the cards sent my way by CT.....

I recently finished the Jays team set for the 1988 Panini Stickers, and this now means I have the Jays pennant "insert" sticker as well. It definitely brings back a lot of memories for me, and the Jays logo is one of my favourites.

Another "thank you" to the TCDB site change that has all team cards added to want lists as you go, since I hadn't otherwise updated for my Jays 2025 or 2026 needs, and now we have a bunch more adds for those sets too!

Bo and the team card are definitely the fave of the bunch.

Trey is seeming a little more human than a year ago - still a really good pitcher, but might be that the league has done a bit more homework on him. Still thrilled to pick up his rookie card.

Add in a couple bonus card Leafs, and that wraps a great first trade with CTChris.

Smash or Trash

 Well, I actually won't do either, but make some of these into packaging material - yes. With lot purchases, I don't usually get much in the way of "vintage" cards, and here we have what is probably the baseball vintage from the lot - though most of it is in the high production "junk" era. Let's start with the packaging material....

The 1986 Donruss cards are the worst of it, but the Leaf cards don't show it, but the packs are quite rough, and Washington has a chunk missing from his back, so all these will be used, just not as they were originally intended.

On the other hand, these few will stay with me...

A couple uncorrected error cards, one Patterson for set build, and a sweet O Pee Chee 1982 Whitt for the Jays collection. I'd call that a solid grouping!

There were some slightly older cards that don't fit to my sets or collection, and we get back into the 70s;;;

A few of the cards actually made their way out already as they were picked up in a trade offer as soon as I put them into my TCDB account. Condition is about what I would expect on 70s cards - and O Pee Chee - with some soft edges or corners, but good otherwise.

I love the Jack Morris card - he was a beast of a pitcher - loved his work for the Jays of course, though I remember him best for his time with Detroit.

A bunch of 80s sets dabbled in, much being O Pee Chee which is nicely Canadian. Jim Rice always a pleasure to see.

I don't really need any more 1989 Topps - it's a set I do have plenty of and I'd probably trade 5 for 1 for any Jay, if anyone is interested.

A good day though given the handful of keepers, so I'm pretty happy with the day.

Basketball Coming Back

Before getting to my post today, an important (and helpful) nudge! So, my son is trying to start up a YouTube channel and I figure that the least I can do is ask for a little help from those out in reader land as he tries to learn what it means to have a channel, get subscribers and try to make a go of "making it" online. His channel is about videogames (go figure for a 16 year old boy - I know), and he is doing some playthrough videos and trying to find his niche.

Realistically as a parent, happy to see him reach for what he wants to do - and politely push the important of a backup plan so if he doesn't end up making millions online, he has a good base behind him to find another successful path for himself.

That said, appreciate any attention / subscribing you can give to his channel as it means a lot. His goal is to try and get to the point of being able to monetize the channel (I believe it's 1,000 subscribers), and to go from there. I think he has a way to go to find himself a market and niche, but as a parent again, it's the learning he is doing in the process of finding out what works, what doesn't, how to make videos, what to post, that all is a great experience for him - whether it is a fruitful venture in the end, or not.

The link to his page and to subscribe is here.

Now, we that shared, we sit less than a month away from the start of the next NBA season, and with that, and a look at some basketball cards from the 2026 Lot, we can talk about the two signings in Toronto that will impact the team most.

To be honest, the better of the two signings is the Lowry signing allowing him to retire as a Raptor. Though it was not quite half his playing career, I'd wager the best times of his career were here in Toronto, and he became beloved by the city. Even when he departed, it wasn't really with heavy heart and hatred - the move was one that was understood by most the fanbase, though it wasn't something people wanted to necessarily see.

Glad he has the chance to retire a Raptor, and I think his lore and what it means to be associated with the team and the city going forward will impact Canada and basketball player growth like what Vince Carter did for the city.

Kawhi Leonard coming back to Toronto again - I have reservations about. Don't get me wrong, I think Kawhi is a solid player, but I don't know that what was given up for him now, 8 years or so after the last trade bringing him here, will be worth it. I am sure that, if he can take Toronto to another title, all will be forgotten and it won't matter the team traded away all those draft picks for him, but it definitely feels like mortgaging the future for a chance "now".

Though I have reservations, I'll take a wait and see approach, but it is a bit surprising to me that it cost more, I think, to get him now, than it did years ago.

Tackling The Elite

Football cards coming from the 2026 Lot today, and we get Elite highlighting it, so let's take a look. 

Still not a big fan of the WildCard Matte set cards - too plain, too white, too underwhelming. The 2023 Panini Donruss Elite, now these look pretty solid in hand. Still would rather an action background instead of the straight shiny, but the cards do have a better high end feel.

Rodgers, Prescott, solid cards, solid names...

Frustrating backs with no stats to be seen. I never thought it would be too much to ask to have stats on a sports card, but.....PLEASE! Hard to look at cards and see the highs and lows of a career at a point in time without some stats to add context and colour to the discussion.

Not a bad bunch of cards really, and they should be good to help the when I get to project trade away or whatever I call trying to slim down my traders in 2027. I still have a few months to change my mid, but I think that will be the goal for 2027 - maybe not buying a new lot, but instead, trading away as much as I can in a single year. Sure, I'll add some stuff from the trades, but the driver really being, how many cards can I make disappear. For context - my cards for trade are about 50k, and realistically a stretch goal for moving in a yar would be 10,000. Accordingly to TCDB, the most I did in a year was about 6k, and it would likely take a couple local/big trades to get there, but that would be - elite!

Another Magic Update

I did another "go through all the 401games singles and see if I can backfill cards for under a buck each" exercise again, and there were a good bunch...again....

A great start though as the Mishra's Factory is the fourth land I would collect from that specific Duel Deck set - Elspeth vs. Tezzseret and the Temple of the False Gods is the standalone land for my collection from the Elspeth vs. Kiora Duel Deck.

Sharpener Pitchfork is the last of three artifacts for another "set" completion for me - no more in the pick ups, but knocking off three like that, nice!

Newer sets get me a bit frustrated with how the base set can now include a base card, full art, or extended art, or other such different forms of the same card. I'd rather they be treated as inserts, but it's not for me to say unfortunately. The good is, sometimes these can still then be picked up cheap like The Mana Rig here.

I wonder how many Mind Stones I have, seem to be picking up a lot of versions recently.

How can you not love the artwork on many of the cards. I mean, that Suspicious Bookcase is just fantastic.

Another Mind Stone....just saying...

Another small annoyance at times - when the base set includes multiple versions of the same card, just for different artwork, and it's not a basic land. I get basic lands being done this way, as they always have been, since you need to have so many in your deck, and the variety of look is nice, but for other cards - pick an artwork and stick to one, or if you really have to, go the way of a short print variation, but not giving a card another printing slot like they did with this Temple of the False Gods.

Zoetic Cavern is like a poor Mishra's Factory.

Apparently The Moment couldn't stick around for the scan, or at least the extended art version.

Last pick  ups are from 2001, and show that even back then, some cards did get the different art / double slot inclusion on the base set, like Phyrexian War Beast. I remember having a dozen of the cards back on it's first printing and it's because of the exact issue - showing up in both slots regularly. To think, there was a time a 3/4 for 3 was a solid card and you just tried to work around the downside.