Socc It To Me

 Well, here's a different day from the 2026 Lot...

I will say, I have absolutely no interest in club level soccer. I do love a great World Cup and I have loved that level to the point of watching every game as a teen back in 1994.

Heck, it was the sport I played for years as a kid - that and bowling were my hobbies. Bowling was weekly with grandpa, soccer and couple nights a week with my mom (and my sister when she was old enought to play too).

The card design is fine, and the backs are alright too - though I'd always prefer more stats.

Nice - I can appreciate a short prints variant. Guess we can call it a happy card?

Any big soccer card collectors out there?

Oops...missed listing the variant...Will fix for next time!

See More Lights

A quick PWE trade to share before we get to the lights - another with Tdorsay who I have had almost 20 trades with over the last number of years, and who is always a fun trade. A small PWE with just three cards, but solid ones...

I will take any MEM cards for the Leafs, no questions. Funny enough though - the back notes the jersey is absolutely from a Blackhawks game for what it's worth, so at least the white works well for a Leafs card.

Yanic is a one and done for the 1991 Classic Draft Picks set. A border line set for including as it is "draft approved" as a Toronto Maple Leaf but not technically an NHL card. Generally, I won't collect minor league cards but if it's documentation of being Toronto drafted - we let those in still.

Mark brings me down to two cards left in the 1992-93 O Pee Chee set - Yzerman and Probert for what it's worth.

As I say, always a great trade with Tdorsay, and always a big thank you!

The 2024 Topps flagship set does standout for the neon light team names on the front, which also goes well with the night-like border black and white combo. Getting a few more base cards knocked off today is a good go from the 2026 Lot.

Team cards are always a good pick up, and in many cases capture more the fun of the game. Speaking of love...

I still miss BoBo. Maybe it isnt quite to the same degree, but Bobo to Vladdy was like Marner to Matthews. I always felt Marner was more of a 1a instead of a number 2 behind Matthew's, and the Leafs lost a couple steps with him gone this past season. BoBo has had an impact too being gone, but not to the same level as Marner's departure.

Hehe he....another Jay...just beforehand.

Dupes for trade a plenty...

Wish I was getting more of series one here, but it is what it is I guess.

Hockey Helpers

The Lot bring hockey, and happily some set helpers...

Yes, the Rasmus Sabres uniform is awful, but we do get four more base cards checked off the 2023-24 Upper Deck offering. Too bad there haven't been any YoungGubs sneaking through.

Close enough, we will include this as a Leaf card. Wouldn't have minded if this 1991-92 subset from Pro Set had been bigger.

The rest here aren't helpers for me but maybe helpers to you...

Of course the Roy is in French...

More old time looking Pro Set and some Topps circa 1981-92 which, in Canada at least, was a lot less seen than the O Pee Chee counterpart 

Nice to see some Timmies cards, though from a base set I do have done.

A great bunch though with some keepers, Jay content and nice variety of cards for trade!

Donruss Basketball

Before the basketball - let's share a TCDB PWE trade with ForrestE who helped to finish off a couple Toronto team sets.

We start with one of the cards driving the trade, the fourth Jays card in the 1986 Donruss All-Star set with Jimmy. Kevin is an error card, with a couple 1991 Bowman cards for the set build including the needed additional Borders pickup.

The 1991 Fleer are actually some dupes and some additional versions of the jumbo or microvariation U.S.A. instead of U.S.A date printings on the back. This was another trade where I only needed a few cards but because more could be sent across to match ForrestE's needs, I just picked up some Toronto duplicate goodness.

The other Jays team base set finish was the 1991 Topps Traded set as the two cards here were the last needed. Also, nice reminder of Studio being a great set in the early 90s, and that Triple Play shouldn't just be remembered for the disastrous sets from the early 2010s.

A single set share from the 2026 Lot today as we get a bunch more 2023-24 Donruss basketball. I don't think we are quite getting to a full base set, but I think we are well over two thirds at this point.

It's a fine enough set, though I think I prefer the football with this design, over the basketball.

You can see some solid names of the games including Raptor Barnes hiding in there.

A biy of wasted white space on the back, but you won't miss the player name!

Anyone looking for a solid started set - let me know.

A Trade And A Half

Sometimes when trading, there are issues with the mail. Here, I ended up only receiving half the trade from TCDB member yrrcwc. Still happy getting half at least and will share it today, but as luck would have it, six weeks after sending yrrcwc received the envelope back with an undeliverable sticker - even though the address was exactly the same as the one I received. So, it has since been popped back in the mail so hopefully I see it in less than six more weeks.

It's almost all wrestling in this trade, so really hope the other part does show, but we get a bunch of Finest and Chronicles cards here.

Hasn't been that long, but Lacey Evans was a quick WWE career, as was Keith Lee - though possible he may be back at some point.

The Chronicles design doesn't lend too badly to wrestling, and some nice pick ups in Big E and Theory.

The backs are decent for the write ups.

I think the Lota card is my favourite for this part of the trade though as the design matches her outfit pretty nicely. At least she isn't floating like Theory and Bianca appear to be!

A solid half trade!

Not to be out done, I did get the entire trade from TCDB member Alfred - though being a single envelope, it would take ripped mail and missing cards for only part of the trade to show up, but thankfully that didn't happen.

With the other cards in the trade keepers, I didn't bother adjusting out the Pro Debut cards since I knew I could pass those along to a certain Mike out the other side of Toronto. As for the rest, always happy adding more Vladdy cards - and with the parallels being nice additions too, a great handful of Jays cards from the last couple years, all of which I didn't have until this trade!

Checklist Some Childhood Memories

Before we get to more 2026 Lot cards, a trade recap with first time trade partner TCDB member BenHurQc who helped me with nearly completing a McDonalds hockey card set.

I am now just a single card shy of completing the 1996-97 Pinnacle McDonald's set, I have a duplicate need for the Timmies set from 2025-26 and...

A sweet full page from the 2026 National Hockey Card Day release with a Gilmour included. There is actually a second full page with a different Leaf card I need to also get, but one out of two is pretty sweet to pick up in a trade, so thank you!

The 2026 Lot gives a jab of the feelies today with some baseball cards that bring on the nostalgia.

These three are keepers with one set builder, one Jays card (yes, a team checklist counts) and one sticker insert I didn't have. What they all have in common is that these were sets I remember collecting when I was first really getting into baseball cards. The late 80s / early 90s, cards were everywhere and being a math nut, stats and the sport....all in cards, was awesome.

I miss one aspect of collecting at that time - the value of the cards. I mean, being overproduced, there were very few cards that you couldn't afford, and if you liked the sport for what it was and the hobby for collecting - you could pretty much find whatever you wanted to collect. How times have changed.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good signature card or relic, or thick serial numbered card, but the prices and costs with the hobby are just insane. I think in large part because it isn't kids collecting anymore, it's the adults who use to collect and now have disposable income to spend on it. I do wonder how many real collectors there are out there, say under the age of 25. I don't think it's anything like it was back in the 80s.

Back when you would purposely take apart cards to make a puzzle. I guess that's not too far fetched since we now have rip cards where you are forced to decide whether to keep a card not knowing what is inside it, or ruin a card to find out.

I mean, who would want to keep something in an original package, never knowing what the contents are inside....did I mention I have about 1,000 unopened different packs across wrestling, baseball, hockey and Magic?

Not sure how many people who collect baseball cards can't recognize those pieces of Willie - whether you like them or not.

A Year Short

First - did anyone enjoy the World Cup final? I only watched part of it, but I didn't find it overly exciting play wish, just more a waiting game to see if Argentina could push it to kicks. The result is what it deserved to be based on play, so I can't argue with the end result, but I think there were many more exciting matches in the tournament. 

Before more cards from the 2026 Lot, a trade share with fellow Canadian JFCaouette, a fellow Canadian, which involved a bit of baseball and a bit of hockey.

From the baseball side, we get a lot of the 1995 Fleer Jays I was missing, but still a couple left. Daulton was a sold prospect, and honestly, the red white and blue Prizm parallel in 2014 looked fantastic. Still one more Jay to get from it.

On the hockey side, I still need a couple more to finish the team base set, but almost there. Nice getting the paid of Leaf True North Heroes form the 2025-26 Timmies set so that insert is done for the team - still need copies in order to work on the "master set" for the binder, but that's nowhere near being a priority yet.

More hockey from the 2026 Lot today, and we cone up one year short - I'm collecting 2023-24, Upper Deck but we have a bunch of 2022-23 Upper Deck today.

Wayne's time in Toronto was all of two seasons, a full one in 2022-23 and 18 games the following year to end his career. I think his off ice contributions as a veteran were probably a bigger help than his on ice work.

An unexpected keeper, though of course I didn't scan the back which shows the error. The headings for stats on the back are for a skater, not a goalie.

The rest up for trade...

The design is actually not much different the next year, though I do like 2023-24 better than this design.