Baseball Help

 Yay - baseball in the 2026 Lot today, and we have a page worth of keepers for set builds...

A nice George Springer which, as a Jays fan, is the best of the bunch. Sure, it was pre-Toronto days, but he has had some great Jays moments now, especially with the playoff Springer Dinger that he will be a Toronto playoff legend. Would have been more so of course if they won it all....but I still have PTSD on that issue, so let's skip discussion of that further now...

Russell spent four years with Toronto before going back to the Dodgers where he started his career, to end it. In Toronto, over four season, he had a poor average of about .225 which was below his career average, and with his last season in Toronto being an average below .200 in 90 games, it's a good reason, and given his age, that he was done in Toronto.

Still - card here is good!

A decent run of other Topps related cards, just sets I don't collect, or ones I already have. I don't mind the Heritage set, just not on my radar to collect. The Albies sliding into the holidays to end is a nice photo though.

Back Again

 Well, didn't take long for the 2026 Lot to get us back to some 1991 Upper Deck football, so, it's mid-April, let's go through these quick and hope for a better time tomorrow!

Well, the Collector's Choice cards continue to be nice and pick up the star quarterbacks of the time - that Aikman guy did alright, so did Cunningham and even Jeff George really.

LT was one of the first cross over / celebrities who wrestled a decent enough match when having his match with Bam Bam Bigelow at Wrestlemania. Came over great as a kid watching.

Not too much to look for in that bunch...

We end with that guy from Ace Ventura. I know Dan Marino had a great career marred only by not winning a SUper Bowl - but as a Bills fan at the time, I enjoyed seeing his falling short in that regard as I wanted the Bills to win it all - though we know how that worked out....four years in a row...

Round Two!

 Will today be better than the pack opened yesterday, or much the same? I expect much the same, but maybe Dollarama will surprise me...

Drumroll.....

Well, the sleeves here are red instead of the blue from yesterday - but otherwise, the pack make up is exactly the same.

A little variety on the energy compared to yesterday, but both really don't do much to add value or bring any excitement to the pack.

Rapidash is the foil, and again, maybe a fifty cent card at best. Nothing spectacular with the rest either.

A bit better, I'd say, with the 5 card pack, a couple non-Pokemon cards with a trainer and supporter card, and Meowth is an alright pick up I guess.

All in, we can just repeat - buy at your own risk and more so because opening stuff is fun, because you are not going to get your value out of these packs - at least from what I have shown in the couple packs. At least my kids come out winners with free cards and sleeves.

Dollarama Surprise

 A few months ago, I saw these in local Dollarama's and eventually figured, why not grab a couple to open and share here. I expect for $4 + sales tax I am going to come up well short on any value in these, but we can wait and jufge after tomorrow. My kids will be happy as, I'm just going to give the contents of each to them, so they win either way.

I am guessing there are not many with unopened packs, and if there are any, it's probably the trick or treat Halloween offerings or something similar. I also figure each bag probably has the sleeves as they are probably quite cheap, but seem like they have value to the purchaser, anyway...here we go...

So - 20 sleevs, 9 cards and some worthless energies for $4.....well, unless there's something amazing here, I got screwed...

Well, no real variety on the energy cards but, wasn't going to be anything there to get excited about.

Well, I know Floette at least given I did buy (more for my son who wanted, but I played and finished it as well), Pokemon Legends on the Switch 2. Side note - not a bad game, but with a little grinding, there's no need to rely on "smart" battles, you can just overpower your way through.

Ariados which is a foil, is the best card of the bunch, and even then, might be talking about fifty cents at most.

Am I surprised by the outcome on bag one? Absolutely not - it's just what I thought it would be, but still happy to share here and provide the service announcement of "purchase at your own risk". I mean, even just to pick up a couple cards you need for $4, is likely a better option.

Slow Grow

 Sweet - Topps baseball today from the 2026 Lot, and with it, a few base additions from a couple sets...

I have been working on the flagship and Opening Day sets for 2019, and these four cards help those along. The base set it further along, even though it's a much large set.

Doesn't hurt getting a couple duplicates when it's Jays. Grichuk moved around after leaving Toronto, with stops with the Rockies, Angels, Diamondbacks and Royals. Rowdy was only with Toronto for 2018 through part of 2021, not a long tenure, but with batting that doesn't keep up for a first baseman and with Vladdy coming up, was an easy move out for him as far as Toronto was concerned.

Well, I do have plenty of trade bait for 2019 Topps, but we add a bit to it here...

Similarly, 2021 Topps but didn't luck out getting of my missing cards from what was here today.

Very rare so far in this lot, but the Kyle card at the end is damaged and will be packing material. I mean, hard to try and trade the card when the front is badly enough bent you can see it well in the scan, left to right and across just at the bottom of his face.

Can't complain though, hasn't happened much so far.

Panini Payyers

 Let's talk basketball today - or so said the 2026 Lot...

I remember having a bunch of 2008-09 Fleer cards from an earlier lot, but putting these in, was surprised how little is left. Always like seeing that as I know it means I was able to change them into cards I need, or at least get them to a happier home where they will be appreciated.

Then we get into Panini and their silvery schematic for multipl sets, starting with Prizm in 2016-17. I guess the truth of the matter is, most sets do this - tweak or small adjustment to design year to year - but if it wasn't for the name on the from of the sets, I'd say it would be easy to interchange the designs. It's not like Gypsy Queen, or Heritage, that truly stands out as different in look and feel (though Heritage and Archives do mix a bit too close).

More 2019-20 Mosaic shows I could just slap the Prizm logo where the M is, and it would feel just the same.

Optic I can give the pass to, it does have it's own look and feel.

Well, at least Thompson and Cousins are names I recognize.

Appreciate the variety from the lot - at least in sets, it's not the lot's fault Panini made them look a little too alike.

Misleading Names

Hockey cards from the 2026 Lot, and all from a set that has always bothered me in name - 2000-01 BE A Player Memorabilia hockey card set. I mean, the memorabilia may be a draw for the set, but don't go and name the set after it unless the base set is your memorabilia related set. The set also does a very Be A Player thing with different colours for the names on the front for parallels, but none of those here, but what we do have... 

Not a fan of the design at all, but do like Maxime's card. Would be even better with a minimal design and more focus on the photo front and centre on the card.

So, the interesting part of these specific cards to the set is that these are all 400 numbered cards. The original set was 396 cards, and then a box set was released as the rookies and traded type update, and that is where these cards are all from. Doesn't give me more reason to collect them, but does make them a LITTLE more unique for coming in this lot. Someone must have broken the box apart at some point, probably to team or star collect I presume.

Lots of "NO NHL stats" given that information, or when they do, at least they are full stats. I will also give credit that the tiny headshot is actually a different picture from the one used on the front.

So, the entire bunch is up for trade except for one...

No, not THAT Petr Scoboda, this one was born in 1980 and had all of 18 games in the NHL, all with Toronto. Prior to was time in the Czech league, and subsequent were a few years with the St. John's Leafs. Didn't make a big splash in the NHL, especially in comparison to the OTHER Petr Svoboda, but a good add here for me.