More Pro Set Love

 Seems the 2026 Lot has some more Pro Set hockey to share with me, so let's take a look...

Denis Savard, Glenn Anderson, definitely names to go with stars of an era long ago (now), though it still feels like, well, not that long ago. This was the post-Wayne era in Edmonton when the team was very different from the star team it had in the mid 80s.

Kurri, Lowe and Smith, other stars from the time, and doing their best to carry the Oil through the early 90s.

Nice to get some Leaf content again - not the stars of the team at the time really, but definite cogs in the machine.

I do wonder if the set was released 10 or 20 years later, if the base set would have been about 500 cards instead of 700+, with some of the subsets done as insert sets like the coaches, refs, hall of famers and similar cards. Would have given it a different look, but I'm more than happy with it just being a larger base set to chase!

Mets Prospects

Before we get to the Mets, let's share a nice one card Jay I received in a trade with TCDB member mattheinz23.

I may not be a fan of single card trades, if it's a serial numbered card, I'll probably give in, though will always try to beef up the envelope. I also may not be a fan of really long set or insert set names like this being from 2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects - Bowman Scout Breakouts Die Cuts X-Fractors insert set.

Andy had a cup of coffee in the majors, finally making it to play 10 games with the Jays in 2016 and after some more time in the minors and moving to another organization....Dodgers....he had 9 more games in the bigs in 2021.

If nothing else, he does have a really sweet looking card here that I'm glad to now have one of only 99 existing copies.

We have a theme to the cards from the 2026 Lot today - Mets baseball prospects - were they hits or misses? Well, chances are that, since they are here in this lot, they are misses, but let's check!

Ben Rowen was able to get to the major leagues in 2015, 2016, and 2021 with Texas, Milwaukee and the Dodgers respectively. A total 20 games and about 23 innings - not a ton, but kudos for making it at three very different points in his career.

Brandon Brown didn't have the same level of luck, just a few minor league years, with Taylor being much the same.

Josh Edgin was able to make typically 30-40 relief appearances for the Mets each year 2012-2017. Nothing Earth shattering, but a solid run for a handful of years in the MLB.

Ike Davis (yes, his isn't a prospect card really, or Duda, but they were stuck in the bunch regardless and well, are kind of close enough) was with the Mets from 2010, into 2014 and then spent time in Pittsburgh, Oakland and back in New York but with the Yanks, before being done in the bigs. He had 32 homers in 2012, though his average suffered that year at just .227.

Hansel was in the majors from 2015 through 2022 with time, in addition to being with the Mets, being with the Angels and Red Sox. A 28-26 career record and ERA of 4.11 with about an equal number of innings as appearances from relief of about 420 each.

So as expected, no superstar here, but better results than I may have expected - I mean usually you end up with never-made-it type players so, not too shabby. As a number of these cards are inserts, I do end up with some keepers too which is nice.

Rap Attack...

 The 2026 Lot provides some 2023-24 Panini Mosaic cards today, and we get a nice sprinkling of Raptors through it - if anyone is of interest.

Nice to see Giannis, and former Raptor Demar. Demar had a great run in Toronto, but understand the move that saw him depart Toronto.

Some back designs to share. A couple more Raptors included with Immanuel and Jakob. Star power definitely remaining in these cards, Irving another nice pickup for anyone who actually collects this set.

For those wondering, yes, another Panini set with the same picture used on the back as on the front, and as you can see, a whopping single year of stats shown and a career total....definitely feels a little lacking there.

Plenty of Raptors indeed as we also get former Raptors OG and VanVleet - apologies for any others I missed, I know I am not a full Raptor encyclopedia so forgive me!

Another Myrke Trade

 I have had a number of trades with TCDB member myrke, and today we get to share another solid one with plenty of goodness for my collection in what came my way.

Right off the bat we start with a few serial numbered cards with Bowman Draft Picks blue and refractor cards, and even the Chronicles Bautista is serial numbered as well.

The Brett Lawrie mini is a one and done Jays insert card, but it isn't the only such one today...

The first three cards here are also one and done Jays insert sets. The blue rave Nate in the bottom right isn't a one and done team set, but sure is a pretty card!

I also picked up a number of 2021 Topps flagship set cards which help close in on completing that set.

Not my favourite Gypsy Queen design with too much green to the cards, but that's okay, new is always good!

Three more one and done team sets from inserts with the Denied, Rookie Class, and A/I/ cards all fitting into that role, so we have SEVEN one and done team sets here, all in a single PWE trade.

Whether framed plum, or rainbow foil, the names may be a little off the wall at times, but the resulting cards are great to have in hand! Many many thanks for the offer and trade!

More Pro Set Love

 Well, for better or worse, the 2025 Lot seems to want to provide some more 1990-91 Pro Set hockey cards. A shame I don't need more of them, but as I keep the Leaf cards, should hopefully still be some in this bunch, but let's take a look.

Trottier is a nice pick up, but lots of Flyers together here.

Nice - a couple Leaf pick ups are always good, even if not new to me. The Nordiques were a good uniform - maybe one that can come back if they were to ever get a team again, which seems to ebb and flow on whether there is enough demand to make it work. Definitely seemed to turn around and work for Winnipeg.

Couldn't go wrong with the traded banner standing out like it did in the top left corner for the applicable cards. I'm not a Rob Dimaio supper collector, so no need for three copies there either.

Another Leaf works, as does another opportunity to see the subset of head coaches - a nice part of having a large set.

Same as the refs getting some love too, and the final of four Leaf card pick ups today with the head coach card for Tom Watt.

Decked Again

 More hockey from the 2026 Lot today, and all of the Upper Deck variety...

Early 90s Upper Deck sets were so iconic - being the new brand on the block, having a very different look, it was a great time to be a card collector. I see enough of the set to be working on both hologram versions of sets, but these are all from the text version which I have completed, still need some of the hologram that don't have the UPPER DECK text on them, but definitely not a collecting priority.

Peter Zezel is my lone keeper from the cards today, being another copy for my Leaf collection. I have 5-10 copies of each Leaf card from this set given what I have picked up in various lots over the years, and this isn't a complaint, just a comment of where they come from.

Some cards are a little different that you remember them for quite a while - like Kurri here - just seemed so unusual a pose that I remember seeing it the first time back when these cards were new, and each time I come across it even now, I remember back to that first time.

Same can be said for the Rangers beach party card - just different. Then again, that was one of the things about collecting as a kid, cards were unique, different, or of players you liked watching, or of your team, there were many reasons to collect. Still all valid reasons, but with the competition for a kids attention with screens and video  games, cardboard doesn't have the same appeal it once did.

Amazing!

 Well, if you like crossovers and specifically Universe Beyond crossovers from Magic the Gathering, then last September there was an interesting one and I am just getting around to my pick ups from it now...

I am not a huge Marvel guy, but I know enough of the Superheroes and for Spider-Man, the 90s cartoon was my favourite of the IP to come from it. I used the rest of my trade in value to pick up these packs and some of the singles, as well as some other artifact singles I usually wouldn't spend as much on to buy, so we can look at those too...

Some cards for The List, which are reprints of old cards and shown with the planeswalker symbol in the bottom left corner. I need to find a good way to track these as it's hard, understandably, for TCDB to track the releases for these as they depend per set and cross many sets.

The Ticking Gnomes comes from the 1999 reprint of top placing decks from the World Championships this year.

I picked up a number of artifact cards from the core sets for a number of different years, picking some more expensive cards like the Coat of Arms (almost $30 CDN). Really great cards to play with, and great to add to the collection, but just not ones I want to pay out of pocket but being able to "trade" a bunch of common traders to 401games for credit to use on these - amazing.

The Super-Man set had a bunch of artifact cards which I also picked up to start the collection from that set. I like that the set symbol is a little Spider-Man head - thumbs up for that one. I wonder if they would have used webbing if it wasn't so much like Ice Age's snowflake. 

Makes sense that his Suit would be an artifact....actually a lot do make sense, so I give them a thumbs up on that too.

I like that both the scans with wandering cards being scanned are the Living Brain....living indeed!

I don't think the value is going to be there on the Super-Man set the way Final Fantasy has gone, but the cards are still fun and collectible. Like having them from that aspect, and not looking to retire on them!

Happy Valentines Trade

Always nice to share some card love on Valentines' Day, and we do that with a nice trade, this one with TCDB member jamestagli. 

We start with a solid addition for the 1982 Topps set build. A nice reminder that Dennis was not actually a closer when he was early in his career and grew into the role and being one of the most dominant.

We then get heavy into the Jays content, and plenty of Bowman related. Actually get a couple years of Bowman Chrome Prospects insert team sets done for the Jays cards here which is always welcome.

A number of Lane Thomas cards, including the all red Panini being numbered to only 100. Lane never got to play in the majors for the Jays as he was traded to St. Louis before it happened. Lane spent a couple years in St. Louis followed by a few in Washington before making it to Cleveland the last couple years. Lane's best years were 2022 and 2023 with Washington.

Definitely a fun trade to receive, and the coincidence of some red related parallels just suits the day even more.

Getting Smaller

 I don't know if this is going to become more of the norm for me - in some ways I hope not. A small PWE trade which was only a couple cards going each way. I will always try to do for more cards to at least fill then envelope, but if someone has a need, I'll do these small trades to help out. So here, a small trade with TCDB member KrugSwag was done, and these cards came my way...

I don't know how I feel about the Gaming PVP insert set from Upper Deck. It's just - odd. I don't mind the concept of two stars which had big games in the same game, going against each other, but this seems to pander to video game style presentation which I don't think is really needed. Give me a couple shots from the game, each scoring a goal or something, and that would be great.

Second card is another great Marner Leaf card - as much as I am not a big fan of fake autos, it's done fine enough on the Silver Script cards, so I'll take it.

Very nice newer card additions, many thanks, and if this is what I can get in smaller trades - maybe they aren't so bad.

Atleanta Prospects

 Just as it says, the 2026 Lot provides some Atlanta based prospect cards - some insert keepers and dupes for trades, but let's take a look and see how successful they were.....or ideally, continue to be...

Starting with Jonny Venters, he spent a few years in the majors, first with Atlanta, then with the Washington Nationals organization. Most of his career was in the minors, but he did have some appearances in the bigs.

Brandon Hicks had a few years 2010-2014 with some experience in the bigs, Atlanta, Oakland and San Fran, but with a career batting average in the near 300 plate appearances being just over .150 - the infielder didn't last beyond those few years.

Michael Dunn had a longer run in the majors, pitching from 2009 through 2019, with it spread over four different teams, though most with Miami.

Matt Suschak never got to the major leagues, but had a few seasons in the early 2010s sputtering around the minors.

Dave Filak was in the minors for a couple years while Matt Lipka lasted over 10 years in the minors, but neither got to the big leagues.

Jose Peraza had decent success at the highest level a few years with Cincinnati followed by stints in Boston and both NY teams.

A bit of a mixed bag as far as results for prospects go, but I walk away with a few keepers here, and some solid help for a Braves fan!

Sabres, Oilers, Stars and Rangers

 Sometimes when buying lots, there's a bit of random organization t the cards as they come out. Here it seems for the most part to be a couple teams pulled/highlighted from 1991-92 Pro Set Platinum. Platinum was supposed to be a step up in quality and feel a bit more premium, but it was just different - like no stats on the back, but that's okay, I look at it fondly now.

Lots of Sabres, some Oilers and...

Stars (North Stars to be exact) and...

Rangers. I don't mind getting a couple copies of each for trading purposes, but unfortunately, none of these actually helped with my set build. This one is fairly far along - about 87% complete on the 300 card set - but would have been nice to knock off a few. Does mean hope there are more of the set, including those I am missing.

Regardless, the design does allow for the game of "can you recognize the player". Without getting into names, because these are the stars I grew up on, I recognized well more than half myself. Funny because I don't know if I could do that now if you gave me middling players from teams outside Toronto.

Raining Leafs

We can start with some raining Jays as Mike from Not Another Baseball Card Blog send a few early Jays my way.

As it turns out, most of these cards are new to me as I was able to trade over time, much more easily, to get the Topps cards from 1977, but O Pee Chee versions like this have been harder to find. Appreciate the cards as always Mike!

Well, great news for my collection today as we get to add a bunch of Leaf cards. Nothing new unfortunately, but that's okay, the numbers work as we get to see some old friends with 1990-91 Pro Set and all of it's error filled glory!

A binder page of Leaf cards for me today - yay! It's the second series highlighted here, and Todd Gill is probably my favourite Leaf of the bunch. Not sure I noticed how yellowed the Hannan card looks. I think it must be all of them as I am surprised if it were just these two, but I haven't looked too closely before. When I put these away in the collection, I'll see if they all look the same.

As I do have most of the error cards from the set, the set completed otherwise, and of course plenty of Leafs, the rest of the cards today are up for trade, and being the second series for the year, a little lower on star power, though there is still some to be found.

I probably shouldn't be as happy to see this set in lots as I am but I do really like the colour and layout, and with the errors, it makes it more quirky and collectible to me.