Toronto swept the A's to open up the 2026 season. It stung, but they're the defending American League champions. Can't say I'm surprised. In fact, if the A's aren't in the running in October... I'd be okay with the Blue Jays getting another shot at the Dodgers or whoever ends up representing the National League.
Today I'll be celebrating our neighbors to the north again as I update a recent project and show off some Canadian collectibles.
Let's start with my Dave Stieb O-Pee-Chee base card run that was kicked off a few weeks ago when Angus sent me four of Stieb's thirteen cards.
I found a seller on Sportlots who had five more for 20¢ each:
1987 O-Pee-Chee #90
1985 O-Pee-Chee #240
1984 O-Pee-Chee #134
1983 O-Pee-Chee #130
1982 O-Pee-Chee #380
Speaking of Angus, I wanted to highlight the final pieces of his December care package. Let's start off with another Stieb:
1985 O-Pee-Chee Poster #22
These posters were inserted into packs of 1985 O-Pee-Chee baseball and are slightly smaller than a 5x7 print.
Next up is an 80's postcard featuring Youppi:
1988 Montreal Expos Photocards #NNO
There's no date printed on this postcard, but I found this image on TCDB. Youppi was the official mascot of the Montreal Expos from 1979 to 2004. When the Expos packed up and moved to DC, Youppi switched sports and became the Montreal Canadians mascot.
The final item he gave me is this really cool stamp booklet:
2019 Canadian Stamp Book
This is the view of the back and cover. Here's a look at the stamps:
These are flippin' awesome. Back in the Summer of 2013, my parents and I took a two week trip up to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Vancouver left a great impression on me and my father. We had talked a few times about going back up, but it never happened. This stamp booklet is a nice reminder of one of my favorite travel destinations. I'll be adding it to my small, yet sentimental stamp collection.
Last, but not least is a single O-Pee-Chee Empire Strikes Back card from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot:
1981 O-Pee-Chee Star Wars ESB #74
The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie from the original trilogy and this card captures one of the best scenes.
Like Angus... John has inspired me to track down more of my favorite singles from this set. I haven't actually pulled the trigger and won any cards, but when I do... I'm sure it'll end up in a post.
Thank you Angus and John!
Here is today's question of the day:
Have you ever vacationed in Canada? If so, do you have a favorite vacation spot north of the border?
If you live in Canada, have you ever vacationed in the United States? Do you have a favorite vacation spot south of the border?
I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.
Happy Monday and sayonara!
I love me some O-Pee-Chee. I really need to work on some of those earliest sets.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Canada exactly once, in 1980, to watch the White Sox play the Blue Jays at old Exhibition Stadium. They have the new Gordie Howe Bridge now, it would be cool to travel over it to visit again.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff. Love the Empire Strikes Back set, though not as much as the original Star Wars sets, which I have no chance of collecting now.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've vacationed in Canada a few times. I was in Quebec as a kid, don't know where. As an adult I've stayed over in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston. All great places and I've watched baseball games in two of them.
Nice cards! The missus and I were in LA & SD in '23 and Vermont in '24 for our vacations. We do need to go back to California. There is just so much to see and do. Some day.
ReplyDeleteI've stayed in Victoria and Niagara Falls. Victoria was great all around, while Niagara was hit and miss. In Victoria I saw the RCMP swoop in from multiple directions and make an arrest of someone they had apparently been waiting for.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed San Fran, that seems like ages ago. Maybe a return one day.
ReplyDeleteThe Vancouver Asahi have a card in the Canadian Baseball HOF set.. I think I have two..
ReplyDeleteI've been to the States a few times. Minneapolis, Toledo, Louisville area, and Normal, IL.. Oh yeah and the UP.. My parents loved Frankenmuth and I feel one place actually in the UP but I don't remember.
I went on a trip starting in central Minnesota, up to Winnipeg, across Canada to Banff National Park. Banff was unbelievable. We went south into the US across Montana and North Dakota back to home in Minnesota. 3500 miles in 7 days.
ReplyDeleteO-Pee-Chee! That stamp book is extremely cool. I've been to Canada a few times, naturally, since I live so close. Niagara Falls and Toronto were both highlights for me.
ReplyDeleteI saw a set of those OPC posters at a local shop, now I'm wondering if I need to go back.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I visited Toronto, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and Niagara Falls. As an adult I've fished up there.
What did you think of Thunder Bay? I grew up east of there.
DeleteCongrats on the Dave Stieb additions and I love sport lots because the cards are more reasonable. Those stamps are really cool. Yes I have been to Canada several times as I have relatives there. My last visit was in 2015 when we went to Niagara Falls. My first visit was back in the 60's as we went to Olympic stadium and have gone other years too.
ReplyDeleteI have never vacationed in Canada, but I was born and raised there so I think that counts!
ReplyDeleteThose 80s O-Pee-Chee cards really bring me back.
One thing about OPC cards in the 80s which American collectors probably aren't aware of is that for Canadians we had this kind of weird way of viewing them in relation to their Topps counterparts. With hockey we viewed that as OUR sport so we would only collect OPC hockey cards since they were OUR cards, and the Topps versions we viewed sort of the same way French people view sparkling wine that isn't really from Champaigne - not the real deal.
But with OPC baseball cards for some reason we had the opposite attitude - baseball was an American sport so the Topps version were the legit ones we wanted to collect and the OPC cards we viewed as sort of lesser versions that nobody wanted. This created all sorts of problems at card shows since unscrupulous dealers would often strategically place price tags on cards to hide the OPC mark and try to pass them off as Topps cards. I remember my best friend getting fooled in this way into buying a 1983 OPC Ryne Sandberg rookie card thinking it was a Topps because the price tag obscured the OPC mark. This would have gotten even worse in 1990 when the OPC set was indistinguishable from the Topps set on the fronts of the cards (they kept the Topps logo on the front that year, only looking at the back could you tell), but the 1990s Topps set was more or less worthless within a few months of it being released (even the Ben McDonald rookie card) so nobody really cared either way by then. But there were a lot of sought after rookie cards from the mid-80s where this was a big problem.
I've only been to Canada once--spent a few days there with my parents in 1991 or 1992. We went to a couple of Mets/Expos games which was a treat even if Olympic Stadium was pretty terrible. I do remember having a really great meal, it was duck, but I'd never remember the name of the restaurant. It was a good few days but not all that much to tell.
ReplyDeletejohnnys trading spot - i was pleasantly surprised to see so many dealers on sportlots with 80's opc baseball in their inventory. good luck with your set builds.
ReplyDeletejohn sharp - i'd love to one day visit toronto and attend a jays game
night owl - when i go back, i'd love to watch a baseball game there. as for star wars, one of my greatest hobby decisions was to go out and buy the sets and stickers back in the early 2010's. won't say they were cheap, but they were much cheaper than what people ask now
karsal - i've seen photos of vermont and they were gorgeous. i used to go down to la and sd a lot when i was in my 20's. these days i don't go very often. but i'd like to go down and take in some games one of these days
cardboredom - oh man... sounds like an exciting trip to victoria. i'd love to see both of these places at some point.
derek - i live less than an hour (on a good day) from san francisco, but rarely go there. that being said, i'll be passing through it and crossing the golden gate this weekend
mike matson - i'll have to look into that asahi card. i'd love to one day make it out to michigan. it would be fun to catch a tigers game with some fellow bloggers
rj sahl - my brother went skiing in banff years ago and said it was amazing. i have wanted to go there ever since. 3500 miles in 7 days is a lot of traveling. gotta imagine whoever drove was exhausted.
dennis - toronto and niagara falls are both on my bucket list. michigan too
crocodile - the posters are a cool insert set. if you can get it at a good price, i'd say grab it.
rr - that's awesome that you have relatives up there to visit. my cousin lived in vancouver for years, but i never visited here while she was there. she's in new york now, so maybe i'll visit her out there one day
sean - thanks for sharing that particular view on opc cards. i didn't collect hockey cards in the 80's, but i wonder if hockey card collectors in the us treasured topps over opc or vice versa. i do remember encountering opc baseball from time to time as a kid. i pretty much treated them the same way you did. these days though, i treasure them as much as topps
brett alan - super jealous that you attended an expos game at olympic stadium. even cooler that you got a chance to root for your team.