North of the Border

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

With these in hand, I'm down to needing only his 1989 to 1992 O-Pee-Chee singles (which I purchased on Sportlots earlier today).

I'm debating on whether or not to complete Stieb's entire Topps base card run, which is identical to his O-Pee-Chee except for the addition of a 1993 Topps single.

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.  

I'm a big fan of Vader's bounty hunters... especially Boba Fett.

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!

Four Six-packs

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin... into the future.  But I finally had a chance to sit down in my office yesterday, open some packages, and sort some cards.

Today I'm gonna share four sports card sextets sent to me from three sports card bloggers.  First up are six new cards for my 2025 Topps Holiday set build:

Chris over at The Collector sent me these a few weeks ago... leaving me with four cards left:

As soon as I have a few minutes to update a few other sets, I'm gonna place an order on Sportlots and clear out my cabinet containing a bunch of sets in progress.

He also sent me these six cards:

The Griffey was sort of a head scratcher, since I haven't really advertised my collection of his cards.  But I'll happily add it and all of the others cards seen here into my collection.  Thank you Chris!

Next up is a six pack of cards from the other Chris in our blogosphere (Nachos Grande):

Most people know I collect A's and Padres, but not everyone knows about my Expos or Surfer PC.  Thanks Chris!

The final six cards were part of a jam packed PWE containing a bunch of Greg Maddux cards from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot:

Outside of my Steve Largent PC, I don't have any of my team or player collections listed in TCDB.  But I'm guessing Maddux is my third or fourth largest player collection (behind Gwynn, Henderson, and possibly Ichiro).  Out of the eighteen cards he sent, these six were new to my binders.

In addition to this PWE, John also sent me a medium size flat rate box that I also opened and sorted yesterday.  But it's going to take me a little more time publish the contents of that package.

In the meantime, you should head over to his blog and join in on his weekly giveaway.  Thanks John!

Well that wraps up another post.  But before I forget, here is today's question:

Most of us know each other's main PC's.

Do you have any smaller, lesser known collections?

If not, maybe there are other things you collect outside of cards.

For example, I collect cards featuring Bernese Mountain Dogs, athletes born and raised in San Jose, and a ton of non-card related stuff like LP's, Legos, and video games.

I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #184: Sheets, Sets, and a SLU

After over a month away from the local flea market, I made my out to the Branham Flea Market on Saturday for my first haul of 2026.  Not sure if it was the cold weather or the holiday weekend, but there were less vendors than usual.  However I did manage to make a few purchases from a pair of card dealers.

The first one is a regular that I've bought from on numerous occasions.  He's located on the very first row and is usually my first stop of the day.  This time around he had a table filled with uncut sheets.

Purchase #1a:  Uncut Mother's Cookies Sheets  $15

There were some cool oddball sets from the early 90's, but I was mainly drawn to his Mother's Cookies team sets.  He had five different 1985 sets which featured the cards handed out at the stadiums.  I was tempted to buy them all, but I didn't want to blow most of my cash on my first purchase.  So I grabbed my two favorite teams:

1985 Mother's Cookies Oakland A's

1985 Mother's Cookies San Diego Padres

I'm not sure how these uncut sheets were distributed, but I've written about the SGA sets from the 80's and 90's a few times on this blog.  Each year my brother would take me to a handful of Giants and A's games and I'd always try to circle the Mother's Cookies Players Card Day on the calendar.

The guy had the Giants sheet too, but I picked my favorite team over childhood memories.

Purchase #1b:  Hockey Autographs $2

The vendor also brought out a box of oddballs for me to check out and there were two 9-pocket pages with these signed hockey cards.  Not sure how legit these are, the price was right, so I took a chance on them.  I was mainly drawn to the Pavel Bure cards, but there are some other notable names in the lot.

The guy was still setting up, so I told him I'd come back a little later.  On the second row, I found the other card guy.  Remember the guy I bought the 70's Laughlin and 80's Traded sets from last year?  Well before he left for Arkansas, he sold his remaining inventory to this vendor.  I've seen him set up a few times, but his prices were always too high.  This time around he was more reasonable...

Purchase #2a:  1985 Donruss Factory Set $15

His first table was filled with 800ct. boxes filled with cards from the 80's and 90's.  His asking price of $15 for this factory set was reasonable, so I started digging through his stuff.

I opened the set while I was there and noticed that one of the packs had been opened:

I still decided to buy it.  Unfortunately when I got home, I discovered that it was missing the Roger Clemens rookie.  I've added it to my saved eBay searches.  My hopes is to find a clean copy for under $10 delivered.

Next to his sets, he had a bunch of wax boxes with packs that had already been opened.  I found one I was interested in...

Purchase #2b:  1996 Sky Motion Football  $5

As you can see, none of these packs were sealed.  But within the box, there was a nice starter set that included a few big names:

1996 Skybox Sky Motion #SM17

1996 Skybox Sky Motion #SM15

1996 Skybox Sky Motion #SM48

There were 37 different cards for my set build... leaving me needing only 23 singles to complete the set.  I immediately went over to Sportlots and crossed off 16 more:

Considering I have already invested over $25 into this set build, I'm already regretting my decision to build this set.

At least there were two of the Hobby Exclusive Gold parallels included in the box:

1996 Skybox Sky Motion Gold #SM32

1996 Skybox Sky Motion Gold #SM32

These were inserted into every other box and can be quite elusive when seeking specific players.

At the other end of his tables, the vendor had a bunch of knick-knacks including programs, photos, card sheets, and smaller card sets.  I bought a few more items...

Purchase #2c:  1982 Cracker Jack Sheets  $8

1982 Cracker Jack AL Sheet

1982 Cracker Jack NL Sheet

This is a set that I've been looking for on eBay for a few years.  I like the Cracker Jack border paired with the 1978 and 1979 Topps card designs.  Plus each sheet features eight hall of famers.

I didn't want to spend more than $10 for the pair... and thanks to this vendor I didn't have to.

In the same stack as these uncut sheets, I also found this cool Upper Deck SGA sheet from the 90's...

Purchase #2d:  1993 Upper Deck Billy Martin Tribute Sheet  $2

Billy Ball played a big role in my childhood and Oakland A's fanfare, so I'm always looking to add new Billy Martin items to my collection.  Upper Deck made a bunch of these tribute sheets in the 90's.  I have a few sitting in my collection and one of them is framed and hanging up in my office.

But before Saturday, I had never seen this sheet before.  It was passed out on August 15, 1993 at the Oakland Coliseum.  Fans who attended that game were treated to this sheet as well as Kirby Puckett's career day at the plate.  He went 5 for 5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI's as the Twins destroyed the A's 12 to 5.

Purchase #2e:  1983 Stuart Montreal Expos Set  $5

Among the card sheets, programs, and photos, there were also a few sets I was interested in.  The first one that caught my eye was this Montreal Expos oddball set:

Based on what I found online, Stuart was a company that made snacks in Canada.  Based on a TCDB photo, these appeared to be inserted into boxes of snack cakes back in 1983.

The set features all of the early 80's Expos you're familiar with, including these three hall of famers:

1983 Stuart Montreal Expos #4

1983 Stuart Montreal Expos #8

1983 Stuart Montreal Expos #9

I'm happy to add this to my Montreal Expos PC.  And I'm happy to add the next set to my Green Bay Packers PC...

Purchase #2f:  1997 Playoff Packer Super Sunday Set  $5

When the Packers beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, it was the first time celebrating a Super Bowl victory.  Sure I had watched and rooted for teams every year leading up to this one, but they were never my own team.  I was very happy to find this set for a reasonable price.

Purchase #3:  Hot Wheels 2020 GR Toyota Supra  $8

After walking around the rest of the flea market, I didn't see any other deals on cards.  But I saw a guy with a bunch of diecast vehicles.  I asked if he had any GR Supras and he started digging through his boxes.  He found this one:

2024 Hot Wheels Green and Gold #3

I've been trying to track down all of the MK5 Supra die cast cars and this is one of the ones I needed.  I normally wouldn't pay this much for a non-premium Hot Wheel, but the guy did take the time to look for it.

Freebie #1:  1992 Tom Seaver Opened Kenner SLU

When I was done walking the entire flea market, I went back to the guy with the Mother's Cookies sheets.  We were talking about cards and stuff when he pulled this out of a box:

He told me I could have it for free, since the packaging was less than pristine.  The poster and figure are pretty cool:

1992 Kenner SLU Figure & Poster #NNO

But this was the thing I was excited about the most:

1992 Kenner SLU #NNO

He started pulling out other items from the box.  I wasn't really interested in any of it, but I felt obligated to buy something since he gave me this SLU.  So I bought this...

Purchase #4:  2016 Panini NFL Sticker Collection Album  $1

Out of the 485 stickers in the set, this album is only missing 16 of them.  I originally planned on tracking them down, but after wasting so much money trying to build that 1996 Skybox SkyMotion set... I'll probably just leave it as it is.

Well that wraps up my first flea market trip of 2026.  Although I wouldn't call any of these purchases "stellar deals", I am pretty excited about the oddball sets and uncut sheets.

Here is today's question of the day...

Do you collect uncut sheets?

If so...

Do you have any personal favorites in your collection?

Although I love these Mother's Cookies and Cracker Jack sheets, my favorite uncut sheets to collect are Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine cards.

Okay... this post has dragged on long enough.  I appreciate those who stuck it out.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!