2010 Leaf (Shoeless) Joe Jackson

Set Size: 15 cards

Design Notes: A very simple design - the Leaf logo is in an upper corner, and a banner at the bottom identifies the player - Shoeless Joe Jackson. A sepia photo fills the rest of the card. The backs have brown ink and detail his career and quotes.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into 2010 Leaf Sports Icons Cut Signature Edition Update packs - one card was found in each pack.

Thoughts: Shoeless Joe is a legend, but Topps can't use him in their products because of the ban. However, companies like Leaf have taken up the slack and produced some modern cards for him. I like the basic design of this card, and it's great to see some photos that rarely see the light of day.

2002 Leaf League of Nations

Set size: 10 cards

Front Design: A color photo of a player is cropped over a background containing a globe and national flags of various countries - the player's home country flag is printed brighter than the others. His name and team logo appear at the top, and the set name is printed next to the photo in silver foil. The cards are printed with a foil background.

Back Design: The flags, globe, and set logo are repeated at the top, followed by the player's name and team in a black band. The bottom half of the card has a short highlight biography printed in English and the language of the player's nationality.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were inserted 1:60 packs of 2002 Leaf.

Thoughts: A large quantity of players in the set are from Asian countries, possibly due to the Asian craze that swept the hobby after Ichiro's success in 2001. The overall design and set concept are great, except for the foil background.