Depending on where you live in the United States, lacrosse is either a niche sport or you live in what you may call a lacrosse hotbed. Long Island certainly has that designation with so many kids playing lacrosse and now two professional lacrosse teams, the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse and the expansion New York Riptide that begins play this December in the National Lacrosse League.
From a memorabilia standpoint, one thing that other sports like baseball, football, hockey and basketball have always had that lacrosse didn’t was the opportunity for fans to collect official trading cards. Teams like the Lizards have always given out player cards at home games as a promotional item, but MLL has never had an official trading card partner…that is until now.
For the first time ever, there is an officially licensed set of Major League Lacrosse trading cards for lacrosse fans to collect. Produced by Parkside Collectibles, the 2019 MLL cards are now available and there are some highly sought-after cards in the set including the rookie cards for MLL stars like Lizards attackman Rob Pannell and Chesapeake Bayhawks midfielder Lyle Thompson. Parkside is a new trading card company that started when the daughter of one of the founders wanted women’s soccer cards.
It was clear that there was a market for cards connected to sports other than baseball, football, basketball and hockey.
“That moment really set of the realization that there were emerging sports, leagues, and athletes that were under-represented in the cardboard world,” said Parkside Co-Founder Matt Peak. “Being originally from Maryland, I knew how massive lacrosse was and how substantial a following the MLL had so we focused on them as an initial partner, bugged them for over a year, and here we are. We knew we could make a great product and thankfully the MLL believed in us.”
Parkside is also set to offer a set of BIG 3 basketball cards and they’re hoping to expand the MLL card set for 2020 and beyond including a focus on rookies, but right now the focus is on getting the 2019 set into as many fans and potential collectors as possible. There are 150 base cards in the set featuring MLL players from the present and the past. There is a signature card in every box and as an added bonus, each box has four cards that can be redeemed for four tickets to an MLL game.
“We believe on 2019 MLL Trading Cards will find a home in the lexicon of sports card history,” said Peak. “We created two of the greatest players’ ever rookie cards. In our box of cards you are virtually guaranteed the first Rob Pannell and Lyle Thompson lacrosse cards ever published and licensed by the league.”
The 2019 MLL trading card set went to print before the league contracted teams (as a result of so many players leaving the MLL for the new Premier Lacrosse League) so there are a number of players who wound up on cards featuring their old clubs.
Collecting sports cards has always been a tremendous and popular hobby for fans and now lacrosse fans have the opportunity to collect cards from their favorite players as well.
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