Lacrosse Card Landscape: A History of Lacrosse Trading Cards

Walking to the corner store with friends for candy, soda and a pack of trading cards is practically a childhood rite of passage. 

The cards might have been from any number of genres – baseball, football, basketball, hockey or a favourite non-sports theme. But in spite of their nearly 150-year history, lacrosse cards have never been part of that beloved youthful memory.

In fact, it hasn’t been until relatively recently that dedicated packs of lacrosse cards were ever part of the hobby landscape. Fortunately, that has changed in recent years for fans of the fastest game on two feet.

Fans might be surprised to know that lacrosse cards have a long and storied history. 

The first lacrosse card was issued in 1878 by Huntley & Palmers, a European biscuit company. The unnumbered card was part of a 12-card multi-sport set the company issued to promote their baked goods.

Thus began the steady, if not regular release of lacrosse trading cards that has been a quiet part of that hobby for more than a century.

For the first 30+ years of the lacrosse genre, individual cards were included in either multi-sport sets or, given the sport’s history, in sets dedicated to Indigenous life. Most of these cards were issued in cigarette packs both in North America and abroad, and fall under the hobby designation known as cigarette or tobacco cards.

The first dedicated lacrosse card set was issued by the Imperial Tobacco Company in 1910. The Canadian firm issued three different lacrosse card sets in their cigarette packages between 1910 and 1912. The 1910 and 1911 sets are nearly identical on the fronts with differing backs and feature illustrated player images, while the 1912 set employed posed black-and-white player photos.

These cards are sought by hockey collectors as well as lacrosse enthusiasts due to the fact that several early puck legends played lacrosse to stay in shape for hockey. Hockey Hall of Famers Newsy Lalonde, Bouse Hutton, Paddy Moran and others are included in these early sets, as is former Canadian-born World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Tommy Burns.

For the next several decades, very few cards were released.

It wasn’t until 1993 that the sporting goods company STX and Nastasi International partnered to produce a 75-card set featuring professional box lacrosse players from the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL).

This was a landmark set in the lacrosse hobby, as with the exception of a handful of players that may have previously been included in small team-issued sets, the majority of this set consisted of players’ first appearances on a trading card. Legendary names such as Gary & Paul Gait, Dallas Eliuk, John Tavares and Dave Pietramala all have their rookie cards in the 1993 STX set.

While no one will say that lacrosse cards became a regular part of the overall card industry after 1993, there was a significant increase in the number of sets produced. The majority were small team or league-issued sets, many of which are among the most desirable cards in the hobby today.

They include sets such as the 1999 NLL All-Stars, the 2000 NLL Championship Game and 2001 MLL releases. However, prominent trading card manufacturers also began including lacrosse cards in sets and in the case of Upper Deck, issued dedicated lacrosse sets on a national basis.

In 2007 and 2008, Panini issued several cards of Syracuse star Mikey Powell in Donruss and Panini sets. The 2007 Donruss Elite set included parallels (limited numbered variants of the base design), pack-issued autographed cards, as well as cards bearing jersey swatches.

These were standard hobby elements by this point, but had never before been done with lacrosse cards. In fact, one of the most popular cards from these sets was limited to just 25 copies and features autographs of both Powell and NFL great Jim Brown, another notable former Syracuse lacrosse star.

The Upper Deck Company issued dedicated lacrosse sets in 2010 and 2011, in addition to including lacrosse cards in the World of Sports sets during the same years. Like the 1993 STX MILL set, the 2010 Upper Deck Major League Lacrosse set includes the first nationally issued cards of a generation of stars such as John Christmas, Pat McCabe, Brodie Merrill, John Grant Jr., Lee Zink and more.

The legendary card company Topps, dipped their toe into the lacrosse waters with their 2013, 2017 and 2023 Allen & Ginter (A&G) issues. These multi-subject sets feature notable individuals from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. Lacrosse stars Shawn Nadelen (2013), Lyle Thompson (2017) and Charlotte North (2023) all have base cards and a variety of minis, parallels, autographs and relic cards in the base A&G set. Thompson can also be found in the spinoff Allen & Ginter X issue, while North appears in A&G X and A&G Chrome.

The period of 2019-2020 was tumultuous in the lacrosse world, as well as in the world at-large. Parkside Collectibles, a new boutique card company, burst onto the scene in 2019, with a very well designed and executed lacrosse set representing players from Major League Lacrosse.

This happened to also be the first year of the Premier Lacrosse League, which siphoned off many of the MLL’s most notable players, disrupted fan allegiances and weakened the MLL. The 2019 shake-up was followed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which reduced the MLL season to a single week-long season played in a quarantined bubble. Parkside’s efforts that year were reduced to a 12-card issue sold as a complete set and including an additional autographed card. 

The PLL and Athletes Unlimited, the new league for women’s professional lacrosse, both partnered with Topps to issue On Demand sets for their respective leagues in 2021. Both sets were available through the Topps website and included autographs and numbered parallels. The PLL set in particular received significant attention in the trading card community during the card boom of 2020-2021. At that time, prices of rare parallels and autographed cards reached well into four figures on the secondary market.

Topps followed their inaugural PLL and AU releases with various proceeding issues. The PLL First Edition set was a 55-card set featuring only rookie and All-Pro players. While the cards were popular, the release was marred by distribution issues that forced Topps to produce a second run of unique parallel cards to be distributed to collectors who purchased their cards through the PLL website. 

Topps released a flagship PLL issue in 2022, including parallels, autographs, relics and other inserts, but did not release cards in 2023. An AU set including similar elements was released in 2023. However, all four AU Sports (basketball, lacrosse, softball and volleyball) were included in the set, greatly diluting the product for single-sport fans.

Lacrosse has grown significantly as a spectator sport. New television deals at the college and professional levels, increased opportunities for lacrosse wagering, the juggernaut PLL social media team, and success of the National Lacrosse League have all contributed to the sport being introduced to increasing numbers of sports fans. 

This has added to the sport’s growth at the youth and high school levels as well, all of which bodes well for increased interest in lacrosse trading cards. 

That’s all for this week, check back next week for more!