As the sports world continues to spin its web of legends and legacies, the folks at Leaf have slipped in like literary magicians with their 2025 History Book Sports Edition Chapter 2. Think of it as a crossover of epic proportions, a collaboration across the ages packed into collectible booklets that don’t just tell a story—they unfold it, page by page, in your palms.
Leaf possesses a knack for transforming the humble trading card into something just shy of an heirloom, and with this release, they’ve doubled down on the magic. Released on October 22, 2025, Chapter 2 spans the echoing halls of history, inviting icons of sport to rub philosophical elbows on pages where boundaries between games dissolve into the universal language of achievement.
Opening one of these boxes, be ready for a tactile love letter to sports. Each hobby box contains two cards, but to merely call them "cards" seems an injustice akin to labeling War and Peace "a book." They are booklets, hinged marvels filled with autographs and memorabilia pieces from figures like Babe Ruth, Pelé, Vince Lombardi, and other giants whose names are whispered in reverence across generations. You could call it "multi-sport," but that term seems cartoonishly insufficient for a collection that brings together such monumental personalities, as if planning a guest list for the ultimate fantasy dinner party.
The magic truly comes alive in the new formats Leaf introduces this year. Imagine flipping through an interactive sports history timeline—The Next Chapter series does exactly that, bringing together autographs and photographs from different eras of a player’s career. A personal favorite, Autobiography, combines an athlete's signature with a printed snippet of their journey, merging handwriting with storytelling. And for those who love a visual feast, Art Book signatures meet illustrations in a spread that would feel right at home in a swanky art gallery.
Returning to an eager audience are Match Book's dual-signed classics and Book of Generations’ multigenerational family trees. However, it’s the Black Book and Book Club Autographs that push the envelope, showcasing eight signature spreads, with Black Book providing an austere backdrop that makes the autographs practically leaping off the page. Then there's the colossal Dominant Dozen, a piece that defies convention with twelve autographs stuffed into one legendary artifact.
Memorabilia hunters will find themselves richly rewarded as well. Spinning Yarns features autographs versus a backdrop of jersey swatches and other relics that tell a tale of tactile history. Double Booked takes things up a notch with two autographs and two relics—a double dose of high-stakes collecting.
But that’s not all. Collectors can chase treasures through Get Your Program Here!, Famous Fabrics, Aces in My Book, and Pages in History, among others—each title either an invitation to unearth hidden treasures or an urgent command begging for exploration. Some booklets, like Book Club Memorabilia or Power Memorabilia, demand all twelve relic slots, ensuring that they are filled to the brim with sensory overload, a barrage of color, fabric, and nostalgia.
Leaf's library of athletes reads like an exaggerated sports hall of fame lineup where everyone’s a first-ballot entrant. Expect luminaries like Aaron Judge, Lionel Messi, Stephen Curry, and Conor McGregor, heavyweights who have left such indelible marks on our consciousness that seeing their signatures feels almost like shaking hands across time and space.
The subsets themselves feel award-worthy. Aces in My Book showcases the titanic prowess of history’s greatest pitchers, while Art Book gives designers free rein to blend athlete and art into a singular experience. Black Book provides a canvas for legends from Bird, Dr. J, and their kin, distilled into snapshots that glisten under the starkness of its aesthetic.
Book Club pulls together multi-sport legends within its hardbound confines, while Book Club Memorabilia delivers twelve-player relic pages that might prompt debates over their rightful place in a collector’s coffee table book collection rather than hidden confines.
Famous Fabrics compiles combinations so esteemed that even just listing out names—Ruth, Mays, Mantle, Ali, Chamberlain, Messi—feels like partaking in a recitation of a secular prayer. And Match Book's pairing of rivals continues that exhilarating head-to-head tradition collectors find irresistible.
Through it all, Leaf’s commitment to collector sensibility remains unwavering, providing the customary raft of rainbow parallels offering Bronze to Gold, subtle variations on a theme that entice and tantalize completionists alike.
In this latest installment, Leaf not only acknowledges the love of the game; it elevates it, transforming collecting from a pastime to an intimate affair between fan and icon. Every card—the smell of the paper, the sheen of the foil, the art of the signature—reminds us that history isn't just something to store away. It's meant for holding and flipping, for cherishing and admiring, an open book in the most literal sense. In Chapter 2, Leaf doesn’t just keep the binders filled—they keep the love for the game alive.
2025 Leaf History Book Sports Edition Chapter 2
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