A Month in The Hobby: May 2026

Silly Holidays and Occasions to Collect

Here at RIPPED, we want to celebrate every corner of the Hobby, and what better way to do that than by running down some fun collector connections with are most oddball National Days? Welcome to the debut issue of A Month in The Hobby.

May is Get Caught Reading Month! The Hobby we love is like a great book, with thrills, chills, inspiring characters, and surprise endings. Everybody has their favorite genre to read, and following my analogy, relic cards are my favorite genre of card collecting!

Get Caught Reading with these National Day relic card tie-ins.

May 1^st — No Pants Day

We have the sports — the sports with shorts! Celebrate National No Pants Day with a shout out to Tennis player Bunny Austin (credited as the first to wear shorts), give a side eye to the Chicago White Sox (who wore shorts for three games in 1976), and check out the other intrepid athletes carrying on the no-pants tradition on pitch, court, and clay. 

A Topps Relic Coordinator on working with Messi Jerseys:

“I’m a huge Messi fan, so when I’m holding one of his jerseys, I know what season it’s from, what records he broke wearing it, and I know collectors will too. That’s for the jerseys we get that is. He’s really generous with giving his jerseys away to other players.”

Topps Relic Coordinator Megan Gamble on working with LeBron James jerseys:

“As a little girl, I thought I would be the first girl in the NBA and play with LeBron someday. Being a coordinator at Fanatics and being able to hand-pick pieces of his memorabilia to go into trading cards is something I never imagined I would do but comes pretty close to being able to play against him if I do say so myself.”

May 4^th — Bird Day

Ornithology is a big word. Ornithologists (a slightly bigger word) will explain it to you as a passion. Passion for the study of sports team’s bird mascots could be called “The taxonomic analysis of avian team branding,” or, instead of unpacking that, check out this relic from the Pirate Parrot.

Relic Coordinator Supervisor Eric Wheeler on Topps Series 1 Baseball:

“I started collecting cards in 1992 for two reasons — the bubble gum in the packs, and to collect Don Mattingly cards (my favorite player at the time). Three decades later, I got the honor of hand-picking each relic that went into 2025 Series 1, including the Dynasty Mascot relics. Picking these relics made me feel like a kid again.”

May 9^th — Lost Sock Memorial Day

Where do they go? Workout socks, dress socks, lucky socks, they all disappear. The singles congregate in the corner of the sock drawer, judging you. Commemorate and move on from your missing foot mittens with some Topps sock relic cards.

Assistant Relic Product Operations Manager Brendan Kohler:

“One of my personal favorites that we have done recently is the Bobby Witt Jr. socks from the 2024 Home Run Derby. I was able to attend that event as a fan. I am a lifelong Royals fan, so it was fun to see that we were able to commemorate that moment. The fact that he was wearing cowboy boot socks, tying back to his Texas roots with the event taking place in Globe Life, was just the icing on the cake.

May 12^th — Odometer Day

I heard about this guy who reached 1,000,000 miles on his truck in 2016. That’s a big number on that odometer. F1 cars get their engines replaced every 1,500-1,600 miles, and they don’t even have odometers.

They do have 250-some-odd sensors measuring everything from tire pressure to torque output and other big words like aerodynamics. You can get even closer to the action by live-streaming all that data during a race, and of course, you can collect the hype with Topps F1 race-worn relic cards.   

Relic Coordinator Kristan Nolan on working with F1 Relics:

“When the Driver suits get in, it’s exciting to see in my mind what parts of the suit are going to be used in the lower parallels, especially the 1/1.” 

May 23^rd — Lucky Penny Day

The days of the penny are over. Often ignored, they always wind up under our car seats, in glass jars and bowls, or in those big plastic banks shaped like soda bottles. One of the first pennies, the Fugio cent, sported the motto “Mind your Business” — a somewhat adversarial flavor for such a small coin.

So, look under your couch cushions, check those pants before you put them in the washer, and pick yourself out a penny that feels lucky. Or, you could get a 2025 Topps NOW penny card, which is much less likely to wind up under the seat of your car.

May 30^th — Hole in my Bucket Day

You might be thinking, what is Hole in my Bucket Day? Let me tie it in for you (follow the breadcrumbs, y’all). There’s a Hole in my Bucket is a folk song from Germany, which has been recorded over the years by a bunch of artists including Harry Belafonte, Hank Williams, and Ricky Nelson.

Now, you don’t have to know who those people are to get to the relic at the end of this story. Just remember that in Basketball, a bucket is worth two points, and sometimes three. Which brings us to these spectacular Topps NOW basketball net relic cards! Yes! Got there! 

Assistant Relic Product Operations Manager Brendan Kohler on working Topps Now relic cards: 

“Overseeing the relic process for Topps NOW over the last two and a half years has been a fascinating experience for me. The thing I love the most about Topps NOW relics is that we are able to bring relics to collectors that are directly from the biggest moments in sport. It is tremendous to give collectors an opportunity to have a piece of history.”

A Month in The Hobby FAQs

• What is A Month in The Hobby?
  • It’s a monthly series celebrating National Days and collector connections, highlighting different corners of the Hobby.
• What sets are featured in the May 2026 edition of A Month in The Hobby?
  • This month’s issue features relic cards from sets like Topps Series 1 Baseball, Topps NOW, and Topps Dynasty Formula 1.
• What National Days do people celebrate in May?
  • Highlighted National Days in May include National No Pants Day, National Bird Day, National Lost Sock Memorial Day, National Odometer Day, National Lucky Penny Day, and National Hole in my Bucket Day.
• When do new installments of A Month in The Hobby come out?
  • This is a new monthly series highlighting less-traveled Hobby tie-ins and National Days, with new issues dropping at the beginning of each month.

Key Facts

• Series: Topps National Days
• Month: May 2026
• Featured Days: National No Pants Day, National Bird Day, National Lost Sock Memorial Day, National Odometer Day, National Lucky Penny Day, National Hole in my Bucket Day
• Featured Sets: Topps Series 1 Baseball, Topps NOW, Bowman U NOW Basketball, and Topps Dynasty Formula 1.

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