2026 Leaf Sports Illustrated for Kids: Perforated Edges, Gabby Thomas and Ric Flair’s Tennis Serve

Ric Flair is lunging across a tennis court in a robe, racket in hand and mouth wide open. The card calls him a tennis player, then supplies the explanation in its April Fool badge. 2026 Leaf Sports Illustrated for Kids Multi-Sport is willing to be that silly, while its Gabrielle Thomas autograph preview gives the same familiar card family a much more direct sporting treatment.

Leaf expects the release in October 2026. Boxes contain four autograph cards and a three-card bonus pack, with ten boxes per case. The designs draw on more than 35 years of Sports Illustrated for Kids cards, now produced using metal technology with the recognizable perforation-style die-cut edges.

The edges are part of the identity

Thomas's preview uses a peach-colored frame around a full-length track photograph. Her signature runs across a pale horizontal panel, with Olympic Champion and Track and Field identifying the subject beneath it. The small scalloped edge gives the card a different outline from a conventional smooth-sided autograph card.

Leaf's official gallery presents several generations of the magazine-card layouts. The new finish and shaped edges let the designs carry that history into a separate manufactured card release. Thomas's card shows how the format can remain immediately recognizable while giving a large action photograph and autograph room of their own.

The advertised athletes span several sports and generations: Ken Griffey Jr., Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal, Nolan Ryan, Peyton Manning, Mike Tyson, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are among the names. Anna Leigh Waters, Malachi Toney, Olivia Dunne and CJ Carr also appear in Leaf's advertised selection. The sport changes from card to card; the magazine-inspired visual family supplies the connection.

A bonus pack for the jokes

April Fools and Caricatures base cards and autographs are assigned to the special bonus pack. That is the relevant format detail for collectors drawn to Flair's improbable tennis appearance. The humorous designs occupy their own part of the box alongside the four-autograph configuration.

Flair's preview uses a bright yellow border, oversized name lettering and a sunny court scene. His pose sells the joke before the April Fool label does. It is an unusually direct example of a card's visual idea determining its appeal, rather than merely providing a background for a signature.

Thomas and Flair show the range Leaf is trying to preserve: an athlete presented through her sport, then an intentionally absurd departure from it. The old magazine designs and shaped edges keep both recognizable as SI for Kids. The October release's most distinctive feature is that willingness to carry the format's playfulness into an autograph-heavy metal product.