Takuro Ishii

Yet another player who retired at the end of this season was Takuro Ishii of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.  Ishii originally was signed at age 18 by the then Yokohama Taiyo Whales in 1988 as a pitcher (which I've mentioned a couple times before) named Tadanori Ishii.  As far as I can tell, the only contemporary card of him as "Tadanori" was in the 1990 Takara Whales set.  The pitching thing didn't work that well for him, so in 1992 he became an infielder.  His first cards as a position player came in 1993 with BBM (#362), Tomy (#232) and Takara BayStars (#0).

2003 BBM Rookie Edition #118

1993 Tomy #232

Ishii became a regular in 1993 and quickly became a star.  He ended up playing with the BayStars until 2008, getting over 2000 hits for them.

1999 Calbee #075

2001 Future Bee #Yb-1 (Parallel)

2006 Calbee #163

Ishii made six All Star teams during his career - first in 1995 and then five straight years from 1997 to 2001.

1995 BBM All Stars #A26

He only played in one Nippon Series during his career (which isn't a surprise considering he played most of his career in Yokohama).  In 1998, Ishii hit .364 as the BayStars defeated the Lions in six games, leading him to win one of the "Outstanding Player" awards.

1998 BBM Nippon Series #S58

After 20 years with Yokohama, Ishii left the BayStars for Hiroshima after the 2008 season.  He spent most of the past four seasons as a part-time player and pinch hitter.

2009 BBM Rookie Edition #125

2012 BBM 2nd Version #635