2012 In Review - BBM

BBM put out a total of 39 baseball card sets for 2012.  The sets were actually released during a 14 month period starting in November of 2011 and finishing in December of 2012.

A good 20 of these sets are sets that BBM releases new editions of annually:  the "flagship" sets of the 1st and 2nd Version and the high end set (called "Genesis" this year after 10 years of being known as "Touch The Game"); the individual pack based team sets for each of the 12 NPB teams; the "Historic Collection" set (called "Strongest Generation" this time); the "Rookie Edition" draft pick set; and the All Star, the "Rookie Edition Premium" and the Nippon Series box sets.  Two of the other box sets - the "Farewell" set for retiring players and the "Diamond Age" set for players 23 years old - were issued for the second year in a row and may become annual sets as well (the 2013 "Farewell" set has already been announced).

BBM did pull back on their annual Tokyo Big Six sets this past year.  From 2008-2011, BBM issued two sets for the collegiate league - a Spring Version and an Autumn Version.  For 2012, they just issued the one set in the spring.

BBM issued six box sets that were each related to a particular team - Orix Pedigree; Dragon Veterans; Baystars Reborn; Rite Of Hawks; Young Eagles; and Rising Carp.  (BBM issued a similar set for the Carp in 2011 so this may also be an item that becomes an annual issue.)  They also issued four box sets devoted to individual players - Hiroyuki Nakajima of the Lions, Hiroki Kokubo of the Hawks, Tomoaki Kanemoto of the Tigers and Takuro Ishii of the Carp.  The latter three players retired at the end of the 2012 season.  (The set of Ishii includes a card of him pitching for the Whales in the early 1990's.)

For the first time in a number of years, BBM did not produce any team anniversary sets or any tie-ins to teams doing retro themed games (like Lions Classic).  In fact, other than the annual "Historic Collection" set, BBM only issued two historically themed sets in 2012 - the pack based "No hitters" set and the box set commemorating the Giants/Dragons climactic game to the 1994 season.

The remaining sets are kind of odds and ends.  BBM commemorated the three players who reached their 2000th hit in 2012 (Kokubo, Atsunori Inaba of the Fighters and Shinya Miyamoto of the Swallows) with a box set showing career highlights of the three players.  Another box set covered the Suntory Premium Malts Old Timer game held in Sendai in August.

The final two sets I almost hesitate to mention as they aren't really baseball cards - BBM released two separate versions of their "Dancing Heroine" cheerleader/dance squad set - one version called "Hana" and one version called "Mai".  BBM did release a single set of "Dancing Heroine" cards in 2011 so again, this may be a set that becomes a regular issue each year.