Saturday, August 10, 2019

Baystars Team Issued Cards

The final team that I picked up team issued cards for was the Baystars.  Ryan had given me one card and I picked up the rest at Mint Akihabara and Mint Yokohama. 

I got cards from three different sets put out in 2013.  It's kind of odd - Ryan had done a post a few years ago about there being four different Baystars fan club sets that season.  One of the cards I have doesn't belong in any of those sets so there must have been at least five sets that year.

The first card is from what Ryan referred to as the "first version".  It doesn't come across well in the scans but this card has a shimmering star finish to it.  Here's the front and back of it:



I actually saw a display of these cards on my first trip to Japan in 2013 when I went to Yokohama Stadium for an open-sen game between the Baystars and Dragons:


The second card isn't from any of the sets Ryan mentioned.  The back of the card has an ad for the Baystars's Opening Series against the Giants that year on April 2nd through 4th.  Here's the front and back of it:



The remaining three cards I have from 2013 are from what Ryan referred to as the "second version".  These also have a shimmering star finish.




Here's what one of the backs looks like:


I got two cards from 2014.  They look like they are from the same set.  They too have the shimmering star finish.



Here's what one of the backs looks like:


The two 2015 cards I got look like they may be from the same set, at least from the front (which do not have the shimmering stars):



However the backs are a little different.  The Yamaguchi card has his stats for 2014 while the Minei has a slogan and a signature:



I assume "ORE FOR ALL" should have been "ONE FOR ALL" unless it was some sort of mining thing...

I got five 2016 cards that I think are all from the same set.  Ryan gave me the Shibata card.






Here's the back of the Shibata card:


The other player slogans are "Strength Of Spirit" (Iizuka), "Iasm Tkhriskw" (Ishikawa), "The More You Wish, The Closer To Your Dream" (Yamaguchi) and "No Regrests !!" (Yamazaki).  I have no idea what Ishikawa's means.

I got three 2017 cards.  I suspect that these are from two different sets but the backs all look the same:




Here's the back of the Ayabe card:


The other slogans are "All Faith No Fear And Play Hard" (Ciriaco) and "Out On My Own" (Kubo).

I got two 2018 cards:



Here's the back of the Hamaguchi card:


The slogan on Aranami's card is "Cherish Each Day".

Finally I got two 2019 cards.  I think these are my favorites as both the front and the back show the player towering over the Yokohama skyline:



Imanaga's card's back looks like this:


Barrios's slogan is "You Start It.  You Finish It!!" which is kind of an odd slogan for a relief pitcher to have.

No comments: