The Chiba Lotte Marines are apparently retiring their mascot Nazo No Sakana, aka "The Mysterious Fish". I haven't been sure if this is real or a publicity stunt like the Swallows do every offseason when their mascot Tsubakuro enters into contract negotiations with the team and occasionally declares free agency. I'm getting somewhat convinced it's real now that the team held an elaborate retirement ceremony for the Fish on Friday but it still wouldn't surprise me for the team to do an about face and announce he's coming back.
Nazo was introduced during the 2017 season. He's had five different costumes - I think every so often they've done a big deal about him transforming into a new "form". He's been fun to watch and it's a shame that he's going away.
The Fish has shown up on nine baseball cards that I'm aware of. His "rookie" card is the "secret" version (short printed photo variation) of the Marines team checklist in the 2017 BBM 2nd Version set. His other BBM appearances are in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 Marines team sets and the Marines team checklist card in the 2020 2nd Version set:
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| 2017 BBM 2nd Version #591 ("Secret" Version) |
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| 2018 BBM Marines #M69 |
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| 2019 BBM Marines #M72 |
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| 2020 BBM 2nd Version #592 |
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| 2021 BBM Marines #M69 |
The other four cards are all Epoch Now cards. He had three cards in 2018 and one in 2021. I only have two of these (one from 2018 and the 2021 one), both of which I think are celebrating the introduction of a new "form". Here's the front and back of each of them:
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| 2018 Epoch One #328 |
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| 2018 Epoch One #328 (back) |
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| 2021 Epoch One #097 |
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| 2021 Epoch One #097 (back) |
The two 2018 cards that I don't have are #208 and #282.
Here's the video of his retirement ceremony from Pacific League TV:
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