Epoch One Cards

As usual part of the contents of that big box of cards I got from Ryan this past week was a bunch of Epoch One cards.  As you will no doubt recall, Epoch One is basically the NPB equivalent of Topps Now - on demand cards available for a limited amount of time on the card maker's website.   In the case of Epoch One, the cards are available for three days and cost 500 yen each.  

As with Topps Now, Epoch One cards can be found on the secondary market, although usually for more than the 500 yen they originally sold for.  Ryan picked up these two older cards for me from (I think) Mint Mall and Yahoo! Japan Auctions - the Saitoh card commemorates his final appearance with the Fighters' farm team while I just liked the Toritani photo:

2019 Epoch One #410

2021 Epoch One #623

Epoch continued to do the "2022" Epoch One cards for about two months into 2023, eventually issuing 31 in January and February of last year.  21 of these were cards for the 2022 draft classes for the Giants, Fighters, Baystars and Marines and I asked Ryan to pick them up for me.  With the Dragons and Swallows draft pick cards that were issued in 2022 (which Ryan sent me last year), Epoch essentially produced a very expensive version of half of the 2023 BBM Rookie Edition set (minus the ikusei players).  Here's the first round picks for all four teams:

2022 Epoch One #1016 (Shogo Asano)

2022 Epoch One #1023 (Kota Yazawa)

2022 Epoch One #1030 (Shion Matsuo)

2022 Epoch One #1035 (Riku Kikuchi)

Going into 2023, I told myself (and Ryan) that I was going to be a lot more selective in getting Epoch One cards.  I wasn't going to ask Ryan to get as many for me.  It was a really good plan but like all good plans, it didn't survive contact with the enemy.  I ultimately asked Ryan to pick up 45(!) different cards. 

With that many cards, I don't always remember why exactly I asked Ryan to get the cards for me.  There are some pretty obvious reasons for a lot of them, however, so I thought I'd share those here.  

First up are cards that commemorate a specific event.  Epoch One issued several cards related to the opening of the Fighters' new ballpark last year but I wasn't impressed with any of them.  I decided to get the card that celebrated the first home run hit at the new park, hit by Yukiya Itoh of the Eagles:

2023 Epoch One #008

Carter Stewart picked up his first win in NPB on July 26th:

2023 Epoch One #596

Shuta Ishikawa threw a no-hitter on August 18th (there was no Epoch One card for the other no-hitter last season as there are no Epoch One cards for Orix or Hiroshima):

2023 Epoch One #691

On September 16th, Chusei Mannami of the Fighters became the first player in Pacific League history to both lead off and walk off a game with a home run:

2023 Epoch One #818

Emi Taniho, the Marine's PA announcer since 1991, retired at the end of the regular season:

2023 Epoch One #925

Speaking of the Marines, I picked up the two cards that were issued to commemorate their thrilling victory in Game Three of the First Stage of the Climax Series:

2023 Epoch One #933

2023 Epoch One #934

The back of card #934 has a great picture of the game winning hit:

I picked up cards from both the All Star Game and the Nippon Series, partly just to have a card from the events:

2023 Epoch One #568

2023 Epoch One #956

Next is a batch of cards for walk off victories - I'm a sucker for a good sayonara hit photo:

2023 Epoch One #467

2023 Epoch One #527

I also like to get cards showing players wearing alternate uniforms:

2023 Epoch One #277

2023 Epoch One #393

2023 Epoch One #492

2023 Epoch One #555

2023 Epoch One #571

2023 Epoch One #647

2023 Epoch One #651

2023 Epoch One #822

I want to point out that the back of Kiyomiya's card had a pretty good photo of the Fighters' new park:

There seemed to be a lot of opportunities to combine the two previous categories - walk off hits by players wearing alternate uniforms:

2023 Epoch One #540

2023 Epoch One #578

2023 Epoch One #607

2023 Epoch One #629

2023 Epoch One #689

Lastly there were a bunch of cards I got just because I liked the photos.  Here's Hirokazu Sawamura doing his Randy Arozarena impression:

2023 Epoch One #154

On May 9th, Tomohisa Ohzeki pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout of the Fighters in Kumamoto, striking out 13.  I thought this was just a really cool photo with the stands in the background and the sun getting low:

2023 Epoch One #269

I don't think any of the remaining photos really need any additional comment:

2023 Epoch One #089

2023 Epoch One #152

2023 Epoch One #369

2023 Epoch One #464

2023 Epoch One #502

2023 Epoch One #682

2023 Epoch One #725

My plan again this year is to refrain from going overboard on Epoch One cards.  Given that I've passed on the draft pick cards they've already issued this year, I think I'm off to a good start.  We'll see if I can keep it up.