BBM Updates

I mentioned a while back that I had gotten curious about how often a player appeared with two different teams in BBM's flagship sets for a given year.  So basically, I wanted to know how many players had appeared with one team in either the 1st or 2nd Version set and then another in either the 2nd Version or Fusion set.  

Keep in mind that players don't change teams in NPB as often as they do in MLB and mid-season trades of big name players are almost unheard of.  So whether or not a player who gets traded shows up in the flagship set is somewhat hit or miss.

I struggled for a little bit, trying to figure out how to do this with sql queries to my database but I finally gave up and wrote a Java application to figure it out for me.  BBM had split their flagship set in the 1st and 2nd Versions in 2002, so that was the first set I took a look at.  For the first three years of the two set flagship era, the two sets were roughly the same size.  In 2005, though, the 1st Version set grew to be almost the same size as the pre-split flagship sets while the 2nd Version set shrunk in size.  For the first time, BBM added a "1st Version Update" subset to the 2nd Version set which used the same card design as the 1st Version set.  This subset has been staple of every 2nd Version set except 2008 since then and has also been included in every Fusion set since that set debuted in 2016.  My program basically looked at every player with a "regular" card in the 1st Version set and checked if that player had a "regular" or "1st Version Update" card in the 2nd Version set with a different team.  It also checked the 1st Version cards against the "1st Version Update" cards in the Fusion set* and then did the same for the 2nd Version cards.

* Limiting the comparisons to just the "1st Version Update" cards in the Fusion set greatly cut down on false positives.  For example, Daisuke Matsuzaka's in the 2019 1st Version set as a member of the Dragons but shows up in Fusion as a member of the Lions.  It's not because he changed teams though - remember that the "regular" cards in Fusion match an event that happened in the current year with an event that happened in a previous year.  Matsuzaka was included in the set because of something he'd done before he left for MLB after 2006,

I had to sanity check the results because I know there's errors in my database (for some reason, all the Giants cards in the 2016 2nd Version set got assigned to the Baystars and I've never fixed it) but I came up with a list of 26 players.  Well, it's really 24 players as two of the players were in both 1st and 2nd Version with one team and in Fusion with another.

OK, I've gone on way too much about the process.  Let's look at some cards.

Actually, before we do, I need to mention that there was one instance of this occurring with BBM's "Late Series" cards.  Six times between 1994 and 2001*, BBM stopped printing their flagship set, replaced all the cards for one or two teams** with new cards.  The card numbers weren't reused, so the new cards were added onto the end of the set.  For example, the Swallows cards in the 1994 set were numbers 1-42 which were replaced with cards 567-608.

* Specifically 1994-96 and 1999-2001

** Swallows in 1994, Marines in 1995, Dragons in 1996, Swallows in 1999, Marines & Tigers in 2000 and BlueWave & Tigers in 2001

I'm pretty sure that every time BBM replaced a team's cards in the "Late Series", it was a one-for-one swap.  There's no case where there's a guy in the "Late Series" cards for a team who wasn't in the original set.  But in 1995, BBM did something that they didn't do with any of the other "Late Series".  In addition to updating all the Marines cards, they added five other cards.  Three of these were late signing American players - Kevin Mitchell, Terry Bross and Rich Monteleone - but the other two were cards of Tatsuji Nishimura and Masato Yoshii, who had been traded for each other earlier in the year.  Their new cards replaced their original cards in the set.  Here's the original and "Late Series" cards for each of them:

1995 BBM #161 (1), Late Series #650 (r)

1995 BBM #144 (1), Late Series #649 (r)

I was not expecting there to be any "multiple team" players in the 2002-04 sets so imagine my surprise when my program found one in the 2002 sets.  Lions pitcher Takehiro Hashimoto was traded in May of that year to the Tigers for Tom Evans:

2002 BBM 1st Version #248 (l), 2nd Version #603 (r)

Evans, by the way, didn't appear in either flagship set with either team but his trade was reflected in a couple of other BBM sets:

2002 BBM Tigers #T58 (l), Nippon Series #S47 (r)

I should note that I did not expand my searches to see if players appeared with multiple teams in BBM sets other than the flagship sets, mostly because I only have complete runs of BBM's team sets from 2015 on.  That may be a future project.  In this particular case, I just happened to check to see what cards I had of Evans and I got lucky.

With the change in how BBM was doing the 1st and 2nd Version sets that started in 2005, we started getting updates that were more like the traditional "Update" sets in the US for MLB, where a player could possibly be on two cards with the same design in the same year.  In other words, more like the 1995 examples above and not like the 2002 ones.  2005's 1st Version set saw only two players who appeared in 2nd Version on a different team and the two of them had been traded for each other:

2005 BBM 1st Version #17 (l), 2nd Version #570 (r)

2005 BBM 1st Version #331 (l), 2nd Version #560 (r)

There were three players in the 2006 2nd Version set who had been with different teams in the 1st Version set.  Two of the players were involved in the same trade but were not traded for each other - the Baystars sent Ryotaro (Doi) and Ryusuke Minami to the Marines for Shigetoshi Yamakita.  Yamakita had a card in the 2nd Version set but not the 1st.

2006 BBM 1st Version #298 (l), 2nd Version #502 (r)

2006 BBM 1st Version #319 (l), 2nd Version #506 (r)

The other player, Takuya Kimura, was traded from the Carp to the Giants for Shinsuke Yamada who did not appear in either flagship set that year (although he did appear in both the team sets for both the Carp and Giants while Kimura didn't appear in either team set):

2006 BBM 1st Version #420 (l), 2nd Version #521 (r)

Three years would pass before BBM would include another player with an updated team in 2nd Version.  It's not quite as long as it sounds, though, as the 2008 2nd Version set did not include a "1st Version Update" subset so it was really just one set (2007) without such a player.  Yasutomo Kubo was traded from the Marines to the Tigers for Kentaro Hashimoto in early March of that year.  (Hashimoto appears in the 2nd Version set but not 1st Version and, due to the timing of the set releases, doesn't appear in either team set that year.  Kubo appears in both the Marines and Tigers team sets.)

2009 BBM 1st Version #114 (l), 2nd Version #781 (r)

2010 saw four players in the 2nd Version set that were with a different team in 1st Version, none of whom were traded for each other.  Shintaro Eijiri was traded from the Fighters to the Baystars for Yuya Ishii who only appeared in the 2nd Version set.  The trade happened early enough that the two players appeared in the team sets for their new teams.

2010 BBM 1st Version #227 (l), 2nd Version #746 (r)

Yuji Yoshimi was sold by the Baystars to the Marines.  The timing of the transaction was such that he appeared in the team set for both teams.

2010 BBM 1st Version #186 (l), 2nd Version #760 (r)

Another player, Yusuke Kawasaki, was sold by the Marines to the Tigers.  He's only in the Tigers team set.

2010 BBM 1st Version #364 (l), 2nd Version #740 (r)

The final player for 2010 is a little unusual in that his 2nd Version card was a "regular" card as opposed to a "1st Version Update" card.  Masayuki Hasegawa along with Go Kida were traded from the Carp to the Buffaloes for Yuichiro Mukae.  All three players are in the 2nd Version set but Mukae is the only one in the "1st Version Update" subset as Kida has a "regular" card like Hasegawa.  All three players are with the original teams in BBM's team sets.

2010 BBM 1st Version #155 (l), 2nd Version #715 (r)

2011 had only one player switch teams between 1st and 2nd Version.  Fighters infielder Shinji Takahashi was sold to the Giants mid-season - after the Giants set was published but before the Fighters set was so he managed to miss both team sets.

2011 BBM 1st Version #092 (l), 2nd Version #443 (r)

Strange as it may seem, there'd only be one more instance after 2011 of a player appearing with one team in 1st Version and another in 2nd Version.  But BBM would introduce the Fusion set in 2016 which would give them a chance to issue cards that reflected transactions later in the season than 2nd Version did.  2nd Version typically goes to press around mid-June (if not earlier) but Fusion goes to press at the end of the regular season.  As a result, seven of the nine Fusion sets released between 2016 and 2024 contain at least one player with a different team than in either 1st or 2nd Version (or both).

The first Fusion set to include players on new teams was 2017.  Fighters middle reliever Keisuke Tanimoto would be sold by Nippon-Ham to the Chunichi Dragons in late July, just after Tanimoto had appeared in the All Star game.  Tanimoto would be the first (and I believe only so far) NPB player to change teams in the same season that he was an All Star.  Tanimoto appeared with the Fighters in both the 1st and 2nd Version sets (as well as being in the Fighters team set) but was a Dragon in the Fusion set:

2017 BBM 1st Version #005 (l), 2nd Version #377 (r), Fusion #609 (b)

Tanimoto wasn't the only pitcher the Fighters got rid of mid-season in 2017.  Luis Mendoza was waived by Nippon-Ham in late August and picked up by the Tigers.  He only appeared in 2nd Version set (as well as the Fighters team set).

2017 BBM 2nd Version #373 (l), Fusion #607 (r)

There was a single player in each of the 2018 and 2019 Fusion sets who was with a different team in 1st Version.  In 2018, that player was Hikaru Itoh, who was traded with Ken Akama from the Buffaloes to the Baystars for Shuto Takajoh and Hiroyuki Shirasaki.  Shirasaki was the only other player from the trade who also appeared in Fusion.

2018 BBM 1st Version #091 (l), Fusion #608 (r)

In 2019, Masato Matsui was traded with Yusuke Matsui (no relation) from the Dragons to the Buffaloes for Takahiro Matsuba and Kengo Takeda.  Takeda and the other Matsui were also included in Fusion.

2019 BBM 1st Version #283 (l), Fusion #606 (r)

The final (to date) occurrence of a player being with one team in 1st Version and a different team in 2nd Version happened in 2020.  Zelous Wheeler was traded by the Eagles to the Giants for Shun Ikeda just after the COVID-delayed start of the season.  Oddly enough, Ikeda did not appear in 2nd Version but showed up in Fusion (but not in 1st Version which he isn't listed here).

2020 BBM 1st Version #070 (l), 2nd Version #357 (r)

Another player whose mid-season change of scenery in 2020 was reflected on BBM's baseball cards was pitcher DJ Johnson who was sold by the Carp to the Eagles late in the season.  It was kind of an odd transaction given that Johnson was in his first (and ultimately only) season in NPB (unlike Wheeler, who was in his sixth).

2020 BBM 1st Version #251 (l), Fusion #603 (r)

2021 would see four 1st Version players appear with new teams in the Fusion set, the most since 2010.  For the first time since 2005, this would include two players who were traded for each other.  The Lions traded Fumikazu Kimura and Ryusei Satoh to the Fighters for Shota Hiranuma and Katsuhiko Kumon.  All four players were in Fusion but only Kimura and Hiranuma were in 1st Version:

2021 BBM 1st Version #074 (l), Fusion #614 (r)

2021 BBM 1st Version #125 (l), Fusion #609 (r)

Akira Niho was traded by the Hawks to the Tigers for Masahiro Nakatani.  Nakatani was not in either 1st Version or Fusion and, due to the timing of the trade, wasn't in either the Hawks or Tigers team sets that year either.  Niho, on the other hand, was in both team sets as well as the two flagship sets:

2021 BBM 1st Version #002 (l), Fusion #618 (r)

The blockbuster trade of 2021, however, was Sho Nakata being sent by the Fighters to the Giants for...nothing.  Nakata had been suspended by the Fighters in early August for assaulting a teammate at an exhibition game while the season was on hold for the Tokyo Olympics.  I'm not sure how much of the details of the incident have been made public (I'm going off this section of Nakata's Japanese Wikipedia page) but the Fighters treated it seriously enough that Nakata was banished from the team.  Two weeks after the incident in question, he was sent to Yomiuri in a "free trade" - a trade in which the Fighters got nothing in return (other than Nakata off the team permanently).  Nakata had been in both 1st and 2nd Version as a Fighter but a Giant in Fusion:

2021 BBM 1st Version #120 (l), 2nd Version #452 (c), Fusion #617 (r)

The next player with an updated team wouldn't happen for two years.  In 2023, the Fighters sent Shingo Usami and Koki Saitoh to the Dragons for Takumi Yamamoto and Yuya Gunji.  Usami was the only one of the four to appear with both teams in BBM's flagship sets although Gunji would also appear in Fusion.

2023 BBM 1st Version #147 (l), Fusion #621 (r)

And the final player with an updated team was the one that piqued my curiosity about this topic.  Gakuto Wakabayashi was traded by the Lions to the Giants last June for Seiya Matsubara.  Wakabayashi was actually in 2nd Version instead of 1st:

2024 BBM 2nd Version #570 (l), Fusion #606 (r)

I've been working on this post for the better part of a month so it's nice to finally finish it.  I'll probably revisit this topic in a couple months when I get the rest of my 2024 teams sets from Ryan - I'll have the full run of BBM team sets from 2015-24 then and I can see how many players appeared in more than one team sets in a year.