New BBM sets

OK, I'm going to pat myself on the back for a second here. When I wrote up the Yokohama 30th Anniversary set last month, I had some comments about possible future Anniversary sets that BBM could do. Well, I nailed at least one of those. On BBM's website today came news of a 40th Anniversary Lotte set.

In 1969, the Korean company Lotte bought the Tokyo Orions. (I'm trying to figure out who actually owned them before that - it looks like it might be a combination of Daiei and Mainichi. The team was known as the Daimai Orions for a couple of years after the Daiei Stars and Mainichi Orions merged in 1958.) The team was kind of nomadic for a few years after Lotte bought them, playing in Tokyo, then Sendai (in the stadium the Eagles play in now), then Kawasaki (after the Whales moved to Yokohama) then finally to their current home in Chiba City in 1992. Upon arriving in Chiba City, the team changed its name from the Lotte Orions to the Chiba Lotte Marines.

The set looks kind of like the other anniversary sets. There's a six card "history" subset, 75 cards of OB players (which I'm going to assume may include former Lotte players still active in either NPB or MLB but I don't know that for sure) and 18 cards of current (2008) Marines. There's the usual assortment of insert and memorabilia cards also. The set hits the stores on November 22.

Also newly listed on the BBM website today is their 2009 entry in the "Historic Collection" series. If you recall, last year's set was "Back To The 70's" which featured OB players who starred in the 1970's and current players who were born in the 1970's. This year, BBM has decided to continue in that vein with "Back To The 80's", featuring 72 OB players who starred in the 1980's and 72 current players who were born in the 1980's. The set will also have the usual inserts and memorabilia cards and will be in stores on November 28.

I really want to like the "Historic Collection" cards, but BBM has been making it hard. This year's theme is the dumbest they've had since...well, last year. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the OB players - stars of the 70's and 80's makes sense. Doing a "Stars of..." for earlier decades would be kind of cool too. But insisting that the same number of current players as OB players fit whatever the theme is is a recipe for a lousy set. (That said, I'll probably still pick up the set if I can get it reasonably cheap or at least get some packs.)

On the plus side, I don't think BBM will be able to do a "Back to the 90's" set next year unless they want to only have a 50 card set.

Card Of The Week November 9

The Saitama Seibu Lions defeated the Yomiuri Giants 3-2 today to win Game 7 and the Nippon Series. This was the Lions' 13th championship (10th under Seibu's ownership) and extends the Giants championship drought to at least 7 years (2002-2009). (The record for longest time the Giants have gone between championships is 8 years, which has happened twice - from 1973 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1989 - so it's in reach.)

Lions pitcher Takayuki Kishi was named Series MVP. Here's his rookie card from the 2007 BBM 1st Version set (#68):


So the Asia Series will kick off later this week (I think) as the "Three Lions and a Wyvern Series" with the Saitama Seibu Lions, the Tianjin Lions (CBL), the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (CPBL) and the SK Wyverns (KBO).

2008 Sawamura Award

Earlier this week, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma won this year's Sawamura Award.


(2008 BBM 1st #330)

Vote!

Ichiro reminds you to vote!

(2000 BBM All Stars #A67)

WBC Preview Set

If I wasn't clear the other day, the new Topps WBC Preview set shows MLB players from the 2006 WBC in their WBC uniforms. Here's the Akinori Iwamura card (#WBC4):

Card Of The Week November 2

Lions pitcher Hideaki Wakui pitched eight innings of one hit ball and defeated the Giants 2-1 in Game One of the Nippon Series yesterday. Here's his 2005 BBM 1st Version rookie card (#37):


I'm pulling for the Lions not simply because they're playing the Giants (and they are probably my favorite Pacific League team), but also because I'd like to see as much of this happen as is possible. Now, since that post appeared, the Samsung Lions were eliminated in the KBO (the SK Wyverns won the championship the other day), so four Lions is no longer possible. However, the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions could still win the CPBL (Taiwan) championship (Game 7 is probably finishing as I write this), so a three Lions series is still possible. We should be able to find out by checking here later.

Update: It is at least a two Lion Series.

WBC News

Giants manager Tatsunori Hara was named manager of Japan's World Baseball Classic team last week. Hara will be replacing Sadaharu Oh, something he should be familiar with since he replaced Oh in the Giants lineup back in 1981. (The card above is from the 2002 BBM Giants set, card #G1.)

In other WBC news, it appears that Topps has replaced Upper Deck as the official card producer for the tournament. The new Topps "Updates and Highlights" set features a 25 card insert set that they're calling the "2009 WBC Preview" set. It contains cards of players who appeared in the 2006 WBC. I think all the players in the set are in MLB or at least signed to MLB teams with the exception of Paul Bell, a South African player who used to be in the Brewers organization.

There are four Japanese players in the set - Ichiro, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kosuke Fukudome and Akinori Iwamura. Neither Fukudome or Iwamura appeared in either Upper Deck's WBC box set or Inaugural Images set, although I think Fukudome appeared in one of the other couple of insert sets Upper Deck scattered WBC players through in 2006.

Hopefully, Topps will do a better job than Upper Deck with the 2009 cards. I'd like something akin to Upper Deck's 1994 World Cup set, but that may be asking too much.