Through a link that Jason left in a comment the other day, it looks like I've found information on three BBM sets that have not been listed on their website yet. It looks like the 2010 Tokyo Big Six Spring Version will be released soon. The webpage says that it's a boxed set with 37 cards (36 "regular" cards plus an insert card). If that's accurate, that means the set will be 24 cards smaller than the previous two years.
There's a Giants boxed set called "Real Beginning". It also is apparently a 37 card boxed set (36 "regular" card plus an insert card). There is also a listing for the Orix Buffaloes pack based team set.
I believe that the two box sets will be out this month and the Orix set will be out in April. Jason has attempted to have kuboTEN order cards from this site, so if anyone wants to give that a try, have at it.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Omar Linares
One of the comments someone left on the Roberto Barbon post the other day mentioned a really cool website devoted to Cuban baseball - including a section not just cards for Cuban baseball, but cards of Cuban players playing elsewhere in the world, including Japan. The players whose cards are displayed on the page include Barbon, Roman Mejias, Orestes Destrade, Ozzie Canseco and Eduardo Perez.
One of the players who was not listed (perhaps because the page has not been updated in a while) was the greatest Cuban player of the 1980's and 1990's - Omar Linares. In 2002, the Cuban government allowed a couple of players to play in Japan. Linares was the only one to play in NPB - the others played in the industrial leagues. Linares played for the Dragons from mid 2002 through the 2004 season. His final appearance for Chunichi was in the 2004 Nippon Series. He did not play particularly well in Japan, but he was in his mid to late 30's and was slowed by injuries. (Although I must add - he kicked butt in the 04 Series - hitting .389 with 3 doubles and 2 home runs - I suspect he received strong consideration for the "Fighting Spirit" award won by Kazuki Inoue.)
Linares did not have many baseball cards in Japan. As far as I can tell, there are no cards of him from 2002 at all, and the only 2003 card I've seen of him is from an oddball deck of cards that doubles as a Dragons team set put out by Chunichi Sports celebrating their 50th Anniversary. He has four 2004 cards - BBM 2nd Version #683, BBM Dragons #D53, BBM Dragons Central League Champs #C27 and BBM Nippon Series #52. He does not appear to have any Calbee cards at all.
Here's the only two Japanese cards I own of Linares - the 2003 Chunichi Sports card and the 2004 BBM Nippon Series card:
I do have a couple of other cards of Linares. There was some sort of "World All Star Game" played in Fulton-County Stadium in Atlanta in 1990. A 52 card set commemorating the game was produced - if I recall correctly, it was originally sold through ads in hobby magazines for some ridiculous price - maybe $25. I got mine on eBay 10 years later for peanuts. Other than the Cuban players (Linares, Orestes Kindelan, Antonio Pacheco and Lazaro Valle), the biggest name in the set is probably Rikkert Faneyte from The Netherlands. (Japan's Ken Suzuki is the other Ken Suzuki - the one who pitched for the Carp in 1993 and 1995). Linares actually has two cards in the set - his "regular" card (#4) and a game highlight card (#43):
In 1994, a Canadian company put out a 132 card set of players from Cuba - I'm not positive but I think it was from some sort of "super league" rather than the normal Serie Nacional - there are only four teams represented and they are the Centrales, Habana, Occidentales and Orientales. Linares of course had a card in the set (#8):
On a personal note, I got to see Linares play against the Orioles when the Cuban National team came to Baltimore in June of 1999. Now, I'm not positive, but I think this is a picture of him batting (I was in the right field corner, and it was 11 years ago, so I can't say for sure it's him):
One of the players who was not listed (perhaps because the page has not been updated in a while) was the greatest Cuban player of the 1980's and 1990's - Omar Linares. In 2002, the Cuban government allowed a couple of players to play in Japan. Linares was the only one to play in NPB - the others played in the industrial leagues. Linares played for the Dragons from mid 2002 through the 2004 season. His final appearance for Chunichi was in the 2004 Nippon Series. He did not play particularly well in Japan, but he was in his mid to late 30's and was slowed by injuries. (Although I must add - he kicked butt in the 04 Series - hitting .389 with 3 doubles and 2 home runs - I suspect he received strong consideration for the "Fighting Spirit" award won by Kazuki Inoue.)
Linares did not have many baseball cards in Japan. As far as I can tell, there are no cards of him from 2002 at all, and the only 2003 card I've seen of him is from an oddball deck of cards that doubles as a Dragons team set put out by Chunichi Sports celebrating their 50th Anniversary. He has four 2004 cards - BBM 2nd Version #683, BBM Dragons #D53, BBM Dragons Central League Champs #C27 and BBM Nippon Series #52. He does not appear to have any Calbee cards at all.
Here's the only two Japanese cards I own of Linares - the 2003 Chunichi Sports card and the 2004 BBM Nippon Series card:
I do have a couple of other cards of Linares. There was some sort of "World All Star Game" played in Fulton-County Stadium in Atlanta in 1990. A 52 card set commemorating the game was produced - if I recall correctly, it was originally sold through ads in hobby magazines for some ridiculous price - maybe $25. I got mine on eBay 10 years later for peanuts. Other than the Cuban players (Linares, Orestes Kindelan, Antonio Pacheco and Lazaro Valle), the biggest name in the set is probably Rikkert Faneyte from The Netherlands. (Japan's Ken Suzuki is the other Ken Suzuki - the one who pitched for the Carp in 1993 and 1995). Linares actually has two cards in the set - his "regular" card (#4) and a game highlight card (#43):
In 1994, a Canadian company put out a 132 card set of players from Cuba - I'm not positive but I think it was from some sort of "super league" rather than the normal Serie Nacional - there are only four teams represented and they are the Centrales, Habana, Occidentales and Orientales. Linares of course had a card in the set (#8):
On a personal note, I got to see Linares play against the Orioles when the Cuban National team came to Baltimore in June of 1999. Now, I'm not positive, but I think this is a picture of him batting (I was in the right field corner, and it was 11 years ago, so I can't say for sure it's him):
Calbee Series 1 is in stores...
...and Yakyu Baka has a post with a picture!
Update: Deanna has been opening packs as well. I'm curious as to when Calbee started putting two cards in a pack. The last time I had any unopened packs was 2004 and they were still one card to a pack.
Update: Deanna has been opening packs as well. I'm curious as to when Calbee started putting two cards in a pack. The last time I had any unopened packs was 2004 and they were still one card to a pack.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Chico Barbon
The New York Times ran an article last week on Robert "Chico" Barbon, the first Cuban player in Japan. He played for the Hankyu Braves from 1955-64 and then for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1965. The article is well worth the read and gives me the opportunity to show off the only cards I have of him.
This first card is the only one I have that came out while he was an active player. It's from the 1960 Marusho "4 In 1" set. Barbon's card is in the upper right corner. (Out of completeness, the players on the top row from left to right are Yoshitaka Nishio of the Tigers, an unknown Braves player, an unknown Orions player and Barbon. The bottom row is Kenjiro Tamiya of the Flyers, an unknown Buffaloes catcher, Kunimitsu Yanouchi of the Buffaloes and Kazuhiko Kondo of the Whales.)
A couple more recent cards:
1994 BBM "Nostalgic Stars" subset #538
2009 BBM Hankyu Braves Memorial #21
This first card is the only one I have that came out while he was an active player. It's from the 1960 Marusho "4 In 1" set. Barbon's card is in the upper right corner. (Out of completeness, the players on the top row from left to right are Yoshitaka Nishio of the Tigers, an unknown Braves player, an unknown Orions player and Barbon. The bottom row is Kenjiro Tamiya of the Flyers, an unknown Buffaloes catcher, Kunimitsu Yanouchi of the Buffaloes and Kazuhiko Kondo of the Whales.)
A couple more recent cards:
1994 BBM "Nostalgic Stars" subset #538
2009 BBM Hankyu Braves Memorial #21
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Card Of The Week March 7
For no other reason than I feel like showing off an old card, here's a pair of cards from the 1959 Doyusha Game Set. On the right left is Kazuhiro Yamauchi of the Daimai Orions and on the left right is Masaichi Kaneda of the Kokutetsu Swallows.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Bullet Points
(This post's title is offered with apologies to Maximo Nelson...)
- Jason told me about an interesting blog called The Infinite Baseball Card Set whose author is has designed and illustrated his own set of virtual baseball cards. Card #4 is of Eiji Sawamura.
- A friend of mine at work alerted me to an episode of a show on the Travel Channel called Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in which Mr. Bourdain visits Osaka. Among other things, he joins an Oendan group for the Tigers at both a bar and later in the episode at a game. I was a little disappointed that instead of being at Koshien, the game he attended was at the Osaka Dome, but it was still pretty cool to get a chance to see a little of what it's like to go to a ballgame in Japan. Actually, the whole episode is pretty interesting, even the non-baseball related parts.
- This shouldn't have surprised me. I'm pretty sure that the only legitimate card of Eri Yoshida was a special card produced by BBM late in 2008 or early in 2009 - it may have been an insert in BBM's baseball card magazine. I saw it up on eBay once but didn't try to get it. As far as I know, none of the independent teams in Japan have had baseball card sets (at least I haven't seen them on kuboTen). And as far as I can tell, the Yuma Scorpions have not had a recent baseball card set (and the winter league version of the team probably has never had one). As the eBay listing says, this is a "custom" card - i.e. an unlicensed fake one. To his credit, the seller is not trying to claim that it is anything else (and he's not selling any graded versions of the card either - at least not yet).
- Jason told me about an interesting blog called The Infinite Baseball Card Set whose author is has designed and illustrated his own set of virtual baseball cards. Card #4 is of Eiji Sawamura.
- A friend of mine at work alerted me to an episode of a show on the Travel Channel called Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in which Mr. Bourdain visits Osaka. Among other things, he joins an Oendan group for the Tigers at both a bar and later in the episode at a game. I was a little disappointed that instead of being at Koshien, the game he attended was at the Osaka Dome, but it was still pretty cool to get a chance to see a little of what it's like to go to a ballgame in Japan. Actually, the whole episode is pretty interesting, even the non-baseball related parts.
- This shouldn't have surprised me. I'm pretty sure that the only legitimate card of Eri Yoshida was a special card produced by BBM late in 2008 or early in 2009 - it may have been an insert in BBM's baseball card magazine. I saw it up on eBay once but didn't try to get it. As far as I know, none of the independent teams in Japan have had baseball card sets (at least I haven't seen them on kuboTen). And as far as I can tell, the Yuma Scorpions have not had a recent baseball card set (and the winter league version of the team probably has never had one). As the eBay listing says, this is a "custom" card - i.e. an unlicensed fake one. To his credit, the seller is not trying to claim that it is anything else (and he's not selling any graded versions of the card either - at least not yet).
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Card Of The Week February 28
OK, really late this week. I spent last weekend in New Orleans for the Mardi Gras Marathon and I've spent this week recovering - both from the run (I ran the Half Marathon) and the city. Nothing like recovering from a run with a hand grenade at Tropical Isle and some beignets from Cafe Du Monde.
So anyway, I thought I'd celebrate my first trip to both Louisiana and the Big Easy with a card of a Louisiana native. Here's a 2007 Konami Baseball Heroes 3 Black Edition card of Andy Sheets, from Baton Rouge (although he does have a New Orleans connection as he attended Tulane as well as LSU).
So anyway, I thought I'd celebrate my first trip to both Louisiana and the Big Easy with a card of a Louisiana native. Here's a 2007 Konami Baseball Heroes 3 Black Edition card of Andy Sheets, from Baton Rouge (although he does have a New Orleans connection as he attended Tulane as well as LSU).
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