Back History

I've been wanting to do a post on NPB card backs for years but I've never gotten around to it.  I started working on one today but it's morphing into something else so I'm just going to go with the flow.  You might need to forgive me for getting kind of deep in the weeds here.

One interesting aspect of the back of BBM's cards is that they have a list of the teams that the player has played on.  Now, I don't mean just the teams listed in the player's statistical record, I mean...well, it'll be easier to show you what I'm talking about.  Here's the back of Hideaki Wakui's card from last year's 1st Version set (#303):

I put a red oval around the part I wanted to highlight - this lists all the teams that Wakui has played for:

横浜高 = Yokohama High School

西武 = Seibu

ロッテ = Lotte

楽天 = Rakuten

中日 = Chunichi

It also indicates that he was drafted in the first round and his first season with the Lions was 2005.  This is a little confusing as he was the team's first round pick in the fall, 2004 draft.  But since the draft is held after the season is over, his first season would have been the following year.  It also indicates that he went to the Marines in 2014, the Eagles in 2020 and the Dragons in 2023.

So big deal, you may be saying to yourself, besides the high school and the draft position, I can see all that in the statistical record.  True but what about other teams that don't show up in the statistical record.  Take a look here at Daigo Kamikawabata's data from his 2023 1st Version card (#148):

This lists his high school (倉敷商高 = Kurashiki Commercial High School), his college (日本大 = Nihon University), his industrial league team (NTT東日本 = NTT East) and then that he was the ninth round pick of the Fighters (北海道日本ハム= Hokkaido Nippon-Ham) in the 2021 draft with his first season with the team being 2022.

The independent league teams are included in these histories too.  Let's look at Katsuya Kakunaka's 2-2023 1st Version card (#127):

The first blurb again is his high school but the second one is for the Shikoku Island League's (四国IL) Kochi (高知) Fighting Dogs from where he was drafted by Lotte in the seventh round of the 2006 draft.

The history doesn't just indicate which team but whether the player is on the 70 man roster or the development roster.  Consider Takuya Kai's 1st Version card from last year (#038):

You can probably recognize now that this is saying he was a sixth round pick for Softbank (ソフトバンク) in 2010 but what's that 育 symbol mean?  That indicates that it was the development player (ikusei) portion of the draft.  The "14" indicates that he was signed to the 70 man roster in 2014.

BBM includes these histories on the card backs in almost all their sets.  Check out Shota Fukushima's card from the 2023 Dragons set (#D28):

What happened here?  Fukushima was drafted by the Dragons in the fourth round in 2020 but got injured during the 2021 season.  Chunichi basically released him and resigned him as an ikusei player after that season which explains the "22 育".  Once his rehab was complete, the Dragons brought him back to the 70 man roster which is reflected in the "23" here.

It's not just teams in Japan that are listed.  Check out Norichika Aoki's list from his 1st Version card last year (#182):

So what we have here is high school (日向高 = Hyuga High School), college (早稲田大 - Waseda University) and his first stint with Yakult (ヤクルト) from 2004 to 2011 followed by his MLB odyssey - Brewers (ブルワーズ), Royals (ロイヤルズ), Giants (ジャイアンツ), Mariners (マリナーズ), Astros (アストロズ), Blue Jays (ブルージェイズ) and Mets (メッツ).  He then returned to Yakult in 2018.  I do find it interesting that BBM treats MLB the same way they treat any non-NPB team in that they don't indicate the years that the player was with that particular team.

What if the player went to MLB but only ended up playing in the minors?  Hiroyuki Nakajima had signed with Oakland in 2013 but spent his two years in their organization in the minor leagues.  Let's see what the back of his 2023 Giants card (#G37) looked like:

So after his stint with Seibu from 2001 to 2012, he's listed as being with the Athletics ( アスレチックス) but in the minor leagues (マイナー) before going to Orix (オリックス) in 2015.

Does BBM do this for foreign players?  Yes, they do.  Let's take a look at the back of Marwin Gonzalez's 1st Version card (#338):

Not only does it list his major league teams, it also has his Venezuelan high school (ラ・セイヨ高 = La Seillo High School although the Google translation might not be correct) which his Baseball-Reference page doesn't even have!  The next team listed is the Cubs who he originally signed with.  He only played in their organization though, he was traded away before reaching the majors.  The remainder of the list has the Astros (アストロズ), Twins (ツインズ), Red Sox (レッドソックス), Astros (アストロズ) again, and Yankees (ヤンキース) before listing him joining Orix (オリックス) for 2023.

The back of Dayan Viciedo's card (#311) isn't quite as complete:

We've still got his high school (エスクエラ・デポルテ・エスパ高 = Escuela Deporte Espa High School in Villa Clara, Cuba I think) but instead of listing the Cuban team he played for (Villa Clara) it just generically lists "Cuban League" (キューバリーグ).  It also only lists his time with the White Sox (ホワイトソックス) and not the time he spent in the Oakland organization.

Courtney Hawkins's career has seen him move back and forth from independent ball to MLB organizations a couple of times and the back of his card (#047) kind of just gives up and describes it generically:

So after the usual listing of his high school (メアリー・キャロル高 = Mary Carroll High School) it simply lists "US minor league" (米マイナーリーグ) and "US independent league" (米 独立リーグ) before it has him joining Softbank (ソフトバンク) for 2023.

BBM does this sort of thing for managers too.  For them, they list the teams that he was with as a player as well as the teams that he coached for.  That's "coached" for, not "managed" for, so the listing of teams after the manager's playing days is not just the teams he managed.  Let's look at Akinobu Okada's card (#217) to see how this works:

So we've got Hokuyo High School (北陽高) and Waseda University (早稲田大) and then he was the first pick of the Tigers (阪神) in the 1979 draft and started his career in 1980.  He finished his career with the Orix BlueWave (オリックス which is literally just "Orix") in 1994-95 and then became a coach for them in 1996-97.  I'm not sure what "引" after "95" is for as it is literally translating as "pull" but I think it's meant to indicate the end of his playing career.  He moved on to "coach" for Hanshin from 1998 to 2008 - note that there's no distinction between between his stint as a coach for the team from 1998 to 2003 and his managing the team from 2004-08.  Since 2009 his "coaching" stints have only been managerial roles, running Orix from 2010 to 2012 and Hanshin starting in 2023.

As you might expect, some of these can get really complicated.  Let's look at Shingo Takatsu's card (#163):

Takatsu's career took him from NPB to MLB, back to NPB and then to Korea, back to the US (the Giants organization) and then to CPBL before it ended in the indy Baseball Challenge League.  So we have the following:

広島工業 = Hiroshima Tech High School

亜細亜大 = Asia University

ヤクルト = Yakult (third round pick in 1990, in the organization from 1991 to 2003)

ホワイトソックス = White Sox

メッツ = Mets

ヤクルト = Yakult (in the organization from 2006 to 2007)

韓国/ウリ = Woori Heroes of the KBO (literally "South Korea/Woori")

米マイナーリーグ = literally "US minor league" (he pitched for Fresno, the Giants Triple-A team)

台湾/興農 = Sinon Bulls of the CPBL (literally "Taiwan/Sinon")

BCL/新潟 = Niigata Albirex of the Baseball Challenge League (literally "BCL/Niigata") where he pitched in 2011 and 12.  He also coached for them in 2012 although I don't think that's clear here.

With the "引" denoting the end of his playing career, he started coaching for Yakult in 2014 although he did not become the team's manager until 2020.

Here's another busy one.  See if you can figure out who this is:

Here's his list:

箕島高 = Minoshima High School

近鉄 = Kintetsu (second round pick in 1983, in the organization from 1984 to 1994)

ヤクルト = Yakult (in the organization from 1995 to 1997)

メッツ = Mets

ロッキーズ = Rockies

エクスポズ = Expos

オリックス = Orix (in the organization from 2003 to 2007)

ロッテ = Lotte (in the organization in 2007 when he retired as a player - I think that symbol is meant to indicate he joined the team mid-season but I'm not sure)

He was then a coach for:

北海道日本ハム = the Fighters from 2008 to 2012

ソフトバンク = the Hawks in 2015

北海道日本ハム = the Fighters again from 2016 to 2018

ロッテ = the Marines from 2019 to 2021 and then again starting in 2023.

This is, of course, Marines manager Masato Yoshii.

I've probably beaten this subject to death but I just wanted to share something that I find really cool on the backs of BBM's baseball cards.

Madonna Japan Members In Australia

The 2024 Australian Women's Showcase will be played next week in Lismore, New South Wales and there are five members of Madonna Japan, the Japanese women's national team, who will be participating in it.  Three of those five are veterans of the Japan Women's Baseball League (JWBL) so I thought I'd do a quick post on them.

2018 Epoch JWBL #52

Akari Hoshikawa played four seasons in the JWBL with Reia (2017), Kyoto Flora (2018) and Aichi Dione (2019-20).  2019 was probably her best season when she hit .339 and had a league leading .480 on-base-percentage.  She won the Best Nine award that year at third base.   Since leaving the JWBL (and the league folding), she's been playing for the Awaji Brave Oceans.

2018 Epoch JWBL #53

Tamaki Muramatsu was probably the best catcher in the JWBL's final couple seasons.  She spent five years in the league with her first two seasons with Reia, which was essentially a farm team for the other three teams in the league.  When she graduated to the Kyoto Flora in 2018 she hit .331 and won the Rookie Of The Year award and her first Best 9 award.  She led the league in RBIs in 2019 and won a second Best 9 award.  After the league folded, she was a founding member of the Hanshin Tigers women's team although she ultimately only played for them for one year.  She's been playing for the Hatsukaichi Sun Blaze since 2022.

2018 Epoch JWBL #27

Miwa Naraoka spent six seasons (2013-18) playing for Saitama Astraia and had a career batting average of .311.  She won three Best Nine awards (2016-18), two Golden Gloves (2016-17) and led the league in hits in 2016.  She also pitched in a handful of games in 2014-15.  After retiring from the JWBL, she spent several years playing for the Agec Women's Baseball Club before founding the Kyushu Honeys with Yuki Kawabata.

It doesn't look like either of the other two players, Erika Nakae and Miwa Tanaka, ever played in the JWBL.  Tanaka is currently a member of the Yomiuri Giants' women's team but I'm not sure what team Nakae plays for.

The tournament will be held from May 9th through the 12th and features the Adelaide Giants, Brisbane Bandits and Victoria Aces.  Hoshikawa, Muramatsu and Tanaka will be joining Adelaide for the weekend while Nakae and Naraoka will be with the Aces.

Card Of The Week April 28

For the past eight years or so, an outfit called variously "Hits", "TIC" or "216 Co., Ltd." has issued sets of  "mini colored paper" or "mini shikishi" - basically oversized (5 1/2 inches wide by 4 3/4 inches high).  The sets are generally (but not alway) small (20-ish card) team sets with the teams in question usually being the Hawks, Swallows, Carp and Baystars.  I kind of pooh-pooh these cards some but Ryan had sent me some a few years back and I was surprised to discover they were more attractive then I thought.  I'll have to keep an eye out for more of them when I'm in Japan next month.

I thought I'd share this 2019 "mini colored paper" card of a guy who had a very good first month in MLB - Shota Imanaga of the Cubs.  He's made five starts and gone 4-0 with 28 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings.  He's only walked three and given up five runs although only three of those were earned.  His ERA is a microscopic 0.98.  I don't know if he'll be able to continue this success but it's been fun to watch so far.

Wally Yonamine Of The San Francisco Seals

I was surprised a few months back to discover that there was a baseball card featuring Japanese Baseball Hall Of Famer Wally Yonamine as a member of the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.  Yonamine was an American of Japanese descent who was born in Hawaii in 1925.  He was drafted into the Army just before World War II ended and spent most of his time in the service playing sports.  He briefly played football with the San Francisco 49ers after getting out of the Army but was released after getting injured playing baseball.  He was signed by San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O'Doul in 1950 but didn't play for them - they farmed him out to Salt Lake City in the Pioneer League.  After hitting .335 with the Bees he was expected to join the Seals for 1951 but instead was convinced by O'Doul to go to Japan.  The Yomiuri Giants owner wanted to bring American players back into professional baseball in Japan (there had been a handful of Americans playing in Japan before the war) and Yonamine became the first American to play in Japan after the war.  The rest is history.  (If you're interested in reading more about Yonamine, I highly recommend Rob Fitts' book "Wally Yonamine - The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball".)

The gist of all this is that while Yonamine had been the property of the Seals, he never actually appeared in a game for them.  So imagine my surprise a few months ago when I went over to the Trading Card Database and discovered this as the "Random Card Of The Day":

The card is from something that TCDB identifies as the "2015 Carl Aldana 1950 Sommer & Kaufmann San Francisco Seals" which is quite a mouthful.  It looks like it's a reprint of an original 1950 set but that's not the case.  There were apparently Seals sets in 1948 and 1949 done by Sommer & Kaufman, a boy's clothing shop in San Francisco.  In 2015 a collector named Carl Aldana produced a "1950" set in a similar style to the two previous sets.  So there is no 1950 Seals card of Yonamine, just a 2015 retro style card of him.  But it's still an interesting card.

Choi Jeong

Today Choi Jeong of the SSG Landers hit his 468th career home run, pushing him past the legendary Lee Seung-yuop to become the all time home run leader in the KBO.  This is Choi's 20th season and he's spent all of them with the SK Wyverns/SSG Landers franchise.

His first baseball card is from Japan, not Korea - he's in the 2009 Konami Baseball Heroes WBC set (he played for the Korean team in the 2009, 2013 and 2023 tournaments as well as the 2019 Premier 12).  His first Korean baseball card was from the 2010 KBO Game Set but his first LICENSED Korean baseball card was from the 2014 Ntreev Duael Super Star Baseball Season 1 set.  Here's an assortment of his cards:

2009 Konami Baseball Heroes WBC #W09R129

2010 KBO Game Set #AW-007

2014 Ntreev Duael Super Star Baseball Season 1 #SBC01-071

2015 Ntreev Duael Super Star Baseball Season 2 #SBC1502-101-N 

2016-17 SMG Ntreev Superstar Black Edition #SBCBK-049-AS

2017 Vittum Home Run Kings #1

2018 SCC KBO Collection 2 Black #SCCR-02B/079

2019 SCC Regular Collection 2 - All Star #SCCR2-19/013

2020 SCC KBO League Premium Collection #SCCP1-20/S13

2021 SCC KBO Golden Premium #SCC-21/S12

He has cards from the last couple years but I don't have any KBO cards later than 2021.

Card Of The Week April 21

There's been a lot of discussion on-line this past week about an error on the back of Hiromi Itoh's card in the new 2024 Calbee Series One set.  Itoh's height is listed as 176 meters (577-ish feet) rather than 176 centimeters (around 5 foot, 10 inches).  Calbee has issued an apology and is offering to exchange the card for a corrected version "at a later date".  

While the error is amusing (Gaijin Baseball on Twitter dubbed it "Kaiju Itoh"), I've been somewhat surprised to see people trying to sell the card for inflated prices on Yahoo! Japan Auctions.  I mean, sure, it's an error card but as far as I can tell, all the Itoh cards have this error.  I've yet to see a corrected version for sale and it remains to be seen if Calbee will correct the card as part of the print run for Series One or just send corrected cards to folks who send in the error cards.

Here's the front and back of the card:

Mail Day From Jason

I wanted to do a quick post about some cards I got in the mail today from my friend Jason.  He'd put a couple interesting memorabilia and autograph cards up on Ebay that I picked up and as usual he threw in a bunch of random cards in the package with what I had bought.

First up are the afore mentioned memorabilia and autograph cards:

2022 BBM Genesis /300

2022 BBM Genesis /350

2023 BBM Genesis /200

2023 Epoch Premier Edition #AA-15 /97

The only other card I know was going to be in the package was this 2022 BBM Genesis card of Keita Nakagawa.  Nakagawa is one of the players who was in Genesis that year but none of BBM's flagship sets:

2022 BBM Genesis #060

Jason also threw in some 2023 BBM Genesis cards:

2023 BBM Genesis #020

2023 BBM Genesis #022

2023 BBM Genesis #032

There were also a couple cards from the 2022 Epoch NPB Luxury Collection:

2022 Epoch NPB Luxury Collection #002

022 Epoch NPB Luxury Collection #074

A 2023 Topps 206 Mini card:

2023 Topps 206 #31

And finally two "kira" parallels from the 2023 BBM 2nd Version set:

2023 BBM 2nd Version #526

2023 BBM 2nd Version #527

Thanks so much, Jason, and, as always, it was a pleasure doing business with you!