Calbee Rookies

I had expressed some surprise last week when I discovered that Seiya Inoue of the Marines had had a Calbee card in 2014 despite not having been a first round pick in the 2013 draft.  I had been under the impression that Calbee didn't do rookie cards of anyone who wasn't a first round pick.  I decided to look into this this week and I discovered that not only was I wrong but also that Calbee's policy on who they do rookie cards for seems to change from year to year.

I want to define my terms here before I go any further.  In general when you talk about "modern" era (post-1990) rookie cards of NPB players, you are talking about cards that are issued for a player in the year after they were drafted.  Keep in mind that the draft historically has been held in late-October or November so it is near impossible for the drafted players to have cards in the year they were drafted (to my knowledge it's only happened with the Epoch One cards in 2018 for the Dragons' picks and 2019 for the picks for the Dragons and Swallows).  Also keep in mind that the "rookie" designation as it applies to baseball cards has no relationship to the player's "rookie" status.  For example the two winners of the Rookie Of The Year Award last season - Munetaka Murakami of the Swallows and Rei Takahashi of the Hawks - were both drafted in the fall of 2017 and their rookie cards are all from 2018.

Since 1994, BBM has done a "regular" card for each of the draft picks (all the non-ikusei draft picks to be exact) in the following year's "flagship" set - so the 1994 set had all the 1993 draft picks, the 1995 set had all the 1994 draft picks, etc.  Epoch has done the same thing with their NPB sets the past three years.  But Calbee doesn't do this.  It's not a huge surprise that they don't since Calbee's "flagship" sets are much smaller than either BBM's or Epoch's.  But as we will see, Calbee has no consistent policy on who gets a rookie card.

2012 Calbee #137

I started getting complete Calbee sets in 2012 so I started my analysis there.  Calbee issued cards for nine rookies that year.  Only three of those players were first round picks.  There were also cards for three second round picks along with a third, fourth and eighth(!) round pick.  All the cards were "regular" player cards - none of the cards appeared in any of the subsets - and all of them were from either Series Two or Series Three.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Fujioka, Takahiro	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two		106
Kamata, Yoshinao	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	2	Three		170
Kawabata, Takayoshi	Orix Buffaloes	8	Three		169
Koishi, Hirotaka	Saitama Seibu Lions	2	Three		161
Masuda, Naoya	Chiba Lotte Marines	4	Three		179
Nakaushiro, Yuhei	Chiba Lotte Marines	2	Three		177
Nomura, Yusuke	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Two		137
Tajima, Shinji	Chunichi Dragons	3	Three		187
Togame, Ken	Saitama Seibu Lions	1	Two		089

2013 Calbee #091

2013 Calbee #D-01

2013 Calbee #AS-22

In 2013, Calbee included 16 rookie cards in their set although one player (Shohei Ohtani) had two cards so there were 15 total rookies in the set.  The bulk of the rookie cards were in a Series Two subset called "Exciting Rookie" that contained a card for each of the 2012 first round draft picks.  Ohtani's other card was in the All Star subset.  The only "regular" rookie cards were for two second rounders and one third rounder.  Once again there were no rookie cards in Series One.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Fujinami, Shintaro	Hanshin Tigers	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-05
Fukutani, Koji	Chunichi Dragons	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-02
Higashihama, Nao	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-09
Ishiyama, Taichi	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-03
Kagiya, Yohei	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	3	Three		197
Masuda, Tatsushi	Saitama Seibu Lions	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-08
Matsuba, Takahiro	Orix Buffaloes	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-12
Matsunaga, Takahiro	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-11
Mishima, Kazuki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	2	Three		190
Mori, Yudai	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-10
Ogawa, Yasuhiro	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	2	Two		091
Ohtani, Shohei	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-07
Ohtani, Shohei	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	Three	All Star	AS-22
Shirasaki, Hiroyuki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-06
Sugano, Tomoyuki	Yomiuri Giants	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-01
Takahashi, Hiroki	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Two	Exciting Rookie	D-04

2014 Calbee #001

2014 Calbee #C-8

Not only did Calbee put rookie cards in Series One in 2014 but the very first card in the checklist that year was a rookie card of Yuki Matsui.  There were 19 total rookie cards in the set which is tied with 2018 for the most in the years that I studied.  Four rookies had multiple cards so there was a total of 15 different rookies with cards in the set - this is the most rookies in a Calbee set from 2012-20.  Almost all the cards were "regular" cards - the only subset cards were two Checklist cards.  There were cards for five of the first round picks, five of the second round picks, one third rounder, two fourth round picks, and one fifth and sixth round pick.  (And I was wrong in my post the other day when I said Ayumu Ishikawa didn't have a card in the set - I had missed his Checklist card.)

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Inoue, Seiya	Chiba Lotte Marines	5	Two		104
Ishikawa, Ayumu	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two	Checklist	C-8
Iwazaki, Suguru	Hanshin Tigers	6	Three		224
Kobayashi, Seiji	Yomiuri Giants	1	Two		132
Kuri, Aren	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2	Two	Checklist	C-7
Kuri, Aren	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2	Three		226
Matsui, Yuki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	One		001
Matsui, Yuki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	Three		169
Mikami, Tomoya	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	4	Three		244
Mori, Tomoya	Saitama Seibu Lions	1	One		010
Nishiura, Naomichi	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	2	Two		162
Ohsera, Daichi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	One		059
Ohsera, Daichi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Three		227
Tohmei, Daiki	Orix Buffaloes	2	Three		201
Toyoda, Takuya	Saitama Seibu Lions	3	Three		177
Umeno, Ryutaro	Hanshin Tigers	4	Three		221
Urano, Hiroshi	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	2	Three		208
Yoshida, Kazumasa	Orix Buffaloes	1	Three		199
Yoshida, Yuta	Chiba Lotte Marines	2	Three		187

2015 Calbee #019

2015 Calbee #ES-19

Calbee went from one of their highest number of rookie cards in 2014 to one of their lowest in 2015.  There were only six rookie cards in this year's set and half of them were in the "Exciting Scene" subset from Series Three.  There were four first rounders, a third rounder and a seventh rounder.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Anraku, Tomohiro	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	One		038
Arihara, Kohei	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	One		019
Nishino, Masahiro	Orix Buffaloes	7	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-14
Noma, Takayoshi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Two		146
Takagi, Hayato	Yomiuri Giants	3	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-19
Yamasaki, Yasuaki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-23

2016 Calbee #034

2016 Calbee #C-6

2016 Calbee #ES-12

Calbee bounced back with over double the number of rookies in 2016 than they'd had in 2015.  There were 13 rookie cards for 10 different players.  Seven first round picks were included along with one pick each from the second, third and fourth rounds.   Eight of the cards were "regular" player cards while the rest were from subsets - three Checklist cards and two "Exciting Scene" cards.  Louis Okoye was the only rookie in Series One.  The bulk of the rookie cards (8 of them) were in Series Two.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Hara, Juri	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1	Two		113
Imanaga, Shota	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Two		144
Imanaga, Shota	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-12
Mogi, Eigoro	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	3	Two		104
Mogi, Eigoro	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	3	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-06
Ogasawara, Shinnosuke	Chunichi Dragons	1	Three		208
Okoye, Louis	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	One		034
Okoye, Louis	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	Three	Checklist	C-11
Sakurai, Toshiki	Yomiuri Giants	1	Two		119
Takayama, Shun	Hanshin Tigers	1	Two	Checklist	C-6
Tobashira, Yasutaka	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	4	Two		141
Yokoyama, Hiroki	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2	Two	Checklist	C-8
Yoshida, Masataka	Orix Buffaloes	1	Two		101

2017 Calbee #D-06

2017 Calbee #C-7

2017 was an unusual year for Calbee.  The "Hokkaido Potato Crisis" that year forced Calbee to cut back on production of potato chips and as a result they ultimately only issued two Series of cards that year.  All 15 of the rookie cards that year were subset cards in Series Two.  Calbee included a "Draft Pick" subset that featured all 12 of the first round picks and three of the four Series Two Checklist cards featured a rookie player.  Two of those Checklist rookies were first round picks leaving third round pick Sosuke Genda as the only non-first round draft pick from 2016 in the set.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Fujihira, Shoma	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-05
Genda, Sosuke	Saitama Seibu Lions	3	Two	Checklist	C-7
Hamaguchi, Haruhiro	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Two	Checklist	C-6
Hamaguchi, Haruhiro	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-09
Hori, Mizuki	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-01
Imai, Tatsuya	Saitama Seibu Lions	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-04
Ohyama, Yusuke	Hanshin Tigers	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-10
Sasaki, Chihaya	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two	Checklist	C-5
Sasaki, Chihaya	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-03
Tanaka, Seigi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-02
Terashima, Naruki	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-11
Yamaoka, Taisuke	Orix Buffaloes	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-06
Yanagi, Yuya	Chunichi Dragons	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-12
Yasaki, Takuya	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-07
Yoshikawa, Naoki	Yomiuri Giants	1	Two	Draft Pick	D-08

2018 Calbee #193

2018 Calbee #D-12

2018 Calbee #C-7

2018 Calbee #ES-05

Calbee issued their standard three Series again in 2018 and included 19 rookie cards in them.  There were multiple cards for five of the players so there were 14 total rookies.  Most of the cards were subset cards and most of those came from the "Dora-Ichi" subset in Series One that featured cards of all 12 first rounders.  The other two rookies were both second round picks.  This was the most diverse in types of rookie cards of all the sets I looked at as there were rookie cards in the "regular" playing cards, the "Exciting Scene" subset and the Checklist cards as well as the "Dora-Ichi" cards.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Azuma, Katsuki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-09
Baba, Kosuke	Hanshin Tigers	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-08
Fujioka, Yudai	Chiba Lotte Marines	2	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-06
Kamizato, Kazuki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	2	Two	Checklist	C-6
Kamizato, Kazuki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	2	Three		193
Kiyomiya, Kotaro	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-05
Kiyomiya, Kotaro	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	Three	Exciting Scene	ES-05
Kondoh, Hiroki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-03
Kuwahara, Takuya	Yomiuri Giants	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-10
Murakami, Munetaka	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-12
Nakamura, Shosei	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-07
Saito, Hiromasa	Saitama Seibu Lions	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-02
Suzuki, Hiroshi	Chunichi Dragons	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-11
Suzuki, Hiroshi	Chunichi Dragons	1	Three		209
Tajima, Daiki	Orix Buffaloes	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-04
Tajima, Daiki	Orix Buffaloes	1	Two	Checklist	C-7
Yasuda, Hisanori	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-06
Yasuda, Hisanori	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two		104
Yoshizumi, Haruto	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1	One	Dora-Ichi	D-01

2019 Calbee #129

2019 took somewhat of a step back in terms of rookie cards.  For the first time since 2012 there were no rookie cards in any of the subsets - all eleven rookie cards were "regular" player cards.  This means that for the first time since 2016 there was no subset containing all the first rounders.  Nine of the twelve 2018 first round picks were included in the set along with a third rounder and a seventh rounder.  There were two rookies in Series One, four in Series Two and five in Series Three.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Chikamoto, Koji	Hanshin Tigers	1	Two		141
Fujiwara, Kyota	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	One		025
Kaino, Hiroshi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1	Three		153
Kamichatani, Taiga	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1	Two		129
Kinami, Seiya	Hanshin Tigers	3	Two		139
Kozono, Kaito	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Two		113
Matsumoto, Wataru	Saitama Seibu Lions	1	Three		149
Nakagawa, Keita	Orix Buffaloes	7	Three		168
Neo, Akira	Chunichi Dragons	1	One		062
Tatsumi, Ryosuke	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	Three		177
Yoshida, Kosei	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	1	Three		161

2020 Calbee #129

So far this year Calbee has only issued two of the expected three Series but at the moment I'd say that 2020 is looking like 2012 or 2019.  All four rookie cards were in Series Two and feature first rounders.

Player	Team	Round	Series	Subset	Card No.
Ishikawa, Takaya	Chunichi Dragons	1	Two		133
Morishita, Masato	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1	Two		129
Okugawa, Yasunobu	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1	Two		139
Sasaki, Roki	Chiba Lotte Marines	1	Two		094