Saturday, August 8, 2020

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

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