2021 was a bit of a return to normalcy for BBM's baseball releases. They issued 30 sets in 2021, one more than they had in 2020. As always I'm going by the "cover date" of the set rather than the date of release so those 30 sets were released between mid-December of 2020 until just before Christmas of 2021.
The bulk of the sets BBM issued last year were what I refer to as their perennial sets. 24 of the 30 sets they published were the 2021 editions of sets they do every year. This includes the three "flagship" sets - 1st Version, 2nd Version and Fusion, the team sets for each of the 12 NPB teams (Fighters, Buffaloes, Dragons, Lions, Carp, Baystars, Giants, Swallows, Hawks, Marines, Eagles and Tigers), the high-end Genesis set, the ultra-high-end Glory set, the Rookie Edition (draft pick) set, the two Dancing Cheerleader sets (Hana and Mai), the Icons - Progess and Rookie Edition Premium box sets, the "Farewell" set for retiring baseball players (and for the first time other athletes) and the multi-sport set Masterpiece*. There are two sets that were perennials that were not issued last year - the faux-vintage "Time Travel" set and the female athlete centered "Shining Venus" set. Both sets had been published every year between 2017 and 2020 but not last year (and neither have been announced for 2022 either).
* BBM did their first multi-sport set in 2016 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their parent company, Baseball Magazine Sha. It was called "Masterpiece". Starting in 2017, BBM did an annual multi-sport set called "Infinity". Since 2021 was the 75th Anniversary of Baseball Magazine Sha, they decided this year's multi-sport set would again be called "Masterpiece". I assume it will be "Infinity" again this year and won't be "Masterpiece" again until 2026.
Four of the other six sets this year were from the OB team "History" sets - the Dragons History 1936-2021, the Marines History 1950-2021, the Tigers History 1935-2021 and the Buffaloes History 1936-2021 sets. They also issued another OB player set called "Legendary Rookies". Lastly they issued a box set in honor of Daisuke Matsuzaka's retirement called "Monster Of Heisei".
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