Epoch One Cards For Samurai Japan

It appears that my suspicion that Epoch now has the license to do cards for Samurai Japan has proven correct.  Epoch announced last week that they would be publishing their on-demand Epoch One cards for the two games Samurai Japan played against the Netherlands this week in Osaka.  As I'm writing this, there aren't any cards for sale yet but when they are, they will be available here.

This will be the first time that Epoch has had the Samurai Japan license.  As far as I've been able to tell, Upper Deck was the first company to have the license for the Japanese National Baseball team in 2000 with Calbee taking it in 2001.  BBM had it from 2002 to 2008 followed by Konami from 2009 to 2013.  Calbee took it back around 2014 or 15 and had it until 2022-ish when Topps took it over.  I'll be curious what will happen next year if Epoch still has the license when the World Baseball Classic happens.  Topps pretty much has the world-wide trademark for WBC baseball cards so any cards Epoch would do for the WBC Samurai Japan team won't "officially" be WBC cards (in the same way that the 2013 Konami and 2017 Calbee Samurai Japan cards weren't really WBC cards).

Great Records

The Great Records insert set has been a staple of BBM's annual Fusion set since its debut in 2016.  Each year, this has been a 24 card set that features two players from each team reaching some sort of milestone that season.  The milestones celebrated include things like reaching certain round numbers for hits, home runs, games played, games pitched, innings pitched, strikeouts, wins and saves.

I first got the Great Records inserts with my Fusion set in 2019 and I've continued to do it ever since.  One of my goals on my trip to Japan last year was to pickup the cards I was missing from the 2016-18 Great Records sets and I did pretty well on that - getting all but two of the missing cards (and Ryan has since picked up the last two for me).

I was inputting the newly acquired cards into my database last summer when I noticed that certain players seemed to show up in this set every year.  I decided to do some counting and see which players appeared in the sets the most.  The guy with the most appearances was a little surprising - it's Fighters relief pitcher Naoki Miyanishi who's been in seven of the nine sets.  Now granted, this is the guy who kept Shohei Ohtani from winning a unanimous MVP award in 2016 so he's not nothing but it's still kind unexpected.  (Ohtani, BTW, never had a Great Record card.)  Takeya Nakamura of the Lions is second with six and Naoya Masuda of the Marines and Tetsuto Yamada of the Swallows are tied for third with five each.  There are 123 players (well, not all are players - more about that in a minute) who have had at least one card in the nine sets.  76 of those 123 only ever had one card.

The more I look into it, the more odd the selection of players is for these sets.  Not only did Ohtani never appear in the sets but neither did either of his Dodger teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.  Among the other Japanese MLB players, Seiya Suzuki only has two cards and Shota Imanaga and Masataka Yoshida only have one apiece.  Neither Kodai Senga nor Shintaro Fujinami ever had a "Great Record" card.  Munetaka Murakami has only had two.

Here's a list of all the Great Record cards.  I've sorted this list by player so you can easily see all the cards for a particular player.

Year	Number	Player	Team	Event
2017	GR15	Abe, Shinnosuke	Yomiuri Giants	2000 Career Hits
2019	GR18	Abe, Shinnosuke	Yomiuri Giants	400 Career Home Runs
2020	GR11	Adachi, Ryoichi	Orix Buffaloes	200 Career Sacrifice Bunts
2019	GR12	Akaminai, Ginji	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1000 Career Hits
2018	GR04	Akiyama, Shogo	Saitama Seibu Lions	1000 Career Games Played
2023	GR14	Aoki, Norichika	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1000 Career Runs
2019	GR11	Aoyama, Koji	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	600 Career Games Pitched
2016	GR20	Arai, Takahiro	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2000 Career Hits
2017	GR14	Arai, Takahiro	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	3500 Career Total Bases
2016	GR22	Araki, Masahiro	Chunichi Dragons	2000 Career Games Played
2017	GR24	Araki, Masahiro	Chunichi Dragons	2000 Career Hits
2020	GR05	Asamura, Hideto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	200 Career Home Runs
2021	GR08	Asamura, Hideto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1500 Career Hits
2022	GR18	Asamura, Hideto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	250 Career Home Runs
2017	GR22	Balentien, Wladimir	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	200 Career Home Runs
2022	GR04	Chikamoto, Koji	Hanshin Tigers	100 Career Stolen Bases
2016	GR16	Chono, Hisayoshi	Yomiuri Giants	1000 Career Hits
2020	GR20	Chono, Hisayoshi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	150 Career Home Runs
2022	GR08	Chono, Hisayoshi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1500 Career Games Played
2024	GR08	Chono, Hisayoshi	Yomiuri Giants	1500 Career Hits
2024	GR04	Dohbayashi, Shota	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1000 Career Games Played
2018	GR22	Fujii, Atsushi	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career Games Played
2016	GR17	Fujikawa, Kyuji	Hanshin Tigers	600 Career Games Pitched
2018	GR15	Fujikawa, Kyuji	Hanshin Tigers	700 Career Games Pitched
2016	GR12	Fujita, Kazuya	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1000 Career Games Played
2016	GR18	Fukudome, Kosuke	Hanshin Tigers	2000 Career Hits In NPB & MLB
2019	GR24	Fukudome, Kosuke	Hanshin Tigers	1000 Career RBIs
2021	GR18	Fukudome, Kosuke	Chunichi Dragons	2000 Career Games Played
2018	GR12	Fukuura, Kazuya	Chiba Lotte Marines	2000 Career Hits
2022	GR14	Gen, Kendai	Orix Buffaloes	1st Career Hit
2024	GR22	Genda, Sosuke	Saitama Seibu Lions	1000 Career Hits
2017	GR11	Hirano, Yoshihisa	Orix Buffaloes	500 Career Games Pitched
2022	GR13	Hirano, Yoshihisa	Orix Buffaloes	200 Career Saves
2023	GR01	Hirano, Yoshihisa	Orix Buffaloes	250 Career Saves Combined Between NPB & MLB
2020	GR21	Hirata, Ryosuke	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career Hits
2023	GR06	Hiruma, Takuya	Saitama Seibu Lions	1st Career Home Run
2019	GR15	Igarashi, Ryota	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	800 Career Games Pitched
2016	GR06	Iguchi, Tadahito	Chiba Lotte Marines	1000 Career RBIs
2017	GR06	Iguchi, Tadahito	Chiba Lotte Marines	250 Career Home Runs
2018	GR06	Imae, Toshiaki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	100 Career Home Runs
2019	GR04	Imamiya, Kenta	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1000 Career Games Played
2024	GR17	Imamiya, Kenta	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1500 Career Games Played
2023	GR15	Imanaga, Shota	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1000 Career SO
2017	GR13	Ishihara, Yoshiyuki	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1500 Career Games Played
2017	GR21	Ishikawa, Masanori	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	2500 Career Innings Pitched
2018	GR23	Ishikawa, Masanori	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1500 Career SO
2021	GR23	Ishikawa, Masanori	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	500 Career Games Pitched
2017	GR20	Itoi, Yoshio	Hanshin Tigers	250 Career Stolen Bases
2019	GR23	Itoi, Yoshio	Hanshin Tigers	1500 Career Games Played
2021	GR16	Itoi, Yoshio	Hanshin Tigers	300 Career Stolen Bases
2017	GR23	Iwase, Hitoki	Chunichi Dragons	950 Career Games Pitched
2018	GR21	Iwase, Hitoki	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career Games Pitched
2024	GR01	Iwazaki, Suguru	Hanshin Tigers	500 Career Games Pitched
2020	GR12	Jones, Adam	Orix Buffaloes	2000 Career Hits Combined Between NPB & MLB
2019	GR10	Kakunaka, Katsuya	Chiba Lotte Marines	1000 Career Hits
2016	GR09	Kaneko, Chihiro	Orix Buffaloes	100 Career Wins
2018	GR07	Kaneko, Chihiro	Orix Buffaloes	1500 Career SO
2021	GR09	Kaneko, Chihiro	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	2000 Career Innings Pitched
2020	GR02	Kaneko, Yuji	Saitama Seibu Lions	200 Career Stolen Bases
2024	GR23	Katoh, Takayuki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2020	GR19	Kikuchi, Ryosuke	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Team Record 283 Career Sacrifice Bunts
2021	GR19	Kikuchi, Ryosuke	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	100 Career Home Runs
2023	GR22	Kikuchi, Ryosuke	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1500 Career Hits
2016	GR07	Kishi, Takayuki	Saitama Seibu Lions	100 Career Wins
2018	GR05	Kishi, Takayuki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1500 Career SO
2023	GR07	Kishi, Takayuki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	150 Career Wins
2024	GR19	Kishi, Takayuki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	2500 Career Innings Pitched
2022	GR22	Kondoh, Kensuke	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1000 Career Hits
2016	GR23	Kubo, Yasutomo	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1500 Career Innings Pitched
2023	GR21	Kuri, Aren	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2016	GR08	Kuriyama, Takumi	Saitama Seibu Lions	1500 Career Hits
2017	GR08	Kuriyama, Takumi	Saitama Seibu Lions	300 Career Doubles
2021	GR06	Kuriyama, Takumi	Saitama Seibu Lions	2000 Career Hits
2016	GR19	Kuroda, Hiroki	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	200 Career Wins In NPB & MLB
2017	GR17	Lopez, Jose	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	100 Career Home Runs
2020	GR15	Lopez, Jose	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1000 Career Hits
2023	GR18	Maegawa, Ukyo	Hanshin Tigers	1st Career Hit
2021	GR21	Maki, Shugo	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	Team Rookie Record 118 Hits
2023	GR10	Mar-Kun	Chiba Lotte Marines	2000 Career Games Performanced
2023	GR23	Martinez, Raidel	Chunichi Dragons	100 Career Saves
2018	GR14	Maru, Yoshihiro	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1000 Career Hits
2020	GR08	Masuda, Naoya	Chiba Lotte Marines	100 Career Saves
2021	GR03	Masuda, Naoya	Chiba Lotte Marines	150 Career Saves
2022	GR15	Masuda, Naoya	Chiba Lotte Marines	600 Career Games Pitched
2023	GR09	Masuda, Naoya	Chiba Lotte Marines	200 Career Saves
2024	GR15	Masuda, Naoya	Chiba Lotte Marines	Team Record 228 Career Saves
2019	GR01	Masuda, Tatsushi	Saitama Seibu Lions	100 Career Saves
2022	GR23	Masuda, Tatsushi	Saitama Seibu Lions	150 Career Saves
2019	GR07	Masui, Hirotoshi	Orix Buffaloes	500 Career Games Pitched
2017	GR04	Matsuda, Nobuhiro	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	200 Career Home Runs
2019	GR03	Matsuda, Nobuhiro	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	250 Career Home Runs
2021	GR01	Matsuda, Nobuhiro	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	300 Career Home Runs
2017	GR10	Matsui, Kazuo	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	200 Career Home Runs
2016	GR11	Mima, Manabu	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1st Career Shutout
2020	GR07	Mima, Manabu	Chiba Lotte Marines	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2016	GR03	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	200 Career Holds
2017	GR01	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	250 Career Holds
2018	GR09	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	600 Career Games Pitched
2019	GR05	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	300 Career Holds
2020	GR09	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	350 Career Holds
2022	GR21	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	800 Career Games Pitched
2024	GR24	Miyanishi, Naoki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	400 Career Holds
2021	GR22	Miyazaki, Toshiro	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	100 Career Home Runs
2022	GR12	Miyazaki, Toshiro	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1000 Career Hits
2023	GR16	Miyazaki, Toshiro	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1000 Career Games Played
2024	GR05	Miyazaki, Toshiro	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	150 Career Home Runs
2023	GR02	Mori, Tomoya	Orix Buffaloes	1000 Career Hits
2020	GR03	Mori, Yuito	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	100 Career Saves
2021	GR24	Murakami, Munetaka	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	100 Career Home Runs
2024	GR10	Murakami, Munetaka	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	200 Career Home Runs
2017	GR16	Murata, Shuichi	Yomiuri Giants	350 Career Home Runs
2016	GR10	Nakajima, Hiroyuki	Orix Buffaloes	1500 Career Hits
2017	GR12	Nakajima, Hiroyuki	Orix Buffaloes	300 Career Doubles
2024	GR16	Nakamura, Shogo	Chiba Lotte Marines	1000 Career Hits
2017	GR07	Nakamura, Takeya	Saitama Seibu Lions	350 Career Home Runs
2018	GR03	Nakamura, Takeya	Saitama Seibu Lions	1000 Career RBIs
2019	GR02	Nakamura, Takeya	Saitama Seibu Lions	400 Career Home Runs
2020	GR01	Nakamura, Takeya	Saitama Seibu Lions	1500 Career Hits
2022	GR24	Nakamura, Takeya	Saitama Seibu Lions	450 Career Home Runs
2023	GR05	Nakamura, Takeya	Saitama Seibu Lions	2000 Career Games Played
2023	GR12	Nakashima, Takuya	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	200 Career Stolen Bases
2018	GR01	Nakata, Kenichi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	100 Career Wins
2016	GR04	Nakata, Sho	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	150 Career Home Runs
2017	GR02	Nakata, Sho	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1000 Career Games Played
2018	GR10	Nakata, Sho	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	200 Career Home Runs
2020	GR10	Nakata, Sho	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	250 Career Home Runs
2018	GR13	Nakazaki, Shota	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	100 Career Saves
2016	GR13	Naruse, Yoshihisa	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1500 Career Innings Pitched
2020	GR17	Nishi, Yuki	Hanshin Tigers	1500 Career Innings Pitched
2021	GR15	Nishi, Yuki	Hanshin Tigers	100 Career Wins
2024	GR02	Nishi, Yuki	Hanshin Tigers	2000 Career Innings Pitched
2021	GR10	Nishikawa, Haruki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	300 Career Stolen Bases
2019	GR13	Nomura, Yusuke	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1000 Career Games Pitched
2017	GR09	Norimoto, Takahiro	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	8th Straight 10K Games
2022	GR17	Norimoto, Takahiro	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	100 Career Wins
2020	GR18	Obata, Ryuhei	Hanshin Tigers	1st Career Hit
2023	GR13	Ogawa, Yasuhiro	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	100 Career Wins
2019	GR09	Ogino, Takashi	Chiba Lotte Marines	200 Career Stolen Bases
2016	GR14	Ohbiki, Keiji	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1000 Career Games Played
2019	GR21	Ohno, Yudai	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2021	GR17	Ohno, Yudai	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career SO
2022	GR07	Ohsera, Daichi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2024	GR03	Ohsera, Daichi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1000 Career SO
2019	GR22	Ohshima, Yohei	Chunichi Dragons	200 Career Stolen Bases
2020	GR22	Ohshima, Yohei	Chunichi Dragons	1500 Career Hits
2022	GR10	Ohshima, Yohei	Chunichi Dragons	250 Career Stolen Bases
2023	GR24	Ohshima, Yohei	Chunichi Dragons	2000 Career Hits
2022	GR03	Ohyama, Yusuke	Hanshin Tigers	100 Career Home Runs
2018	GR08	Okada, Takahiro	Orix Buffaloes	1000 Career Games Played
2019	GR08	Okada, Takahiro	Orix Buffaloes	1000 Career Hits
2021	GR12	Okada, Takahiro	Orix Buffaloes	200 Career Home Runs
2021	GR14	Okamoto, Kazuma	Yomiuri Giants	100 Career Home Runs
2022	GR06	Okamoto, Kazuma	Yomiuri Giants	150 Career Home Runs
2023	GR20	Okamoto, Kazuma	Yomiuri Giants	200 Career Home Runs
2020	GR24	Sakaguchi, Tomotaka	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1500 Career Hits
2018	GR20	Sakamoto, Hayato	Yomiuri Giants	1500 Career Games Played
2020	GR14	Sakamoto, Hayato	Yomiuri Giants	2000 Career Hits
2021	GR13	Sakamoto, Hayato	Yomiuri Giants	250 Career Home Runs
2023	GR19	Sakamoto, Hayato	Yomiuri Giants	2000 Career Games Played
2017	GR03	Sarfate, Dennis	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	200 Career Saves
2023	GR08	Shimauchi, Hiroaki	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	100 Career Home Runs
2022	GR20	Shuto, Ukyo	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	100 Career Stolen Bases
2020	GR16	Soto, Neftali	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	100 Career Home Runs
2016	GR05	Standridge, Jason	Chiba Lotte Marines	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2023	GR03	Stewart, Carter	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1st Career Win
2019	GR17	Sugano, Tomoyuki	Yomiuri Giants	1000 Career SO
2020	GR13	Sugano, Tomoyuki	Yomiuri Giants	100 Career Wins
2022	GR05	Sugano, Tomoyuki	Yomiuri Giants	1500 Career Innings Pitched
2024	GR07	Sugano, Tomoyuki	Yomiuri Giants	1500 Career SO
2020	GR06	Suzuki, Daichi	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1000 Career Hits
2024	GR20	Suzuki, Daichi	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1500 Career Hits
2019	GR14	Suzuki, Seiya	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	100 Career Home Runs
2021	GR20	Suzuki, Seiya	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	150 Career Home Runs
2024	GR21	Takahashi, Kona	Saitama Seibu Lions	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2024	GR12	Takahashi, Shuhei	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career Games Played
2024	GR13	Takashima, Taito	Orix Buffaloes	1st Career Win
2017	GR18	Tanaka, Hiroyasu	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1000 Career Hits
2019	GR06	Tanaka, Kensuke	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1500 Career Hits In NPB & MLB
2021	GR07	Tanaka, Masahiro	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	100 Career Wins
2022	GR16	Taniho, Emi	Chiba Lotte Marines	2000 Games Announced
2022	GR09	Tanimoto, Keisuke	Chunichi Dragons	500 Career Games Pitched
2023	GR17	Tomida, Ren	Hanshin Tigers	1st Career Win
2017	GR19	Toritani, Takashi	Hanshin Tigers	2000 Career Hits
2018	GR16	Toritani, Takashi	Hanshin Tigers	Team Record 2065 Career Hits
2021	GR04	Toritani, Takashi	Chiba Lotte Marines	1000 Career Runs
2022	GR02	Tsubakuro	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	2000 Games Performed
2016	GR24	Tsutsugoh, Yoshitomo	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	100 Career Home Runs
2018	GR18	Tsutsugoh, Yoshitomo	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	150 Career Home Runs
2019	GR20	Tsutsugoh, Yoshitomo	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	200 Career Home Runs
2024	GR06	Tsutsugoh, Yoshitomo	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1000 Career Hits
2016	GR02	Uchikawa, Seiichi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	150 Career Home Runs
2018	GR02	Uchikawa, Seiichi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	2000 Career Hits
2018	GR19	Uehara, Koji	Yomiuri Giants	100 Wins, 100 Saves, 100 Holds Combined Between NPB And MLB
2023	GR11	Uwasawa, Naoyuki	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1000 Career Innings Pitched
2016	GR01	Wada, Tsuyoshi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1500 Career Innings Pitched
2022	GR19	Wada, Tsuyoshi	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	Team Record 1757 Career SO
2017	GR05	Wakui, Hideaki	Chiba Lotte Marines	2000 Career Innings Pitched
2024	GR11	Wakui, Hideaki	Chunichi Dragons	2000 Career SO
2021	GR05	Watanabe, Yutaro	Saitama Seibu Lions	1st Career Win
2018	GR24	Yamada, Tetsuto	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	.300 BA, 30 HR And 30 SB
2019	GR16	Yamada, Tetsuto	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	200 Career Home Runs
2020	GR23	Yamada, Tetsuto	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1000 Career Games Played
2022	GR01	Yamada, Tetsuto	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	250 Career Home Runs
2024	GR09	Yamada, Tetsuto	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1500 Career Hits
2016	GR15	Yamaguchi, Tetsuya	Yomiuri Giants	600 Career Games Pitched
2024	GR18	Yamakawa, Hotaka	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	250 Career Home Runs
2018	GR17	Yamasaki, Yasuaki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	100 Career Saves
2019	GR19	Yamasaki, Yasuaki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	150 Career Saves
2022	GR11	Yamasaki, Yasuaki	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	200 Career Saves
2020	GR04	Yanagita, Yuki	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	1000 Career Hits
2021	GR02	Yanagita, Yuki	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	200 Career Home Runs
2023	GR04	Yanagita, Yuki	Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	250 Career Home Runs
2018	GR11	Yasuda, Hisanori	Chiba Lotte Marines	1st Career Hit And RBI
2024	GR14	Yokoyama, Seiya	Orix Buffaloes	1st Career Hit
2021	GR11	Yoshida, Masataka	Orix Buffaloes	100 Career Home Runs
2016	GR21	Yoshimi, Kazuki	Chunichi Dragons	1000 Career Innings Pitched

One of the interesting things about listing the cards in this way is being able to track a player's progress in a particular category.  For example, Kazuma Okamoto has three Great Record cards - all for reaching certain amounts of home runs.  He hit his 100th home run in 2021, his 150th in 2022 and his 200th in 2023:

2021 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR14

2022 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR06

2023 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR20

You've probably noticed that some of these cards are really shiny and don't scan well.  Some of them are more legible in person than others too.

I mentioned that not all the subjects of the cards are players.  There have been cards for two mascots - Tsubakuro of the Swallows and Mar-kun of the Marines - who each had appeared in 2000 games.  Marines PA announcer Emi Taniho has a card commemorating her 2000th game announced as well.  Here are those three cards:

2022 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR02

2023 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR10

2022 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR16

I should mention that I also ran the stats on the milestones that were commemorated on the cards.  The most common one celebrated was "1000 Career Hits" which is on 16 different cards.  This is followed by "100 Career Home Runs" on 12 cards.  Tied for third with 11 appearances are "1000 Career Games Played" and "200 Career Home Runs" with "1500 Career hits" in fifth with ten.  There are 66 different milestones in all with just over half of them only appearing once.  (I used the actual text on the cards so you could nitpick that the two mascot milestones - "2000 Career Games Performanced" and "2000 Games Performed" - should be the same.)

Here's a card from each of the nine Great Record sets (including the sets that the above cards came from):

2016 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR03

2017 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR24

2018 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR03

2019 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR16

2020 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR08

2021 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR07

2022 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR19

2023 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR15

2021 BBM Fusion Great Records #GR03

Card Of The Week March 2

We're in the middle of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.  Last weekend saw Nicaragua and Taiwan finish first and second in the qualifying round held in Taiwan and this afternoon another qualifier will kick off in Tucson, Arizona.  Brazil, China, Colombia and Germany will play in the Arizona round with the top two teams qualifying for the WBC.

As far as I can tell, there were/are only four current or former NPB players on the rosters for any of the teams in the two qualifiers.  Taiwan had two NPB development players on their pitching staff - Sun Yi-Lei of the Fighters and Hsu Siang-Sheng of the Swallows (who was drafted under the name "Shosei Takahashi" and has the registered name of simply "Shosei").  Brazil has both a former and current NPB player on their pitching staff with former Carp Oscar Nakaoshi (whose registered name in NPB was just "Oscar") and current Lion Bo Takahashi, both of whom are Brazilians of Japanese descent.  Here's cards of all four players:

2024 Epoch Fighters Premier Edition #25

2024 BBM Fusion "Rookie Edition Update" #136

2016 BBM Carp Realization Of A Great Ambition #03 (Oscar Nakaoshi)

2024 BBM Lions #L20

Additionally, Brazil is managed by former Swallow Daniel Yuichi Matsumoto.  Like Nakaoshi and Takahashi, Matsumoto was born in Brazil and is Brazilian-Japanese.  He joined the Swallows in 1999 but spent most of his first few years on the farm team.  He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2004 which may explain why he didn't have a baseball card until then (although it's more likely because that was the first year BBM did a "comprehensive" team set for Yakult that included everyone on the team's roster).  He was a backup outfielder and first baseman throughout his career and became a coach for the team when he retired after the 2015 season.

2015 Epoch Swallows Victory Memorial #27

UPDATE - It turns out I missed several players.  As you can see in the comments below, an anonymous commenter pointed out that I had missed former Tiger Lu Yen-Ching from the Taiwan roster and former Swallow Hugo Kanabushi on the Brazil roster.  I also missed former Lion Wu Nien-Ting of Taiwan.  Here are cards for all three of them:

2020 BBM Tigers #T11

2015 BBM Swallows #S37

2021 Calbee Series Three #161

In addition, the commenter also mentioned that Brazilian infield and hitting coach Reinaldo Tsuguio Sato had played for the Swallows between 1999 and 2003.  As far as I can tell, he's never had any baseball cards.

Thanks for the correction!

Epoch One Draft Pick Cards

Epoch started doing their on-demand Epoch One cards in 2018 and for several years after that, they included cards of that year's draft picks for a few teams.  What's significant about this is that these were the first draft pick cards in Japan to be issued in the same year as the draft.  BBM's annual draft pick set - Rookie Edition - usually comes out in February or March of the following year, several months after the draft itself happens in late October or November.  Rookie Edition will use photos of the players from the each team's press conference in November or December to introduce the new players which is why the photos are always kind of boring.  What this has meant is that the first cards of a drafted player are in the year AFTER the player was drafted.  For example, Shohei Ohtani was taken by the Fighters in the first round of the 2012 draft but his first baseball card wasn't issued until 2013.

But for four of the first five years that Epoch did the Epoch One cards, they issued draft pick cards for a handful of teams the same year that the players were drafted (or at least the cards had the same "cover date" - we'll get into that more in a minute).  For example, Akira Neo was the first pick of the Dragons in the 2018 draft and his first baseball card is a 2018 Epoch One card instead of a 2019 BBM Rookie Edition card.

Epoch only did draft pick cards for the Dragons in the 2018 set and then did both the Swallows and Dragons in 2019.  They again only did the Dragons in 2020 and didn't have any draft pick cards in 2021.  Epoch went somewhat overboard in 2022, issuing cards for the draft picks for six teams total - the Dragons, Swallows, Giants, Fighters, Baystars and Marines.  While all these cards have a "cover date" of 2022 (actually on the back of the card), the cards of the Giants, Fighters, Baystars and Marines were not actually issued until early 2023.

Epoch would not do draft pick cards in 2023 but would bring them back in 2024.  However, the 2024 cards were for the 2023 draft picks.  They've continued this in 2025, issuing cards this month for the 2024 draft picks.  Personally, I find this much less interesting than the earlier cards.  I have all the Epoch One draft pick cards from 2018 to 2022 but I didn't get any of them from last year's set.

Here's the list of all the draft pick cards that Epoch issued in the same year as the draft.  The "Date" column is the date that the photo was taken - usually this is the team's introductory press conference but there's a couple oddballs from the 2022 cards.

Year	Team	Player	Round	Card	Date	Print Run
2018	Chunichi Dragons	Akira Neo	1	675	December 8	877
2018	Chunichi Dragons	Kodai Umetsu	2	676	December 8	123
2018	Chunichi Dragons	Akiyoshi Katsuno	3	677	December 8	46
2018	Chunichi Dragons	Kota Ishibashi	4	678	December 8	48
2018	Chunichi Dragons	Kenshin Kakikoshi	5	679	December 8	39
2018	Chunichi Dragons	Kaname Takino	6	680	December 8	35
2019	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Yasuobu Okugawa	1	746	December 3	284
2019	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Daiki Yoshida	2	747	December 3	41
2019	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Koki Sugiyama	3	748	December 3	36
2019	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Hiroki Ohnishi	4	749	December 3	37
2019	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Hideki Nagaoka	5	750	December 3	41
2019	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Ryusei Takeoka	6	751	December 3	51
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Takaya Ishikawa	1	752	December 16	197
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Yuki Hashimoto	2	753	December 16	44
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Yuichiro Okano	3	754	December 16	34
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Yuya Gunji	4	755	December 16	55
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Yuki Okabayashi	5	756	December 16	42
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Ryushin Takeuchi	6	757	December 16	40
2019	Chunichi Dragons	Hiroaki Matsuda	1 (ikusei)	758	December 16	49
2020	Chunichi Dragons	Hiroto Takahashi	1	669	December 11	91
2020	Chunichi Dragons	Hiroto Mori	2	670	December 11	30
2020	Chunichi Dragons	Ryuku Tsuchida	3	671	December 11	38
2020	Chunichi Dragons	Shota Fukushima	4	672	December 11	28
2020	Chunichi Dragons	Tsubasa Katoh	5	673	December 11	31
2020	Chunichi Dragons	Hironori Miyoshi	6	674	December 11	32
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Reia Nakachi	1	988	December 1	75
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Kaito Muramatsu	2	989	December 1	63
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Akio Moriyama	3	990	December 1	33
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Ryunosuke Yamaasa	4	991	December 1	33
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Shonosuke Hama	5	992	December 1	62
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Mikiya Tanaka	6	993	December 1	62
2022	Chunichi Dragons	Hiroki Fukunaga	7	994	December 1	41
2022	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Kojiro Yoshimura	1	1004	December 6	63
2022	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Ruito Nishimura	2	1005	December 6	60
2022	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Ren Sawai	3	1006	December 6	53
2022	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Takumi Sakamoto	4	1007	December 6	40
2022	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Keigo Kitamura	5	1008	December 6	37
2022	Yomiuri Giants	Shogo Asano	1	1016	November 23	265
2022	Yomiuri Giants	Masaya Hagio	2	1017	November 23	80
2022	Yomiuri Giants	Chiharu Tanaka	3	1018	November 29	46
2022	Yomiuri Giants	Makoto Kadowaki	4	1019	November 23	61
2022	Yomiuri Giants	Hiromasa Funabasama	5	1020	November 29	62
2022	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Kota Yazawa	1	1023	November 26	117
2022	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Shoma Kanemura	2	1024	November 26	31
2022	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Gosuke Katoh	3	1025	November 4	105
2022	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Kanato Anzai	4	1026	November 26	30
2022	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Taiki Narama	5	1027	November 26	38
2022	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Haruki Miyauchi	6	1028	November 26	27
2022	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	Shion Matsuo	1	1030	November 27	136
2022	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	Teruki Yoshino	2	1031	November 27	40
2022	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	Takuma Hayashi	3	1032	November 27	38
2022	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	Ryudai Morishita	4	1033	November 27	36
2022	Yokohama DeNA Baystars	Tatsuya Hashimoto	5	1034	November 27	51
2022	Chiba Lotte Marines	Riku Kikuchi	1	1035	December 7	65
2022	Chiba Lotte Marines	Atsuki Tomosugi	2	1036	December 7	38
2022	Chiba Lotte Marines	Haruya Tanaka	3	1037	December 7	45
2022	Chiba Lotte Marines	Shuta Takano	4	1038	December 7	38
2022	Chiba Lotte Marines	Yuta Kaneda	5	1039	December 7	54

A couple comments:

• It's kind of crazy how low the print runs are for a lot of these cards.  Akira Neo's card had a print run of 877 and nothing's come close to that since.  There's only two other cards with print runs of more than 200 (Yasuobu Okugawa with 284 and Shogo Asano with 265).  The guy who's probably the best player on this list - Hiroto Takahashi - only had a print run of 91 cards.
• Epoch included a card of the Dragons' ikusei pick from 2019 - Hiroaki Matsuda.  I'm not positive but I think this is the only Epoch One card for a development player ever.
• There are 58 total Epoch One draft pick cards.  More than half of them (33) are from 2022.

I have all of these but in the interests of brevity, I'm only going to show one for each team in each year:

2018 Epoch One #675

2019 Epoch One #750

#755

2020 Epoch One #669

2022 Epoch One #993 Mikiya Tanaka

2022 Epoch One #1006 Ren Sawai

2022 Epoch One #1020 Hiromasa Funabasama

2022 Epoch One #1025 Gosuke Katoh

2022 Epoch One #1033 Ryudai Morishita

2022 Epoch One #1036 Atsuki Tomosugi