Upcoming Milestones

With Opening Day 2026 arriving shortly, it's time to roll out my now-traditional post about which players are approaching the career milestones that will ensure them admission to the Meikyukai or "Golden Players Club".  The requirements are that the player has to have been born in the Showa Era (1926-89) or later and accumulated more than 2000 hits, 200 wins or 250 saves.  Statistics from MLB count but only if the NPB stats came first - which is why Alfonso Soriano is eligible but Larry Parrish isn't.

There are six members of the Meikyukai active in NPB right now - Hayato Sakamoto, Takumi Kuriyama, Yohei Ohshima, Yoshihisa Hirano, Hideto Asamura and Masahiro Tanaka - and one in MLB - Yu Darvish.  

In previous years, I've used the most recent NPB cards I had of each player but, because I stopped buying new cards for the most part last year, I can't do that anymore (unless I swipe images from the internet).  So instead I decided to use the earliest appearance that I have of each player from a BBM team set (either comprehensive or not).  It made it kind of interesting to see which teams these players who all have somewhat long careers started from.   

I'm going to start by listing the active hitters who have less than 2000 hits but more than 1500:

1. Yoshihiro Maru, Giants: 1929 hits

2008 BBM Carp #C70

2. Takeya Nakamura, Lions: 1830 hits

2004 BBM Lions #58

3. Ryosuke Kikuchi, Carp: 1789 hits

2012 BBM Rising Carp #11

4. Shogo Akiyama, Carp: 1832 hits (1761 NPB + 71 MLB)

2011 BBM Lions #L67

5. Tetsuto Yamada, Swallows: 1643 hits

2011 BBM Lions #S45

6. Yuki Yanagita, Hawks:  1616 hits

2011 BBM Hawks #H67

7. Daichi Suzuki, Eagles: 1608 hits

2013 BBM Marines #M50

8. Akira Nakamura, Hawks:  1516 hits

2012 BBM Hawks #H65

I think Maru is likely to reach 2000 this year but I don't see anyone else doing it in 2026.

Next up are pitchers with more than 150 wins and less than 200:

1. Masahiro Ishikawa, Swallows:  188 wins

2005 BBM Swallows #S27

2. Takayuki Kishi, Eagles:  170 wins

2007 BBM Lions #L19

3. Hideaki Wakui, Dragons: 166 wins

2005 BBM Lions #L007

4. Kenta Maeda, Eagles: 165 wins (97 NPB + 68 MB)

2007 BBM Carp #C31

I don't see any of these guys getting to 200 this year - or ever, really.

Last but not least, here's all the pitchers with more than 200 hundred saves and less than 250:

1. Naoya Masuda, Marines:  248 saves

2015 BBM Marines #M29

2. Yuki Matsui, Padres:  237 saves (236 NPB + 1 MLB)

2014 BBM Eagles #E02

3. Yasuaki Yamasaki, Baystars:  232 saves

2015 BBM Baystars #DB11

4. Raidel Martinez, Giants:  212 saves

2018 BBM Dragons #D32

Martinez is the new entry in the list.  Pitchers can accumulate saves quickly so it's possible that all four of these guys could pass 250 this year.  Martinez is the only one who's currently a closer (although I'm not sure if the Padres promoted Matsui now that Robert Suarez went to the Braves), so it's probably not likely.  Martinez has had more than 40 saves in each of the past two seasons so if anyone does it, it'll probably be him (which would make him I think the second foreign born member of the meikyukai, following Alex Ramirez - Soriano is eligible but doesn't appear to have accepted membership).

Most of the cards displayed are from the player's rookie year.  The exceptions are the cards for Takeya Nakamura, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Daichi Suzuki, Akira Nakamura, Masanori Ishikawa and Naoya Masuda.