A couple of days ago I mentioned that AmiAmi was listing a couple sets that BBM's website hadn't gotten around to listing yet. I must have shamed them into it as BBM has now put up information on these sets.
The Rising Carp set is a 28 card box set featuring young players on the Carp. As always, one of those 28 cards is a "special" card that could be an autograph or memorabilia card. Of the other 27, 18 are player cards and the other nine are something Google is translating as "uniform reprints" which is probably not the correct translation. The set will be out in early December.
The Giants Legend set is a pack based set that appears to be some sort of OB Giants set. It has 99 "regular" cards but there's no break down of any subsets in those 99 cards. I don't know if that means all 99 cards are player cards or if BBM simply hasn't listed the subsets (not that that has ever happened before). There are two insert sets for the 1976 and 2000 lineups (I'm assuming since they're 9 cards each). (1976 is an odd choice since they lost the Nippon Series that year to Hankyu.) There will also be possible autograph inserts. The set will be released in mid-December.
The final new set listing was mentioned on AmiAmi but I didn't post about it because I didn't understand what it was. Their listing called it "Saikyou Gaikokujin Densetsu" which turns out to be something like "Strongest Legendary Alien" maybe? Anyway, it's a pack based set featuring OB foreign players, including Cecil Fielder on his first ever BBM card. The set contains 81 "regular" cards - 72 player cards (with players going back to the 1960's I think) and 9 "OFF SHOT" cards (whatever that means). There is also a nine card insert set for "Record Leaders" (I think) and possible autograph cards. It will hit the shelves at the end of December.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
Makoto Imaoka
Another player who announced his retirement at the end of the season was Makoto Imaoka of the Chiba Lotte Marines. Imaoka had been drafted by the Tigers out of Toyo University in the first round of the 1997 draft. His BBM rookie card is #510 in the 1997 set. His first Calbee card is #037 in the 1999 set.
Imaoka had a number of big years with the Tigers in the early to mid '00, peaking with a 29 homer, 147 RBI season in 2005, leading the Tigers to the Central League pennant. Injuries began to take their toll after that and after several years of declining production, the Tigers released him following the 2009 season.
The Marines picked him up in time for the 2010 season. He appeared in less than 40 games at the ichi-gun level for the 2010 and 2011 seasons (although he did appear in the 2010 Nippon Series) and returned in 2012 as a player-coach. Not only did he not appear in any games with the top team this past season, but he didn't have any cards in the main BBM and Calbee sets, only the BBM Marines set.
Imaoka made five All Star teams during his time with the Tigers - 1998 and 2002-05. He received the most votes in the 2003 fan balloting.
He appeared in three Nippon Series - 2003 and 2005 in losing efforts with the Tigers and on the winning side in 2010 with the Marines.
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| 2011 Tohto 80th Memorial #62 |
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| 1997 BBM #510 |
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| 2001 Upper Deck #94 |
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| 2002 Calbee Sayanora Home Run #SH-1 |
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| 2011 BBM Marines 20th Anniversary #25 |
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| 2003 BBM All Stars #A64 |
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| 2005 BBM All Stars #A41 |
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| 2005 BBM Nippon Series #44 |
Kenji Johjima
Kenji Johjima of the Hanshin Tigers announced his retirement at the end of the season. Injuries had limited Johjima to only playing in 62 ichi-gun games the past two years and he decided to hang it up at age 36 despite having one more year on his contract.
Johjima was the number one draft pick of the then Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the 1995 draft (held in fall of 1994). His first BBM card was #558 in the 1995 set. His first Calbee card wasn't until the 1997 set (#140). I don't have either of those, but I do have a (poor) scan of his 1996 Hawaiian Winter League Maui Stingrays team set card:
He became the regular catcher for the Hawks in 1997 and immediately became a star. He remained with the Hawks through their acquisition by Softbank in 2005.
Following the 2005 season, he headed to the US to play for the Seattle Mariners. He played there for four seasons, opting out of the last two years of his contract to return to Japan. He signed with Hanshin in time for the 2010 season, putting up numbers consistent with his time with the Hawks for the first season, before injuries took their toll for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
Johjima made the All Star team 10 times - 1997-2005 and 2010, pretty much every year that he was a regular in Japan. In addition, he received the most votes in the fan balloting twice - in 2004 and 2005.
Johjima played in three Nippon Series - 1999, 2000 and 2003 - all with the Hawks. Amazingly, he won an award in each Series he appeared in - Outstanding Player awards in 1999 and 2003 and the Fighting Spirit Award in his losing effort to the Giants in 2000. He hit .348 with four home runs in the 2000 Series and hit another four home runs in the 2003 Series against the Tigers.
He played for the Japan National Team three times - the 2003 Asian Championship, the 2004 Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He has cards for the 2003 team and a couple cards from Topps for the WBC.
Johjima was the number one draft pick of the then Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the 1995 draft (held in fall of 1994). His first BBM card was #558 in the 1995 set. His first Calbee card wasn't until the 1997 set (#140). I don't have either of those, but I do have a (poor) scan of his 1996 Hawaiian Winter League Maui Stingrays team set card:
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| 1996 HWL Maui Stingrays #8 |
He became the regular catcher for the Hawks in 1997 and immediately became a star. He remained with the Hawks through their acquisition by Softbank in 2005.
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| 1998 BBM #248 |
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| 2000 Victory Hardball Heroes #H5 |
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| 2005 BBM 2nd Version #598 |
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| 2010 BBM Rookie Edition #112 |
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| 2012 Calbee #129 |
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| 1997 BBM All Stars ##A5 |
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| 2004 BBM All Stars #A63 |
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| 2003 BBM Nippon Series #12 |
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| 2009 Topps WBC #54 |
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Mel Bailey Postcards
I had mentioned in a post a while back that I had picked up a lot of what I thought were old postcards on eBay featuring pictures of Japanese players from the 1960's. I had somehow gotten the impression that they were produced by a guy named Mel Bailey in 1966. Bailey's one of the forefathers of Japanese baseball card collectors - I don't know a lot about him (I don't even know if he's still alive) but he was a serviceman stationed in Japan in the 1950's and/or 60's and he is credited with importing the Kabaya-Leaf set to the US in 1967.
I got a comment on that post from Ralph Pearce, who is another of the pioneers of the hobby. He published a news letter in the early 1990's called "The Japanese Baseball Enthusiast" which I think I really should get my hands on. Mr. Pearce pointed out that while Mel Bailey did produce postcards during the 1960's of Japanese players, he also reprinted them during the 1990's. The original ones were printed on Mitsubishi paper but the ones from the 1990's would be on Kodak paper. Alas, all of mine are on Kodak paper so they are less than 20 years old.
I hadn't looked at any of these in a while so I thought I'd do a quick post on them. There aren't a whole lot of Japanese baseball cards from the period between when the "tobacco-style" menko cards stopped (1964) and Calbee started doing cards (1973). The Kabaya-Leaf set is the best known set from this period and there were a couple other one-off odd little sets that are pretty rare. So a set of postcards from this era fills a bit of a void.
I only have 10 postcards - two each of Masaichi Kaneda (Giants) and Katsuo Ohsugi (Flyers) and one each of Yukio Nishimoto (Braves), Minoru Murayama (Tigers), Katsuya Nomura (Hawks), Futoshi Nakanishi (Lions), Masaaki Koyama (Orions) and Tetsuharu Kawakami (Giants).
The inclusion of the Kaneda cards was one of the big attractions to me for the lot. There aren't very many cards of Kaneda with the Giants, despite the fact he spent about a quarter of his career with them. The only ones I have are from the "Retired Number" subset from the 2001 BBM set and the 2009 BBM Legends set, although he's in the Kabaya-Leaf set with the Giants and a few of those other rare 1965-1972 sets. Kaneda doesn't show up in BBM's OB sets very often - he didn't even make it into the 2004 Giants 70th Anniversary set. One of the cards is a great shot of Kaneda, the other one...not so much:
Looking over these postcards again, I'm not exactly sure why I pegged them to be from 1966. I don't think that they are all from the same year. The Koyama card shows him wearing a uniform that the Orions wore up until 1965 but the Nakanishi card show him wearing a uniform the Lions didn't adopt until 1966.
A couple other examples - Nomura (another guy who doesn't show up in the BBM OB sets very often) and one of the Ohsugi cards:
UPDATE: Ralph Pearce sent me an email saying he'd found an article written by Paul Margiott in Philip Block's mid-90's newsletter (called "Yakyu") that said that Bailey had used both the Mitsubishi paper and the Kodak paper in the postcards in the 60's so it's possible that these postcards are from the 1960's after all.
I got a comment on that post from Ralph Pearce, who is another of the pioneers of the hobby. He published a news letter in the early 1990's called "The Japanese Baseball Enthusiast" which I think I really should get my hands on. Mr. Pearce pointed out that while Mel Bailey did produce postcards during the 1960's of Japanese players, he also reprinted them during the 1990's. The original ones were printed on Mitsubishi paper but the ones from the 1990's would be on Kodak paper. Alas, all of mine are on Kodak paper so they are less than 20 years old.
I hadn't looked at any of these in a while so I thought I'd do a quick post on them. There aren't a whole lot of Japanese baseball cards from the period between when the "tobacco-style" menko cards stopped (1964) and Calbee started doing cards (1973). The Kabaya-Leaf set is the best known set from this period and there were a couple other one-off odd little sets that are pretty rare. So a set of postcards from this era fills a bit of a void.
I only have 10 postcards - two each of Masaichi Kaneda (Giants) and Katsuo Ohsugi (Flyers) and one each of Yukio Nishimoto (Braves), Minoru Murayama (Tigers), Katsuya Nomura (Hawks), Futoshi Nakanishi (Lions), Masaaki Koyama (Orions) and Tetsuharu Kawakami (Giants).
The inclusion of the Kaneda cards was one of the big attractions to me for the lot. There aren't very many cards of Kaneda with the Giants, despite the fact he spent about a quarter of his career with them. The only ones I have are from the "Retired Number" subset from the 2001 BBM set and the 2009 BBM Legends set, although he's in the Kabaya-Leaf set with the Giants and a few of those other rare 1965-1972 sets. Kaneda doesn't show up in BBM's OB sets very often - he didn't even make it into the 2004 Giants 70th Anniversary set. One of the cards is a great shot of Kaneda, the other one...not so much:
Looking over these postcards again, I'm not exactly sure why I pegged them to be from 1966. I don't think that they are all from the same year. The Koyama card shows him wearing a uniform that the Orions wore up until 1965 but the Nakanishi card show him wearing a uniform the Lions didn't adopt until 1966.
A couple other examples - Nomura (another guy who doesn't show up in the BBM OB sets very often) and one of the Ohsugi cards:
UPDATE: Ralph Pearce sent me an email saying he'd found an article written by Paul Margiott in Philip Block's mid-90's newsletter (called "Yakyu") that said that Bailey had used both the Mitsubishi paper and the Kodak paper in the postcards in the 60's so it's possible that these postcards are from the 1960's after all.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
NPB Players in the Australian Baseball League
The 2012-13 season for the Australian Baseball League is kicking off tomorrow (November 1) and it looks like there are several Japanese players that will be appearing in the league. Hanshin has sent three players to the Canberra Calvary - pitchers Masanori Fujihara and Hirokazu Shiranita as well as outfielder Kohei Shibata. The Lions are sending pitchers Hirotaka Koishi and Yuta Nakazaki along with catcher Shota Nakata to the Melbourne Aces. (Melbourne also has a Japanese coach named Mitsuharu Nagayama but I've been unable to figure out if he is a coach with Seibu or not.)
I won't go into too much detail about what cards are available for each of these guys as a simple search using the Inventory Manager at SportsCardForum.com will give you the complete list (thanks Jason!). I don't think any of the six have any Calbee cards, although they have some Konami and Owners League cards. Each of the six appeared in a BBM Rookie Edition set - Nakata and Shiranita in 2008, Nakazaki and Shibata in 2009, Fujihara in 2010 and Koishi in 2012. Fujihara, Koishi, Nakazaki and Shiranita appeared in the BBM 1st and 2nd Version sets in their rookie seasons (Nakazaki didn't make the 2nd Version set), but have pretty much only been in their respective team sets in the following seasons. Shibata has appeared in the 1st Version set in 2009, 2010 and 2012 as well as the 2nd Version set in 2012. Nakata's only BBM cards (other than his Rookie Edition card) are from the Lions team sets.
There's an additional Japanese player on an ABL roster but he's not an NPB player. The Brisbane Bandits have an outfielder named Hirotoshi Onaka who is a minor leaguer in the Texas Ranger organization. He has never played in NPB but apparently signed with the Rangers out of International Pacific University in Japan.
I'm not entirely sure all the rosters are up to date as the Sydney Blue Sox roster still lists 43 year old Korean pitcher Koo Dae-Sung who I thought retired at the end of last season. So there may turn out to be more players than I thought - conversely it may turn out that ALL the rosters are old and these six played LAST season but I'm fairly confident that that's not the case.
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| 2012 BBM 2nd Version #619 |
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| 2012 BBM Lions #L69 |
I'm not entirely sure all the rosters are up to date as the Sydney Blue Sox roster still lists 43 year old Korean pitcher Koo Dae-Sung who I thought retired at the end of last season. So there may turn out to be more players than I thought - conversely it may turn out that ALL the rosters are old and these six played LAST season but I'm fairly confident that that's not the case.
New Stuff
A couple new items of interest are out there:
- BBM announced a couple of new box sets. One is a memorial set for Tomoaki Kanemoto containing 28 cards - 27 "regular" and one "special" card - possibly an autograph, bat or jersey card. It will be released at the end of November. The other new set is the annual Rookie Edition Premium set. This is a 50 card set featuring 48 "regular" cards and two "special" cards - possible autograph and memorabilia cards. The 48 regular cards break down as 36 rookie cards (3 per team) plus 12 "Rookie's Moments" cards (1 per team). The website says that the set will be out in early November but Jambalaya has the set up on their website already.
- AmiAmi has announcements of several new sets that haven't shown up on BBM's website yet - a "Rising Carp" box set, and a "Giants Legend" set. They also have a listing for a box set featuring the Carp produced by Hiroshima Athlete Magazine. There's also a set out from Number One for Hiroyuki Nakajima.
- Ebbets Field Flannels has put out a couple new Japanese baseball items - a 1958 Nankai Hawks hat and a 1966 "Nagoya" Dragons t-shirt.
UPDATE - Ebbets Field Flannels is also now selling a 1937 Nagoya jersey.
- BBM announced a couple of new box sets. One is a memorial set for Tomoaki Kanemoto containing 28 cards - 27 "regular" and one "special" card - possibly an autograph, bat or jersey card. It will be released at the end of November. The other new set is the annual Rookie Edition Premium set. This is a 50 card set featuring 48 "regular" cards and two "special" cards - possible autograph and memorabilia cards. The 48 regular cards break down as 36 rookie cards (3 per team) plus 12 "Rookie's Moments" cards (1 per team). The website says that the set will be out in early November but Jambalaya has the set up on their website already.
- AmiAmi has announcements of several new sets that haven't shown up on BBM's website yet - a "Rising Carp" box set, and a "Giants Legend" set. They also have a listing for a box set featuring the Carp produced by Hiroshima Athlete Magazine. There's also a set out from Number One for Hiroyuki Nakajima.
- Ebbets Field Flannels has put out a couple new Japanese baseball items - a 1958 Nankai Hawks hat and a 1966 "Nagoya" Dragons t-shirt.
UPDATE - Ebbets Field Flannels is also now selling a 1937 Nagoya jersey.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Card Of The Week October 28
The Chiba Lotte Marines named former Lions catcher and manager Tsutomu Itoh as their new manager a couple of weeks back. Itoh's one of my favorites (I think I have a soft spot for catchers who play forever - Itoh, Tanishige, Nomura, etc) and this gives me an opportunity to show off a couple of cards of him that I've picked up recently.
The first one is Itoh's 1982 rookie card from the Takara Lions set (one of the other rookie cards in that set was someone named Kimiyasu Kudoh):
The other is a 1989 Calbee card (#52) showing what I'm pretty sure is a play from the 1988 Nippon Series as that looks a lot like a guy in a Dragons uniform trying to score:
The first one is Itoh's 1982 rookie card from the Takara Lions set (one of the other rookie cards in that set was someone named Kimiyasu Kudoh):
The other is a 1989 Calbee card (#52) showing what I'm pretty sure is a play from the 1988 Nippon Series as that looks a lot like a guy in a Dragons uniform trying to score:
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