2003 BBM 2nd Version Set

2003 BBM 2nd Version Set Summary

Size:  407 cards (numbered 433-839)
Cards Per Team:  31 (manager + 30 players)
Team Card Theme:  No team cards
Number Of Leader Cards: N/A
Checklists: None
Subsets: New Wave (20), 2002 Retirement Players (15)
Inserts: Opening Game, 03 Record Achievement, MVP (Light Packs only)
Memorabilia Cards: Jersey or windbreaker cards for the 2002 League MVPs - Hideki Matsui and Alex Cabrera; Jersey or windbreaker cards for the 2002 ERA Leaders - Masumi Kuwata and Masahiko Kaneda; Four different Combo Jersey or windbreaker cards - one with Matsui & Cabrera, one with Matsui & Kuwata, one with Cabrera & Kaneda and one with Kuwata & Kaneda.  (When I say Jersey or Windbreaker - I don't know for sure which it is.  Engel is unclear.)
Parallels: Regular packs - 36 serially numbered (to 500) gold facsimile autographed player cards, seraily numbered (to 100) parallel of the "New Wave" subset cards, serially numbered (to 50) actual autographed parallel of the "Retirement Player" cards.  Light Packs - 60 "kira" versions of the player cards, "kira" versions of the Opening Game and Record Achievement inserts

Notable Rookies: ?

The New Wave subset features young players although I'm not sure what their criteria was.  The subset includes both rookies and players in their fifth season in 2003.  Unusually for a BBM subset,  the set does not contain the same number of players per team - there are 3 players apiece for the Hawks and Lions, 2 players apiece for the Carp, Fighters, Baystars and Giants and single players for the other six teams.  The players included were Nagisa Arakaki, Kyuji Fujikawa, Katsuaki Furuki, Taketoshi Gotoh, Akihiro Higashide, Daisuke Katoh, Hiroshi Kisanuki, Yuya Kubo, Takuya Matsumoto, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hichori Morimoto, Shuichi Murata, Katsuhiro Nagakawa, Shuichiro Osada, Kazunari Sanematsu, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Shohei Tateyama, Shiro Teramoto, Daisuke Ue and Tsuyoshi Wada.

#812

 Like the 1st Version set, the 2nd Version set includes a 15 card subset for players who retired after the 2002 season.  Not all 15 players are the same between the two sets however.  The 2nd Version set includes Toshiyuki Gotoh, Nobuyuki Hoshino, Atsunori Itoh, Yusuke Kawada, Taira Suzuki, Kazuya Tabata, Koji Takekiyo, Masahiro Takumi, Tsutomu Tamura, Shintaro Yamasaki and Tatsuhiro Yuminaga who were not in the 1st set as well as Koji Akiyama, Takehiro Ikeyama, Hiroo Ishii and Koki Morita who were.  The pictures on the cards are action shots of the players - occasionally they feature a picture of the player from several years previously - for example Akiyama is shown with the Lions and Ishii is shown with the Buffaloes.  Neither player had been with that team for a while.

#838

The "Opening Game" insert set contained 24 cards featuring the starting pitcher and cleanup hitter from the first game of the season for each team.

#OG17

The other insert set was called "03 Record Achievement" and featured 10 different players setting some record or reaching some milestone.  I'm not sure what all ten players' achievement was - as examples there's a card for Tuffy Rhodes reaching 250 home runs, Kazuo Matsui reaching 300 steals and Masahiro Kawai laying down his 512th sacrifice bunt (passing Eddie Collins for the "world record").

#R9

As was the case with 2003 1st Version, the cards available in the Light Packs were a subset of the base set.  Only cards 433-804 were available, leaving out the two subsets.  On the other hand, both the Opening Game and Record Achievement insert sets were available in the Light Packs (although it looks like only the parallel version were available).

Again following the lead of the 1st Version set, BBM decided to have a different set of parallels for the regular packs and the light packs.  In the regular packs it was possible to find gold facsimile autographed cards - there were 36 in all (3 per team) and they were numbered to 500.  There was also a parallel version of the "New Wave" cards (numbered to 100) and (like the 1st Version) 50 real autographs for each "Retirement Player" card.  In the Light Packs, there were 60 cards with a "Kira" parallel (5 per team) and "Kira" parallels of the two insert sets (I suspect that it was not possible to pull a non-"Kira" insert from the Light Packs).

Regular & Parallel Versions of #415

Regular & Kira Versions of #510

Regular & Kira Versions of #OG22

I don't have both a regular and Kira version of any of the "03 Record Achievement" cards so I'll just show the Kira version of the Kazuo Matsui card:

Kira Version of #R7

I'm not a fan of the design of the regular player cards in this set.  The most significant thing I can think about them is that this set contains the only card I'm aware of of Leon Lee as manager of the Orix Blue Wave (obviously there are many cards of Leon Lee as player).  Lee was the first and still only African-American manager of an NPB team.

#774

Other example cards:

#728

#550

#703

#440

Back of #479 (Atsuya Furuta)

Packs for the 2003 2nd Version set were the first ones to be sold with only nine cards in them rather than the 10 that had been in the packs for BBM's flagship sets since their debut in 1991.  The Light Packs would have only four cards per pack.

Regular Pack

Light Pack

For the first time in several years, BBM did not include any sort of poster or information sheet inside the box of packs.  Instead, the bottom of the box featured the checklist of the set.

Box

Box Bottom

Light Pack Box

Shinjiro Hiyama

The Hanshin Tigers' 2013 season ended today at the hands of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and so the playing career of Shinjiro Hiyama also ended today.  Hiyama went out with a bang, hitting a pinch hit, 2 run home run in the bottom of the ninth but it was too little too late for the Tigers.  The Tigers had held their retirement ceremony for Hiyama last weekend following the last regular season game at Koshien this year.

Hiyama was drafted by Hanshin in the fourth round of the 1992 draft (held in the fall of 1991) out of Toyo University.  His rookie card is from the 1993 BBM set (#160) and he appeared in that year's Takara Tigers set as well.  He did not have a Calbee card until 1996 (#60).

2011 Tohto 80th Memorial #61

1993 BBM #160

Looking at his career numbers, it looks like Hiyama became a regular for the Tigers in 1995 and pretty much stayed that way until 2005 (with the possible exceptions of 1999 and 2000).  He put up steady numbers during this time.  He never lead the league in anything but he did make the All Star team three times - 1997, 2002 and 2003.

1997 BBM All Stars #A61

The Tigers made it to the Nippon Series twice (2003 & 2005) during Hiyama's time with them and he played in both of them, winning an "Outstanding Player" award in the 2003 Series.

2003 BBM Nippon Series #58

I suspect there's something I'm missing about Hiyama.  I mean no disrespect to him but he seems to be more popular than his statistical record would warrant, popular enough that someone did a box set for him two years ago.  I'm just not entirely sure why.  But he did stay with the Tigers for 24 seasons so that probably counts for something.

1994 Takara Tigers

2000 Upper Deck #96

2004 BBM Tigers #T91

2012 BBM 1st Version #265

Card Of The Week October 13

2002 BBM Tigers #T91

There's a lot of things I could have done "Card Of The Week" this week on - the NPB postseason kicked off yesterday (actually I'm writing this Saturday afternoon on the US East Coast - by the time this actually posts, the First Stage of the Climax Series could be over), the Dragons named Motonobu Tanishige as player-manager and Hiromitsu Ochiai as GM last week and Koji Uehara is still kicking butt as the Red Sox closer (despite what happened Monday night) but I decided instead to point out that this is the 300th "Card Of The Week" post.

I actually should have celebrated the 300th last week, but for some reason, I never did one for the week of August 31, 2008.  I remember I was away that weekend for the Rock'N'Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach but I have no idea why I didn't do a post later in the week.

Shigenobu Shima

I was not going to do any write ups on any players retiring from teams that were still playing in the post season but I've decided to go ahead and do one for Shigenobu Shima of the Lions because after only getting in 9 games this year (all as a pinch hitter I think) I'm fairly confident that he's not going to be playing in the post season (which may end for the Lions tomorrow anyway).

Shima was the second round pick of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the 1995 draft.  He was actually drafted as a pitcher and spent his first few seasons on the mound, going 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in two appearances with the ichi-gun Carp in 1997.  His rookie card in #542 in the 1995 BBM set.

1995 BBM #542

Following some arm issues, the Carp decided to make a batter out of him, moving him to first base and the outfield.  He was pretty much a part time player until the 2004 season.

2000 BBM #251

His debut as a full time player in 2004 was spectacular.  He ended up leading the league in batting (.337) and hits (189) as well as hitting 32 home runs with 84 RBIs.  He made the All Star team as well as the Best 9 team for the only time in his career.

2004 BBM All Stars # A29

2005 BBM 1st Version #498

2005 BBM 1st Version Best 9 #BN18

Shima had had only a handful of baseball cards prior to his breakout 2004 season.  He'd only appeared in the 1995, 1996 and 2000 BBM flagship sets as well as the 2000 Future Bee Power League set.  His first Calbee card was not until 2004 (#149).

Shima's numbers fell off following 2004.  He had 27 home runs in 2005 and 24 in 2006 but he only hit above .300 one more time - .309 in 2008.  He started to have some injury issues that ended up limiting the number of games he would play in in 2009 and 2011.

2008 BBM Hiroshima Memorial #45

I'm not positive, but I think Shima was traded to the Lions in the spring of 2012 (Gary Garland says March of 2011 but that's probably a typo as he appeared in 54 games with the Carp in 2011.)  He's spent most of the last two seasons with in the minors, only appearing in 36 games total with the ichi-gun team.

2012 BBM Lions #L98

Takayuki Shinohara

Another player who retired as of the end of the season was Takayuki Shinohara of the Baystars.  It doesn't appear as if the Baystars had any sort of ceremony for him - he played in the minors all season and declined a call up at the end of the season.  He's taken a coaching job with the organization for next season.

Shinohara had a couple really good seasons early in his career but he's battled injuries and ineffectiveness much of the past 10 years.  He was a second round draft pick of the (then) Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the 1998 draft.  His rookie card was in the 1998 BBM set (#488) but his first Calbee card wasn't until 2000 (#003).

1998 BBM #488

Shinohara had a spectacular season out of the bullpen in 1999, going 14-1 with an ERA of 1.25 and 80 strikeouts in 79.1 innings, helping to lead the Hawks to a Nippon Series championship.  I'm assuming he pulled a Phil Regan-esque "Vulture" act of being on the mound when the Hawks made late inning comebacks.  He made his first All Star team that year (he would also make the 2003 team but I think he was a late replacement for an injured player as he doesn't have a card in BBM's All Star set that year) and lead the league in winning percentage, the only time he would lead the league in any category.

1999 BBM All Stars #A52

2000 BBM #24 ("Readers" error)

2000 Upper Deck Victory #A7 (The 2.60 ERA was his career mark going into 2000)

He appeared in 50+ games in each of his first three seasons before ineffectiveness limited him to only 33 appearances in 2001 (he had a 6.26 ERA that year).  His poor season did not prevent him from being named to the Japanese National Team for the 2001 Baseball World Cup.

2002 BBM Japan National Team #7

It's kind of odd - Shinohara was one of the top relievers for the Hawks from 1998-2003 but it doesn't look like he ever really got an opportunity to close until Rodney Pedraza left the team following the 2002 season.  Shinohara had a career high 10 saves for the Hawks in 2003, second on the team to Matt Skrmetta's 11.  2003 would see the Hawks win the Nippon Series again.  In all, Shinohara would appear in three Nippon Series - winning in 1999 and 2003 and losing in 2000.

2003 BBM Nippon Series #02

Injuries would cost him most of the next two seasons, only making one appearance with the ichi-gun team in 2005.  His workload went back to his 1998-2000 standards in 2006 but dropped off the following two seasons.  He didn't play for the top team at all in 2009 and was released following the season.

2006 BBM Hawks #H007

The Baystars picked him up for the 2010 season.  He had a pretty good 2011 season, appearing in 67 games with an ERA of 1.84 in 44 innings but his ERA jumped to 4.91 in only 22 innings the following year.

2010 BBM 1st Version #191

2012 Calbee #142

His final record was 33-19 in 496 games over 13 seasons, all in relief.  His career ERA was 3.28.

Kazumi Saitoh

The Hawks held a retirement ceremony for Kazumi Saitoh a couple weeks ago.  I was a little surprised to discover that Saitoh actually hasn't played with the ichi-gun Hawks since 2007 - I knew he had injury issues but I hadn't realized just how long it had been since he'd pitched with the top club.

Saitoh was a first round pick of the Hawks back in the fall of 1995.  His rookie card (which I don't have) is in the 1996 BBM set (#513) on which he is labeled "Kazumi".  He doesn't appear in another BBM flagship set until 2001 but he does show up in BBM's 1998 Hawks and 2000 Nippon Series sets.

1998 BBM Hawks #FD28

2000 BBM Nippon Series #S40

2001 BBM #163

I'm a little confused on what his first Calbee card is.  I'm pretty confident that his first regular Calbee card is #147 from the 2003 set but Engel lists him as having a card in the 2002 Memorial Card subset which really doesn't make any sense.  The Memorial Card subset was how Calbee celebrated their 20th Anniversary - it featured reprints of Calbee's first cards of 36 different players.  How could their be a reprint of Saitoh's first Calbee card if he hadn't had one yet?

2003 Calbee #147

Saitoh mostly worked out of the bullpen his first few seasons.  He mixed starting and relieving in 2000 and 2001 before exclusively being a starter in 2002.  In 2003, it all came together for him - he went 20-3 with a 2.83 ERA and 160 strikeouts and helped lead the Hawks to a Nippon Series championship over the Tigers.  He lead the league in both wins and ERA and won the Sawamura award.  He had a very poor season in 2004 (10-7 with an ERA over 6) before coming back with a very good 2005 (16-1 with a 2.92 ERA) and an amazing 2006 - 18-5, 1.75 ERA and 205 strikeouts, all league leaders (the "Pitching Triple Crown") and winning a second Sawamura Award - the first Pacific League pitcher ever to do so.

2007 BBM #476

He suffered injuries in 2007 and his last appearance with the ichi-gun Hawks was in the Pacific League Climax Series where he got hit hard by the Marines.

He made the All Star team in both of his Sawamura Award winning seasons and appeared in two Nippon Series - 2000 and 2003.

2006 BBM All Stars #A17

I'm not entirely sure what exactly Saitoh retired from this season.  He appeared in last winter's "Historic Collection" set as an OB player rather than an active player.  The back of that card indicated that his time with the Hawks was from 1996-2010.  From what I can tell from this post at Yakyu Baka, I think he was acting as a rehab coach for the Hawks while attempting to make a comeback this year.  Apparently he decided that he couldn't make it back.

2013 BBM Great Numbers #128