Spring Training In The US For NPB Teams

1983 NST #147

2004 BBM Tigers #T95

The NPB Champion Fighters are returning to Peoria Arizona next February for spring training.  They won't be there quite as long as this past year due to the World Baseball Classic but they will be there for 10 days.  I will try to put out more information about who's actually going to be in camp when it becomes available although it's very unlikely that I will be able to go this time - I'm planning on using my travel money and leave to go to the WBC finals in Los Angeles instead.

I've been wanting for a while to attempt to put together a comprehensive list of all the times that NPB teams have come to the US for spring training.  I've been doing a bunch of research over the past few weeks and I've come up with the following list:

Years	Team	Location	Host	Notes
1953	Yomiuri Giants	Santa Maria, CA
1960	Nankai Hawks	Hawaii
1961	Yomiuri Giants	Vero Beach, FL	Dodgers
1967	Yomiuri Giants	Vero Beach, FL	Dodgers
1969-75?	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Tucson, AZ	Indians	May not have been every year
1971	Yomiuri Giants	Vero Beach, FL	Dodgers
1971-72	Lotte Orions	Casa Grande, AZ	Giants
1975	Chunichi Dragons	Bradenton, FL
1975	Yomiuri Giants	Vero Beach, FL	Dodgers
1978-99	Yakult Swallows	Yuma, AZ	Padres
1979	Seibu Lions	Bradenton, FL
1981	Hanshin Tigers	Tempe, AZ	Mariners
1981	Yokohama Taiyo Whales	Mesa, AZ	Cubs
1981	Yomiuri Giants	Vero Beach, FL	Dodgers
1984	Seibu Lions	Mesa, AZ	Cubs
1986	Nippon-Ham Fighters	Delray, FL
1987	Nippon-Ham Fighters	Sarasota, FL	Royals
1988	Chunichi Dragons	Vero Beach, FL	Dodgers
1989	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	Hawaii
1990's	Seibu Lions	Maui, HI		Last year was 1996
1995	Chunichi Dragons	Peoria, AZ	Mariners
1995-98	Chiba Lotte Marines	Peoria, AZ	Padres
2016-17	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Peoria, AZ	Padres
2018-19	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Scottsdale, AZ	Rockies?

I don't know if this is everything, but this is everything that I was able to find anything about.  This only includes "full" teams coming over, not the times where there were just a couple players who came over (like when Orix sent three players - Ichiro Suzuki, Nobuyuki Hoshino and Nobuyuki Ebisu - to spring training with the Mariners in 1999).  I saw hints somewhere that the Kintetsu Buffaloes had trained at Dodgertown in Vero Beach but I could never pin the time frame down or whether it was in the spring or fall (UPDATE - it was the fall of 2002 and 2003).  The two "Hawks in Hawaii" listings come from the Hawks' Japanese wikipedia page with no further information.

Here's my list of sources (you'll notice in some articles that the references to NPB teams training in the US are very incidental):
"Japan And Dodgertown" from the Dodgertown web site
"Japanese Baseball In Arizona" by brian5123
Japanese wikipedia pages for the Lions, Fighters, Dragons and Marines.

From Sports Illustrated:
"Japan's Mr Oh Hits More Homers Than Big Boog" by Roy Blount Jr, 3/29/1971
"Quick, Nagayama, The Needle" by Roy Blount Jr, 6/5/1972
"Where East Meets West" 3/29/1982
"Rising Sun Meets Desert Sun" by Leo W.Banks, 3/24/1997

From The New York Times:
"Another Spring Showdown" by Joseph Durso, 2/22/1981
"Sports of The Times; Baseball's Harmonious Environment" by Harvey Araton, 2/15/1995
"Padres Strike Deal With Team In Japan" by Murray Chass, 1/16/1997

Other sources:
"Japanese Orions Defeat Giants in 12 Innings, 4-3", Chicago Tribune 3/23/1970
"Along The Sports Trail" by Robert Markus, Chicago Tribune 3/12/1971
Tucson Daily Citizen, 3/11/1972
"Sox lose...unofficially" by Richard Dozer, Chicago Tribune 3/1/1979
"Delray Strikes Out With Japanese Baseball Team" by Joseph Schwerdt, Broward & Palm Beach Sun-Sentinel, 3/6/1987
"Winter Ball Seen As Plus For Hawaii" by Cindy Luis, Honolulu Star-Bulletin 8/9/1996
"Sayanora To The Swallows Of Winter", Bloomberg News, 4/26/1999
Amazing Tales From The Indians Dugout by Russel Schneider

As a baseball card guy, of course, the big question for me is - are there any baseball cards featuring photos from the US?  And the answer is yes.  I've pointed out in the past that the Giants visit to Vero Beach in 1975 was featured on cards in both the 1974/75 Calbee set and the 1975 NST "Mr Baseball" set.  The Giants return in 1981 was featured in the 1983 NST set as well (which the card at the top of this post came from).  And last February's Fighters trip to Peoria made it onto a couple of BBM's 1st Version cards (as well as the BBM/Nippon-Ham Nippon-Ham Fighters food issue set) from this year.  I went spelunking through my 1990's BBM cards for the Swallows, Lions, Marines and Dragons and found cards with photos that might have been taken in the US, but nothing that was definite.  Not knowing who for certain went to the US for the team and not being familiar with the training facilities in either the US or Japan makes it difficult to know for sure.

UPDATE 1/8/17 - Discovered that Lotte was in Arizona in 1970 as well based on an article in the Chicago Tribune on 3/23/1970
UPDATE 4/11/18 - Buffaloes visited Dodgertown in the fall of 2002 and 2003
UPDATE 2/2/20 - Added Fighters in Scottsdale for 2018-19

UPDATE 12/18/24 - I missed the fact that the Chicago Tribune article from 3/23/1970 that mentioned a game between the Lotte Orions and San Francisco Giants also mentioned that the game took place in Tokyo so Lotte was not in Arizona in 1970

Akihisa Makida

Akihisa Makida of the Eagles decided to retire after being released at the end of the season.  Makita was drafted out of high school in the fifth round of the fall 2000 draft by the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes.  He spent four seasons with Kintetsu's farm team, never playing for the ichi-gun team.  He moved to the newly formed Eagles team in the player distribution draft that took place when Kintetsu "merged" with Orix following the 2004 season.  He made his ichi-gun debut in July of 2005.  He spent most of the following six seasons bouncing between the farm and top teams and he spent the 2008 season completely with the ni-gun team due to an elbow injury.  He was a regular for pretty much the only time in his career in 2012, when he played in 123 games and hit .225.  He was back to being a part time player and spending time with the farm team in 2013 but he did make the Eagles roster for the Nippon Series and homered in Game 7 against the Giants, the final run in the Eagles 3-0 Series-clinching victory.  His playing time picked up some in 2014 and 2015 but he only made 16 appearances with the top team in 2016.  He is the final original Eagles player to still be with the team - the only other 2005 Eagles who are still active are Katsuhiko Saka of the Tigers (who only played on the Eagles farm team in 2005) and Hisashi Iwakuma of the Mariners.

Makida's rookie card is #508 from the 2001 BBM set.  His first Calbee card was not until 2009 when he appeared in the "Hot Player" subset (#HP05) and he didn't have a "regular" Calbee card until 2012 (#099) which would be the only one he would have.

2001 BBM #508

2007 BBM 1st Version #210

2011 BBM 1st Version #157

2012 Calbee #099

2013 BBM Classic #059

2016 BBM 1st Version #155

More Ohtani Rookies Plus Promos and Stadium Give Aways

I did a post a few months back on various Shohei Ohtani cards from 2013 - basically anything that could be considered a rookie card for him.  Most of the cards I mentioned in that post were base set cards since that's pretty much what I collect.  In the past few months I've fielded a number of questions about other Ohtani cards from the year and I've done some research on what's out there in the way of additional cards.

First of all, I generated a list of every card I could find for him from 2013.  I used SCM #116 for the BBM issues and #118 for the Calbee issues (including the card values).  The Bandai issue was listed in the Trading Card Database's listings for him.  I've linked to images of the cards where possible (mostly to Jambalaya).  The BBM sets are listed in the order they were issued.

Company	Set	Card Number	Description/Comments	Serially Numbered	Value (Yen)
Bandai	Owners League 02	074	Not listed in SCM		?
BBM	Rookie Edition	42	Pitcher		800
BBM	Rookie Edition	42	Batter		800
BBM	Rookie Edition	90	Then & Now w/Mitsuo Yoshikawa		100
BBM	Icons - Hope	14			700
BBM	Icons - Hope	26	Michinoku Express w/Yusei Kikuchi		300
BBM	Icons - Hope		Autograph Card	10	180000
BBM	Icons - Hope	DC04	Diecut Card w/Shintaro Fujinami	90	3000
BBM	Icons - Hope	DC04	Diecut Card w/Shintaro Fujinami	40	6000
BBM	Icons - Hope	DC04	Diecut Card w/Shintaro Fujinami	20	15000
BBM	Icons - Hope	PA14	Foil Autograph	50	7000
BBM	Icons - Hope	PA14	Foil Autograph	20	140000
BBM	1st Version	183			800
BBM	1st Version	DR7	Diamond Rookies		700
BBM	1st Version		Art Of Auto (not listed in SCM)	?	?
BBM	Fighters	F02a	Pitching		500
BBM	Fighters	F02b	Batting		500
BBM	Fighters	F83	Newcomer & Rookie		100
BBM	Fighters	F90-98	The Two Sword Player Puzzle		100 (each)
BBM	Fighters	KE1	Keep Evolving		500
BBM	Fighters		Autograph Pitching	10	150000
BBM	Fighters		Autograph Batting	10	150000
BBM	Fighters		Rookie Limited Edition Autograph	10	180000
BBM	Classic	037			200
BBM	Classic	A07	Above Average/Perfect Pitching		4500
BBM	2nd Version	554			300
BBM	2nd Version	CW058	Cross Wind		50
BBM	2nd Version	TG07	Twin Gem w/Sho Nakata		600
BBM	2nd Version	M07	Memorabilia Card	100	12000
BBM	2nd Version	M07	Memorabilia Card (Patch Version?)	20	40000
BBM	2nd Version		Cross Wind Autograph	10	180000
BBM	2nd Version		Rookie Ball Card (Not listed in SCM)	?	?
BBM	Young Fighters	YF01			300
BBM	Young Fighters	SP1	"Non-woven fabric" card		1500
BBM	Young Fighters	P1	Photograph card		3000
BBM	Young Fighters		Autograph Card	10	160000
BBM	Genesis	055			500
BBM	Genesis	CW143	Cross Wind Insert(?)		10000
BBM	Genesis		Autograph Ball	10	160000
BBM	Genesis		Patch Card (not listed in SCM)	?	?
BBM	Fighters 10th Season in Hokkaido	02			300
BBM	Fighters 10th Season in Hokkaido	89	Historic Highlights		50
BBM	Fighters 10th Season in Hokkaido		Autograph Card	10	130000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	RP19			300
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	RP43	Golden Crop		100
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	VC07	?		8000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	PH19	Photograph Card		6000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	F19	Film Card		12000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	RM-F	Jersey Card		5000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium	RM-F	Patch Card	20	30000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium		Autograph Card	15	110000
BBM	Rookie Edition Premium		Autograph Card	5	200000
Calbee	Series Two	D-07	Exciting Rookie		800
Calbee	Series Three	AS-22	All Stars		500
Calbee	Series Three	S-61	Star		800

I think that's about 64 cards in all.  This does not include a lot of the parallel versions.

I swiped an image from a Yahoo! Japan Auction for some of the inserts that I couldn't find a Jambalaya:

2013 BBM Classic "Above Average" #A07

2013 BBM Young Fighters "Non-woven fabric card" #SP1 

2013 BBM Genesis "Cross Wind" Insert #CW143

The Calbee Star cards have a gold signature parallel.  I got the image from another YJA auction:

2013 Calbee #S-61 Gold Signature Parallel

Now let's get into the more interesting stuff.  I mentioned in my earlier post that Ohtani's first card appeared to be an promo of one of his Rookie Edition cards from SCM #97.  This turns out to not be the only promo version of this card.  There was a promo issued in Shukan Baseball issue #10 from 2013 that had a publication date of 2/20/13 (Shukan Baseball's issue numbers restart each year).  I don't have a copy of that card and I could not find an image of it.  However, there was another promo card for the set that was distributed at card shops.  The card I have is double sided with Tomoyuki Sugano on one side and Ohtani on the other.  I suspect that the promo set had 6 double sided cards in all that featured the 12 first round picks.  Here's the image of Ohtani's side:

2013 BBM Rookie Edition Ohtani Card Shop Promo

It would not surprise me to discover that there's a "Book Shop" promo version of this card as well.

Ohtani's 1st version card #183 has several promo versions as well.  Sports Card Magazine #98 included a promo version of this card (SCM card #208).  There is a signature parallel version of this promo card that reader David Saba shared with me:

SCM #208 Signature Parallel

 I am fairly certain that there is not a Shukan Baseball promo version of this card but again it would not surprise me to learn that there are "Card Shop" or "Book Store" promos of it.

The most interesting promo version of the card I've come across is one that was apparently done as part of a giveaway at the Fighter's minor league stadium in Kamagaya.  This is another two sided card with the image of the 1st Version card on the one side and a completely different picture on the other side:

I don't know much more about this card than that.  From the card number on the back (KP2) I assume that there are more cards in the set (presumably for other players) but I don't know anything about them.

The only promos I've seen for any of his 2nd Version cards have been a "Book Store" version of his Cross Wind card:

BBM also did an 11 card promo set for the Fighters team set that was distributed at or near Sapporo Dome (I have a similar promo set for the Lions team set that year):

The Ohtani card is a composite of the two versions of his card in the set with a facsimile autograph:

I've also come across a couple cards that appear to be team issued.  I don't know for sure if these were fan club cards or some sort of Stadium giveaway item.  The first card may have been a giveaway at Kamagaya as it shows the Fighters 2013 rookie class:

The other card is a card only of Ohtani.  Here's the front and back of it:

I want to stress that I don't own any of the cards shown in this post other than that "Card Shop" promo of the Rookie Edition card.  You can do your own searches for Ohtani cards at Yahoo! Japan Auctions by using this search.  If you find something you want to buy, I'd recommend using one of the Proxy Bidding companies that I've recommended in the past (Noppin, JAUCE or kuboTEN).

12/26 UPDATE: Just found another Promo version of 1st Version #183.  This was apparently a promo version available at an event at a stadium but I don't know if the stadium was Sapporo Dome or somewhere else:

RIP Hajime Katoh

Former Lions and Giants pitcher Hajime Katoh has passed away from rectal cancer.  (He actually died on December 11 but his passing was just announced today.)  He was originally signed by the Nishitetsu Lions in 1971 outside of the draft - he was playing for the Daishowa Paper Mills team in the corporate leagues after dropping out of Asia University.  The Lions were still recovering from the "Black Mist Scandal" which had seen four of their pitchers banned for life for game fixing and Kato was immediately pressed into service in the rotation.  He ended up going 17-16 with a 3.95 ERA for a woeful Lions team (they finished the season 47-80-3, tied for last with the Lotte Orions 32.5 games behind the first place Nankai Hawks).  This performance earned him the Pacific League Rookie Of The Year award.

He remained with the (now) Taiheiyo Club Lions for the next three seasons before being traded along with Haruki Ihara to the Yomiuri Giants for Mitsuhara Sekimoto and Nobuhiro Tanai.  He played for the Giants until retiring at the end of the 1990 season - he was a player/coach in his final two seasons.  After retiring he coached for the Lions (1995-99 & 2001) and for several teams in the KBO (LG Twins 2002 & 2006, SK Wyverns 2005, 2007-11) and the La New Bears of the CPBL (2004).  He made the All Star team six times, three with the Lions (1972-74) and three with the Giants (1976, 1979, 1986).  He threw a no-hitter against the Carp in 1975.

2008 BBM Lions Memorial #18

1974/75 Calbee #925

2012 BBM No-Hitters #60

1989 Takara Giants #21

Nagisa Arakaki

Pitcher Nagisa Arakaki who was released by Yakult at the end of the season announced his retirement a few weeks ago after failing to get any offers after the "12 team tryout" session in late November.  Arakaki was drafted by both the Hawks and Orix in the first round of the 1998 draft out of high school and Orix won the lottery for him.  Arakaki really wanted to go to the Hawks, however, so he refused to sign with the Blue Wave and attended Kyushu Kyoritsu University instead.  The Orix scout who had been responsible for the team drafting him, Katsutoshi Miwata, subsequently committed suicide.

Arakaki was drafted out of college by the Hawks in the fall 2002 draft.  Actually to be completely accurate, he signed with the Hawks using something that translates as the "freedom acquisition frame" which I think means that Arakaki was able to choose the Hawks directly.  The Hawks signed both him and Tsuyoshi Wada via this route in the 2002 draft but I believe it cost them their first three picks in the draft.  He almost immediately moved into the starting rotation his rookie season, going 8-7 with a 3.34 ERA before being shutdown late in the season with an ankle injury.  He returned in time to make a couple appearances out of the bullpen against the Tigers in the Nippon Series that year.  He would go 34-19 over the next three seasons, combining with Wada and Kazumi Saitoh to form one of the strongest starting rotations in NPB.  He lead the Pacific League in strikeouts with 177 in 2004 and his 13-5, 3.01 ERA year in 2006 was probably the best season of his career.

His control started to abandon him in 2007 when he sent a new NPB record with 25 wild pitches on the season.  He still made 21 starts however and his overall numbers weren't too bad (3.60 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 137 1/3 innings).  It would be the last time he would make more than 15 starts or have an ERA less than 4 in a season.  He would fight injuries and ineffectiveness over the next four seasons, making only 19 starts with the ichi-gun team in 2008 & 2009 and spending all of 2010 and 2011 with the farm team.  The departures of Wada, Toshiya Sugiuchi and DJ Houlton forced the Hawks to put him back in the starting rotation in 2012 where he went 6-5 with a 4.58 ERA in 15 starts.  He pitched poorly again in 2013 and spent most of 2014 with the farm team until he was traded to the Swallows on July 22 with Hirofumi Yamanaka in exchange for Keizo Kawashima and Ryo Hidaka.  He went 4-14 over the past 2+ seasons with Yakult and the Swallows released him at the end of the season.

Surprisingly he only made one All Star team (2004) during his career (and was not included in the card set for some reason) and only pitched in one Nippon Series (2003).

His first BBM cards are #64 in the 2003 Rookie Edition set (which I don't have) and #274 in the 2003 1st Version set.  His first Calbee card (which I also don't have) is #144 from the 2003 set.  He also had a rookie card in Konami's Prime Nine set (#PN03B1097).  He continued to have cards over the years in the various BBM, Calbee, Konami and Bandai issues.

2003 BBM 1st Version #274

2003 BBM Nippon Series #03

2005 BBM 1st Version #516

2005 Calbee #009

2006 BBM 2nd Version "I Am Ace" insert #IA02

2008 BBM Hawks #H81

2012 BBM Hawks #H07

2015 BBM 2nd Version #371

2016 BBM Swallows #S32

Card Of The Week December 18

Kia Tigers pitcher Hyeon-Jung Yang was strongly considering making a move to NPB this off season and was close to a deal with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars but he backed off at the last minute.  He apparently decided to stay in the KBO and help Kia win a championship.

Yang has a handful of cards in the KBO sets that have been put out over the past three years but I only have two of them:

2014 Super Star Baseball Season One SBC01-107

2015 "Hell's Fireball" PA01-KI010

Masaru Takeda

Another player who retired at the end of the 2016 season was Fighters pitcher Masaru Takeda.  Takeda went undrafted out of college (Rissho University) in 2001 and played with SHiDAX of the industrial leagues for several seasons (including a couple when the team was managed by Katsuya Nomura).  He was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and made his NPB debut on March 26, 2006 at the age of 27 against Nomura's Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.  He spent most of his first season working out of the bullpen but he gradually moved into the starting rotation over the next few years.  His best seasons were probably 2010 and 2012 where he went 14-7 with a 2.41 ERA and 11-7 with a 2.36 ERA respectively.  He made the All Star team in 2011 and pitched in four Nippon Series with the Fighters - 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012.  His numbers started to deteriorate in 2013 - I'm not sure if there was an injury or if he just lost effectiveness.  He only made one appearance with the ichi-gun team in 2016 - his retirement game on September 30 where he started against the Marines and faced one batter, striking out Ikuhiro Kiyota.  The Fighters are sending him to coach with the Ishikawa Million Stars of the BC Challenge League next year - I don't know if there's some sort of working agreement between the two teams.

Takeda's rookie cards are #37 from the 2006 BBM Rookie Edition set, #174 from the 2006 BBM 1st Version set and #008 from the 2007 Calbee set.  In addition to his BBM and Calbee cards he also has cards in the Konami and Bandai "collectible" card game sets.

2006 BBM Rookie Edition #37

2006 BBM 1st Version #174

2007 Calbee #008

2009 BBM Nippon Series #S39

2011 BBM All Stars #A12

2011 Fighters Victory Card #068

2013 BBM Classic #038

2016 BBM Fighters #F20