Card Of The Week March 15

Just for the record, I don't see the resemblance.


1985 Calbee #33

I don't think he looks like this either...

WBC Comments

Just a couple of comments while I continue to cuss out XM for not broadcasting the WBC games:

- I enjoyed listening to Orestes Destrade on ESPN's coverage of the games from Japan. It's nice to hear someone who has some knowledge of the Japanese game. Destrade played for the Lions from 1989-92 and then again briefly in 1995. Here's his 1995 BBM card (#295):


- I am tired of hearing about how Tatsunori Hara has big shoes to fill following Sadaharu Oh as manager of the Japanese team. Has anyone looked at his history? When Hara debuted with the Giants in 1981, who did he replace in the Giants lineup? When he became Giants manager in 2002, who did he replace? This is not the first time Hara has followed someone more famous than him and if Japan fails to repeat as WBC Champ I doubt very much that this will have been a reason. Here's Hara's 1983 Calbee card (#583):

Career Home Run Leaders #7 (tie) - Sachio Kinugasa

There's a tie for seventh place on the All Time Career Home Run Leader list. Both Sachio Kinugasa and Isao Harimoto hit 504 home runs during their careers.

Sachio Kinugasa is best known for being the first player to ever pass Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak. Like Gehrig, he ended his streak when he ended his career, although thankfully he didn't end his career for similar reasons. Cal Ripken has since passed Kinugasa's 2215 game streak.

Kinugasa spent his entire career with the Carp. He came up in 1965, although he didn't become a regular until 1968. His consecutive game streak began in 1970 and ended with his retirement in 1987.

1977 Yamakatsu:


1985 Calbee (#200):


This 2008 BBM Hiromshima Memorial card (#15) celebrates his passing of Gehrig:


2000 BBM 20th Century Best 9 #066:


(The card at the top of this post is 2002 BBM 2nd Version #830)

Card Of The Week March 8

With two home runs and five RBI's, Shuichi Murata is off to a great start in the WBC. Here's his 2003 BBM Rookie Edition card (#40) from when he was freshly drafted by the BayStars:

Career Home Run Leaders #9 - Katsuo Ohsugi

Number 9 on the All Time Home Run list is Katsuo Ohsugi (or Osugi) with 486. Ohsugi started playing in 1965 with the Toei Flyers. He remained with the team as it changed hands and names to first the Nittaku Home Flyers and then the Nippon Ham Fighters. He moved to the Yakult Swallows for the 1975 season and played for them until he retired following the 1983 season. Sadly, he passed away at age 47 of liver cancer in 1992.

I think I have fewer cards of Ohsugi than of anyone else on this list. The following TCMA card (#19) is the only card I have of him that was produced during his career:


2000 BBM 20th Century Best 9 #402:


2002 BBM All Time Heroes #057:


(The card at the top of this post is 2002 BBM 2nd Version #831)

Eagles and Marines Team sets

BBM announced today that it will be releasing the 2009 Eagles and Marines team sets on March 28. Each pack based set will have 99 cards containing cards of all the players on both the ichi-gun and ni-gun rosters, as well as at least the manager (Lotte's set might include some of the coaches as well), along with various subsets. Each set will also have parallel issues, Shining Star inserts and possible jersey and autographed cards.

Card Of The Week March 1

I noticed the other day that on the back of this Topps card of Ichiro can be found the following: "He's the first MLB player in history to be a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame".

Well, no, that's not true. Ichiro is NOT a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. What Ichiro is a member of is the Meikyukai or "Golden Players Club". Other members of the club with MLB experience are Hideki Matsui, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shingo Takatsu. I'm not sure he was even the first of this group - Sasaki would have had over 250 saves when the 250 save criteria was added in 2003 while Ichiro didn't have over 2000 hits until 2004.

Ichiro's not even going to be the first MLB player to ever be inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall Of Fame - Lefty O'Doul is already in.

But besides that, it's a good looking card... And the WBC kicks off Thursday!


2008 Topps WBC Preview set #WBC10