BBM Timeline 2005

Let's try a slightly different approach to this...

The big change for BBM in 2005 was that instead of the 1st and 2nd Version sets being roughly the same size, the 1st Version set was much larger than the 2nd Version set. BBM basically made the 1st Version set the equivalent of its pre-2002 regular sets at 559 cards. The 2nd Version set was only 275 cards and featured many subsets, including a 1st Version update subset which featured cards of either traded, newly signed or newly promoted players using the same format as the 1st Version cards.

Other notable sets for 2005 were a box set featuring the newest NPB team - the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (that included cards for the team's owner and GM) and a pack based Hanshin Tigers 70th Anniversary set. The "Historic Edition" set was called "Glorious Stars".

Here's a list of the sets for the year:

Set	Type	# Of Cards	Inserts	Premium Inserts
Glorious Stars	pack	144	Legend Stars, Active Stars	Autograph, Equipment
Rookie Edition	pack	119	1995 Rookies, Former Rookie Of The Years	Ball
Nippon Ham Fighters Challengers	box	30	None	Autograph, Jersey
Tigers Team Set	pack	112	Facsimile Autograph, Tigers Leaders, Tigers Stars	Autograph, Equipment
Rakuten Eagles	box	47	None	None
Swallows Team Set	pack	99	Swallows Stars	Jersey, Bat, Autograph
1st Version	pack	559	Golden Glove, Best 9, MVP	Jersey
2nd Version	pack	275	Opening Game, Running & Fielding Specialist, Team Hero	Autograph, Equipment
BayStars Team Set	pack	99	BayStars Heroes	Autograph, Equipment
Marines Team Set	pack	103	Marines Heroes	Autograph, Jersey
Buffaloes Team Set	pack	99	Osaka Dome, Team Leaders	Bat, Autograph
Carp Team Set	pack	99	Soul Of The Carp	Autograph, Equipment
Eagles Team Set	pack	126	Eagles Eye	Autograph, Equipment
Lions Team Set	pack	102	Strong Batting Lineup, Lion Heart, Diecut, Photo	Autograph, Equipment
All Star	box	62	None	None
Hawks Team Set	pack	99	Opening Game Starting Members, Hawks Heroes	Autograph, Equipment
Fighters Team Set	pack	99	Sturm & Drang	Autograph, Jersey
Dragons Team Set	pack	99	Dragons Heroes, Specialist	Autograph, Jersey
Giants Team Set	pack	108	Giant Step	Autograph, Equipment
Tigers 70th Anniversary	pack	99	Tigers Heroes, Tiger Best 9, Mr. Tigers	Film, Autograph
Touch The Game	pack	161	None	Photo, Autograph, Equipment
Hawks Go	box	36	None	Film
Marines Takumi	box	36	None	Film
Central League Champion Tigers	box	45	None	Photo
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami	box	34	None	Equipment
Nippon Series	box	60	None	None
Tigers Kodo	box	42	None	Undershirt, Photo, Autograph

Shown at the top of the post are the 1st and 2nd Version sets. At the bottom of the post is the Eagles box set.

UPDATE: I neglected to mention that Gary Engel's "Japanese Baseball Card Checklist And Price Guide" was the source (as usual) of most of this information.

Card Of The Week October 10

So last Tuesday, Matt Murton of the Hanshin Tigers broke Ichiro Suzuki's 16 year old record for most hits in a season. Pretty impressive for a guy who's main claim to fame before this season was accompanying Nomar Garciaparra from the Red Sox to the Cubs in that famous mid-season trade in 2004.

Here's Murton's card from this year's BBM All Star set (#A31):


Oh, yeah, and Deanna was at the game.

Marty Brown

Well, it's looking like it was a good thing that I managed to find Senichi Hoshino this year, because he may not be free to go to Aberdeen next summer. Marty Brown has been let go as manager of the Eagles and they are after Hoshino to replace him.

Brown played for the Carp from 1992 until 1994. He returned to the Carp as manager in 2006 and remained until after the 2009 season. After the Carp let him go, the Eagles picked him. With his firing, it's looking like next season there will be no American managers in Japan for the first time since 2002.

Here's a sampling of cards from Brown's time in Japan. His 1992 Takara Carp card from his playing days:


From the 2008 BBM Hiroshima Memorial set (#28), having a discussion with an umpire:


2009 BBM 1st Version "Record Making Players" subset (#474) - I suspect this is to commemorate him setting some record involving being ejected, but I can't confirm this:


2010 BBM 1st Version (#253):

RIP Keiji Ohsawa

Former Nippon Ham Fighters manager Keiji Ohsawa has passed away at age 78 from gall bladder cancer. He played for the then Nankai Hawks from 1956 to 1964, then played one season for the Tokyo Orions. He managed the Lotte Orions in 1971 and 1972, then managed the Fighters from 1976 to 1984, winning the Pacific League pennant in 1981 (and losing in the Nippon Series to the Giants). He returned to manage the Fighters again in 1993 and 1994.

Here's some cards highlighting his career. From the 2008 Hawks 70th Anniversary set (#19):


2009 Epoch All Japan Baseball Foundation set (#55) showing the 1981 Pacific League championship celebration:


1994 BBM (#471):


He also appeared in last year's Premium Malts set (#01) and I assume he is in this year's set as well:


One other thing of interest - according to his bio on Japan Baseball Daily, his granddaughter, Akane Osawa, is an actress and model. Turns out, she was featured in the "Ceremonial First Pitch" subset from the 2007 BBM 2nd Version set (#738):

2010 BBM Rookie Edition Premium

Well, like the Premium Malts set, I haven't seen any information on the new Rookie Edition Premium set on BBM's website, but it's on both AmiAmi and Discount Niki (in fact, it's already sold out on AmiAmi!). It appears to be a 50 card box set featuring 48 "regular" cards which appear to break down as 36 cards for rookies (3 per team) and a 12 card subset of some sort (with 1 card per team). Don't know if the three rookies include the guy in the subset or not. There are also two premium cards in the box which could be autograph, memorabila, photo or film cards. The set will be released in late October.

Card Of The Week October 3

Joe Torre managed his last game for the Dodgers and possible his last game ever today. Now I want to be clear that I despise both the Yankees and the Dodgers, but I have to say that Joe's a pretty classy guy.

Now you're probably saying to yourself "Well, that's nice and all, but what's that got to do with Japanese baseball. Torre never played or managed in Japan, so there wouldn't be any baseball cards of him". True, he never played or managed for a Japanese team, but he did travel to Japan after the 1974 season with the Mets. And there's actually a set of cards that commemorates that tour.

There was a guy named Ed Broder who in the 1980's became famous (or infamous) for producing non-licensed baseball cards. But before that, he was a serviceman stationed in Japan who printed up and sold baseball cards of Japanese teams for sale in the US. There was a guy named Ed Broder who was a serviceman stationed in Japan in the 1970's who printed up and sold baseball cards of Japanese teams for sale in the US. The cards are amazingly primitive - black and white photos on either card stock or paper - but they're kind of an interesting little experiment. I've been meaning to do a post about them at some point, but I need to learn how to scan black and white photos better with my scanner.

Anyway, Broder did a set of cards for the Mets' 1974 tour featuring several Mets, Yomiuri Giants and Carp players, including Mets manager Yogi Berra, Jerry Koosman, Felix Millan (who would later play for Yokohama), Tom Seaver, Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh. Torre is featured on two group cards - one with Kazuyoshi Yamamoto of the Carp and this one:


From the left, that's Ed Kranepool, John Milner, Sachio Kinugasa (who I had not realized had worn a number other than 3), and Torre.

UPDATE - Jason made a suggestion on how to scan the black and white images of the Broder cards in so that they don't look terrible, so let's try this again:


Well, I'd say that's much better. Thanks, Jason!

Light Packs

I had a bunch of questions about BBM's "Light Packs" in the comments of this post the other day, so I thought I'd devote a post just to them.


In 2003, BBM introduced the "Light Pack" for the 1st Version set. Instead of being a pack of 10 cards for 200 yen, the "Light Pack" was a pack of 5 cards for 100 yen - half the cards for half the price. Each pack contained one parallel issue "kira" card - identical to the original card except it was shiny and sparkly (and had a ginormous baseball added to the background). In addition, the "Light Packs" contained insert cards for the 2002 MVPs (Hideki Matsui and Alex Cabrera) that were not found in the standard packs. The insert and memorabilia cards that were inserted in to the regular packs were not available in the "Light Packs". To further complicate matters, only cards 1-405 of the 432 card 1st Version set were available in the "Light Packs" - it was impossible to get any of the cards in the "2002 Retirement Player" (cards 406-420) or Team Checklist (cards 421-432) subsets in the "Light Packs".


When BBM issued the 2nd Version set later in 2003, it again also issued "Light Packs" for the set. The regular 2nd Version packs were 9 cards to a pack - the "Light Packs" were 4 cards to a pack - a little less than half the cards at half the price. Again, each pack contained one "kira" parallel issue card and again there were insert cards for the 2002 MVPs that were not issued with the regular set (and were not the same as the ones for the 1st Version "Light Packs"). However, "kira" versions of the 2nd Version insert cards for the regular packs - "Opening Game" and "Record Achievement" - were inserted into the "Light Packs". And again, only a subset of the regular set was available in the "Light Packs" - cards 805 to 839 (the "New Wave" and "2002 Retirement Player" subsets) do not appear. And also again - the memorabilia cards available in the regular 2nd Version sets are not available in the "Light Packs".

Here's an example of the regular and "kira" card from the 2nd Version set (Takuro Ishii #606):


I can speak with some confidence on the 2003 "Light Packs" because I actually had a box of them for each set. All I know about subsequent years is what I can glean from Gary Engel's "Japanese Baseball Card Checklist and Price Guide". It appears that BBM did "Light Packs" for both the 1st and 2nd Version sets through at least 2007 (the last full year in the book) and for all I know they continue it to this day. Regular packs have contained eight cards since 2004 and the "Light Packs" have contained four. It looks like the "Light Packs" have continued to have one "kira" card parallel issue per pack (although for the 2007 sets, Engel describes this card as "metallic" rather than "kira"). It also appears that BBM has continued to have the previous year's MVPs on insert cards that are exclusive to the "Light Packs" (although again 2007 was different - the "Light Pack" inserts were for "Speed Stars" - Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Norichika Aoki). Additionally, in 2004 and 2005, there were "kira" versions of 2nd Version insert cards in the "Light Packs". Since I was only sure that the 2003 "Light Packs" only contained a subset of the set by looking at the checklist on the back of the box, I don't know if those in subsequent years also only contained a subset.

The image at the top of the post is for a 2003 1st Version "Light Packs" box. (You can see an image of the regular box here.) The other image is of the wrappers from the regular and "Light" 2nd Version packs (which would not sit straight on my scanner).