What Is This?

I picked up an interesting card recently off of Ebay that I thought was a menko card but it's not.  I'm not really sure what it is to be honest.  Here's the front of it which was the image I saw on the auction listing:

That's Tetsuharu Kawakami of the Giants on the right and Fumio Fujimura of the Tigers on the left.  I'm guessing that since there's a guy in a Swallows uniform in the background that this is from an All Star game.  I'm pretty sure that the photo is from 1953 as that was the only year that the Giants wore that insignia on their hat and the Tigers started wearing that style uniform in 1953.  If it is from 1953 then the Swallows player is Masaichi Kaneda as he was the only Kokutetsu player to make the CL All Star team that year.

The first thing that told me that this wasn't a menko card was that it's larger than a typical menko card from the 1950's - it's almost "standard" card size.  It's also on much thinner stock than most menko cards are.  The last thing was what the back looked like:

Needless to say this is not a typical menko card back.  This photo shows Noboru Akiyama (standing) and Kiyoshi Doi (squatting) of the Taiyo Whales.  The Whales wore these uniforms in 1955 and 1956 but neither player debuted with the team until 1956 so that narrows it down. 

So I'm guessing that this is some sort of bromide card instead of a menko but I've never seen another bromide that has photos on both sides.  It's also really weird that the photos are from three years apart although I guess it's not unheard of card makers from that era reusing older photos.  I was able to digitally search the latest Vintage Guide from Engel but I didn't find a card meeting this description.  I'm basically stumped on this one.

Card Of The Week August 12

There were two very impressive home runs last Thursday.  Yoshio Itoi of the Tigers hit the back wall of the Tokyo Dome during their game against the Giants (H/T NPB Reddit for the link to the video):



Masataka Yoshida of the Buffaloes launched an impressive shot into the center field seats for a grand slam at the Osaka Dome (not using corporate names until I get a check) against the Lions:



While it looks like Itoi's went further, according to Dingers This Week it was actually Yoshida's home run that was hit further - 435 to 420 feet.  (Surprisingly Zealous Wheeler of the Eagles actually had the second longest home run of Thursday with a 422 foot shot - Itoi's was third longest on the day.) 

Here's are BBM team set cards for both Itoi and Yoshida.  Both of these are from "Newcomer" subsets - Yoshida's is from his rookie year of 2016 (card #Bs72) while Itoi's is from last year (#T72) - his first year (obviously) with Hanshin after four years with Orix.

Lodi T-Shirt

Ebbets Field Flannels unveiled several new T-shirts this week and one of them had a Japanese baseball connection - they included a shirt for the 1972 Lodi Orions which was owned by Lotte Orions Nagayoshi Nakamura and had four players from Lotte on their roster during the year.  Nakamura bought into the Nishitetsu Lions the following year but kept the Lodi franchise, redubbing it the Lions.  He had six Lions players on the roster that year including Akinobu Mayumi.  While I'd rather have a Lions shirt than an Orions shirt I think I'll be ordering one of these for myself.

Yasutomo Kubo of the Sugar Land Skeeters

I had somehow missed this story a few months back but former Marines, Tigers and Baystars pitcher Yasutomo Kubo came to the US a few months back.  He had originally signed with the Gary SouthShore Railcats of the American Association back in April.  The team released him in mid-May but resigned him in late June just before they traded him to the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League for future considerations.  His manager with the Skeeters is former Chiba Lotte Marine Pete Incavilgia. 

Kubo was drafted in the "free frame" by Lotte in the 2004 draft from Matsushita Electric of the corporate leagues (who he had joined after graduating from Kansaidai Number One High School).  He won his first seven decisions that year and ended up going 10-3 for the eventual Nippon Series champions.  He didn't get into the Series though (the Marines swept the Tigers in four games so I'm guessing he would have started Game Five if it had gone that far) but he did win the Pacific League MVP award.  He was Lotte's Opening Day starter in 2006 but had a poor season, going 7-13.  He missed some time the following year due to a broken finger and his numbers suffered. 

Following the 2008 season Lotte traded him to the Hanshin Tigers for Kentaro Hashimoto.  He went 14-5 in 2010, leading the Central League in Winning Percentage and making the All Star team for the only time in his career.  After being a starter for most of his career the Tigers moved him into a relief role after Kyuji Fujikawa went to the US in 2013.  He left the Tigers for the Baystars as a free agent after that year and he went back to starting role, going 12-6 in 2014.  His playing time decreased over the next three years - last year he only started seven games with the ichi-gun Baystars, going 4-2 with an ERA of 5.35.  The Baystars released him in early October.

His BBM rookie cards are #20 from the 2005 Rookie Edition set and #159 from the 2005 1st Version set.  He's had cards in every 1st Version set from 2005 until 2016.  His first Calbee card was in the Title Holders subset (#T-03) from the 2006 set.  His first "regular" Calbee card was not until 2009 (card #171).  Check out his card list at TradingCardDB.com for a more comprehensive list.

Here's a bunch of his cards:

2005 BBM Rookie Edition #20

2005 BBM 1st Version #159

2006 BBM 1st Version #435

2008 BBM Lotte 40th Anniversary #84

2009 BBM 2nd Version #781

2010 BBM All Stars #A14

2014 Calbee #159

2017 BBM Baystars #DB15

The Skeeters were playing the Lancaster Barnstormers this past weekend.  Since Lancaster, Pennsylvania is only about an hour from my home I went up last Friday night to see if I could get an autograph from him.  Kubo never made an appearance before the game - one of the pitchers in the bullpen told me he usually is stretching under the stands before the game but I might be able to catch him after the game - he said they'd tell him that someone was looking for him.  Unfortunately just after I finished this conversation the skies opened up.  After I waited for about an hour for them to be able to start the game I decided there wasn't much chance of them getting the game in and I wanted to beat the rush to leave.  Sure enough on my way home I discovered that the game had been rained out.  I wasn't able to get back up there on either Saturday or Sunday but the Skeeters are coming back to Lancaster next weekend (the 17th to the 19th) and hopefully I'll be able to try again then.

Card Of The Week August 5

The 100th edition of the National High School Baseball Championship - better known as Koshien - kicked off today.  Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times had an interview last week with Yuki Saitoh of the Fighters where they discussed Saitoh's performance in the 2006 tournament, particularly the final game in which he matched up with Masahiro Tanaka for a 15 inning tie.  Because the final ended in a tie, the game had to be replayed the next day and Saitoh pitched that game as well, winning it 4-3.  He struck out Tanaka to end the game.

I swiped some images of Saitoh from the 2006 from a book celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the tournament that came out a few years ago (this year is the 100th tournament but the first tournament was held in 1915 - there were a couple years - most of which were during the war - where the tournament was not held):

Here's the writeup on the championship that includes a couple photos from a mook celebrating the 90th Anniversary of Koshien Stadium in 2014:

Saitoh's professional career hasn't been particularly successful but it's interesting to see him reflect in the article that he is "still able to continue playing baseball because I still carry that feeling from Koshien. When I think about giving up, the memory of Koshien pulls me back.”  Here's a 2011 Bandai Owners League 02 card (#038) of him:

UPDATE - I don't know why I didn't think to look before I posted this but I found highlights of the 15 inning tie game on YouTube:

Jason Standridge

Somehow last winter I had missed the story that the Marines had released Jason Standbridge.  It had suddenly clicked with me about a week ago that he wasn't playing and a day or two later the news broke that he had announced his retirement.

Standridge had spent some time in the majors with Tampa Bay, Texas, Cincinnati and Kansas City before joining the Hawks mid-way through the 2007 season.  He spent 2008 with the Hawks before returning to the US.  He started 2009 in the Marlins organization but was released shortly after the season started and ended up spending the rest of the season with Somerset of the independent Atlantic League.  After signing with the Phiillies for 2010 and being released during spring training he returned to Japan and joined the Hanshin Tigers.  He spent four years with the Tigers before returning to the Hawks in 2014.  He spent two seasons in Fukuoka, helping the Hawks win the Nippon Series in both years.  He moved on to the Marines in 2016.  He'd played in Japan long enough that he would no longer counted against the foreign player limit had he played this season.

Here's a card of his from each team he had a stint with:

2008 BBM 1st Version #293

2012 Calbee #060

2014 Calbee #195

2017 BBM Marines #M29

History Of BBM Team Sets

I did a post a few months back describing the current group of sets that BBM issues annually.  In it I made an off hand comment about how BBM used to issue box sets for the league pennant winners and that maybe that should be the topic for another post.  I started working on that post but it's kind of morphed into a larger post on the history of BBM's team sets.  Actually I think it's going to be a set of posts - this one with the general history and then a post for each team (like I need another project...).

Just to be clear - what I mean by a team set is a set of cards that feature mostly current players from one particular team.  I know that sounds pretty obvious but I want to make a distinction between team sets and OB team sets which feature mostly retired players from one particular team.

It's actually kind of appropriate that I'm doing this post this year as it's the 25th year that BBM has been doing team sets and the 15th year that BBM has done a pack based set for all 12 NPB teams.

What follows is a somewhat rambling litany of BBM team sets.  This is not meant to be a complete list of all the team sets the company has done - I'm just trying to highlight several firsts and also list all the pennant winner box sets.

1994 BBM Tigers box

The very first team set BBM ever did was for the Tigers.  It was a 64 card box set that came out in early 1994.  The set featured cards of manager Katsuhiro Nakamura and 47 members of the Tigers.  It also included six cards for the Tigers' MVPs for each month in 1993, nine cards for 1993 statistical leaders for the team and one card celebrating Hiromi Matsunaga's 1993 season, his only year with the Tigers.  BBM would issue box sets for the Tigers for each of the next four years (1995-98).

1995 BBM Orix BlueWave I box

In 1995 the Orix BlueWave ended up winning their first Pacific League pennant since the team was purchased by Orix in 1989 and moved to Kobe in 1991.  At some point during the season BBM issued a box set celebrating the team's impending pennant clinching.  BBM issued 5000 of the sets and they proved so popular that BBM issued a second set with another print run of 5000.  The second set was issued after the team clinched the PL pennant.  Each set contained 30 "regular" cards (29 players plus manager Akira Ohgi) plus 10 cards from various subsets.

The 1996 Tigers box set was the first team set that BBM included random insert cards - the set contained three of nine possible cards of former Tiger greats.

1997 BBM Giants "Black" box

1997 BBM Giants "Orange" box

Up until 1997 all the team box sets (which to be fair there had only been five - three Tigers and the two Orix sets) had contained a subset of the teams' 70 man roster - anywhere from 29 to 47 players.  None of the sets had been "comprehensive" sets - that's a set that contains cards for all the players on the team's 70 man roster (and possibly the players on the ikusei squad).  BBM issued such a set for the Giants in 1997.  It was 98 cards in total and included cards for the team's manager (Shigeo Nagashima), plus all the coaches and players as well as a 10 card subset celebrating the V9 Giants.  BBM actually issued this set as a pair of box sets - one called "Black" and the other called "Orange".  Each box contained 49 cards from the base set.  Each box also had one of five possible "Giants Heroes" insert cards to make the card count for each box be an even 50.

1998 BBM Hawks box

1998 BBM Baystars "Get The Flag" II box

BBM issued another "comprehensive" set for the Giants in 1998 in the same manner - two 50 card box sets (49 base cards plus 1 insert card).  They also issued a "comprehensive" team set for the Hawks as a single 90 card box set (with no insert cards).  BBM also celebrated the Yokohama Baystars' first pennant in 38 years with a 40 card box set called "Get The Flag".  Like the Orix set three years earlier the set had a print run of 5000 which quickly sold out so a second set was issued - this one had a print run of 10,000.  Each set had 40 cards including 31 "regular" cards (30 players and manager Hiroshi Gondoh) plus nine cards of various subsets.

1999 had a couple milestones for BBM team sets.  The company issued their first pack based team set.  It was a "comprehensive" set for the Tigers and featured a 90 card base set along with two insert sets - a five card Minoru Murayama set and a nine card OB Tigers "Refractor" set.  Also for the first time BBM issued sets to commemorate the two pennant winners - the Dragons and the Hawks.  Both sets had 41 cards in their base sets and had no insert cards.  Both sets were issued after the team had clinched the pennant as both sets include a card showing the celebration.

In 2000 BBM issued "comprehensive" sets for the Tigers and Giants as pack based sets.  The Tigers set had possible Tsuyoshi Shinjyo batting glove cards while the Giants set had possible Hideki Matsui bat cards as well as autograph cards.  BBM only issued a set for one of the two pennant winners that year - the Giants - and it was a unique issue - BBM sold the 36 card set in four plastic sheets in a binder.

BBM again issued pack based sets for the Tigers and Giants in 2001.  They also went back to issuing box sets for both pennant winners - the Swallows and Buffaloes.  As in 2001 both sets had 41 card base sets but for the first time the sets included possible memorabilia cards.

2002 BBM Giants Central League Champions box

In 2002 BBM again issued pack based "comprehensive" team sets for the Tigers and Giants and also added sets for the Hawks and Buffaloes.  In addition they did a second pack based set for the Tigers called "Extra Version" that was a little higher end - all the cards had a "metallic silver cast" according to Engel.  BBM also issued 40 card box sets for the two pennant winners - the Giants and the Lions.  Both box sets had possible memorabilia cards.

2003 BBM Hawks Pacific League Champions box

In 2003 BBM doubled the number of pack based "comprehensive" team sets they did.  They issued sets for eight teams - the Tigers, Giants, Hawks, Buffaloes, Lions, Fighters, Baystars and Marines.  The Tigers were serious contenders that season for the first time in a while and BBM issued a pair of box sets for the team similar to what they did for Orx in 1995 and Yokohama in 1998.  Late in the season BBM issued a 55 card set called "Victory Road Prologue" and then after the team had clinched the Central League pennant BBM issued a 60 card set called "Victory Road Championship".  The first set had possible autograph cards while the later set had possible memorabilia cards.  The later set also included one of five possible player figurines with the box.  BBM also issued a 43 card box set for the Pacific League champion Hawks which included a possible memorabilia card.

2004 BBM Carp #C06, 2004 BBM BlueWave #BW28, 2004 BBM Swallows #YS19

2004 BBM Pacific League Playoff box

BBM issued pack based "comprehensive" team sets for all 12 NPB teams for the first time in 2004.  This would be standard for BBM from now on.  One odd thing about a couple of these sets this year though - the sets for the Carp, Swallows and Orix all had 96 card base sets with no insert or memorabilia cards available and the three sets used the same design for their "regular" cards.  BBM issued a box set for the Central League pennant winning Dragons - a 44 card set containing a possible memorabilia card.  The Pacific League started having playoffs this year so instead of having a box set for the pennant winner BBM instead issued a box set containing cards for all three playoff teams - the Hawks, Lions and Fighters.  The set contained 57 cards - 16 player cards and three cards featuring highlighted games for each team.  There were no special cards included the box - no insert, autograph or memorabilia cards.  (And obviously since it has three teams in it the Pacific League Playoff set doesn't really count as a team set.)

BBM approached the Pacific League playoff teams a little differently in 2005.  They issued a 37 card box set for both the first place team (the Hawks) and the second place team (the Marines).  I'm guessing that it was too difficult to predict the third place team when they were going to press with the sets.  The Hawks set was subtitled "Go" while the Marines sets was subtitled "Takumi".  Each set had a possible film card included.  The Tigers won the Central League pennant that season and so BBM issued a 46 card box set in commemoration.  Each set could possibly contain a "photo" card as a premium.

2006 BBM Dragons Central League Champions box

In 2006 BBM issued box sets for all three Pacific League playoff teams - the Fighters (set was subtitled "Hana"), the Lions ("So") and the Hawks ("Yu").  Each set had 37 cards and could possibly include a "photo" card.  There was also a 46 card box set for the Central League champion Dragons that included a possible memorabilia card.

2007 BBM Dragons "The Climax" box

The Central League adopted the playoff scheme that that Pacific League had been using for three seasons in 2007.  The Playoffs were now referred to as the "Climax Series".  BBM issued 37 card box sets for all six playoff teams that season - the Giants, Dragons and Tigers in the Central League and the Fighters, Marines and Hawks in the Pacific League.  Each set contained a possible "Prime Player" insert card.

2016 BBM Carp "Realization Of A Great Ambition" box

2007 was the last year that BBM consistently did a set commemorating teams reaching the post season.  They would occasionally did box sets for the first place teams (and remember that under the current rules the first place team is the League Champion regardless of whether or not that team wins the Climax Series and goes on the Nippon Series.  So last year the Carp were Central League Champions but the Baystars represented the CL in the Nippon Series.)  I believe that the only box sets BBM has done to commemorate league champions in the past 10 years are the 2009 Giants "Exciting Road" set, the 2009 Fighters "Energy" set, the 2013 Eagles "First Crown" set, the 2016 Carp "Realization Of A Great Ambition" set and the 2017 Carp "Successful Achievement" set.

The one other milestone I want to mention here about BBM's team sets is that they standardized on the size of the base set for their pack based "comprehensive" team sets in 2015.  Before that the base set sizes had ranged anywhere from 81 to 141 cards.  Starting in 2015 all the sets would have 81 card base sets.