1999 BBM Dream Team

I wanted to do a quick post on the "Dream Team" insert set from the 1999 BBM set.  I finished this set a few months back when I got my most recent box of cards from Ryan and have been meaning to post on it ever since.  

The "Dream Team" was an insert set that purported to be the starting line up of the NPB team for the MLB All Star tour of Japan in the fall of 1998.  The ten cards included one player for each position along with manager Shigeo Nagashima.  The distinctive thing about this set is that all the cards were die cut, although in an unusual way.  Instead of being cut into a different shape, the cards were still the standard 2 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inch rectangles.  But all the text on the front of them is actually cut out of the card rather than printed on them.  This may make more sense if you see the cards so here's all ten:

#D1

#D2

#D3

#D4

#D5

#D6

#D7

#D8

#D9

#D10

I should mention that my scanner cut off the bottom of the card on several of the scans.  All the edges of the cards are solid.

It's odd that half the set are from the Giants.  In fact, it's even worse as a year later Akira Etoh would become a Giant too.  There's also only two Pacific League players - Ichiro and Kazuo Matsui.

There's another version of these cards that were given away to winners of a contest that BBM conducted.  These cards were not die cut so there's no text on the front of them at all.  I picked up (well, Ryan picked up for me) Etoh's "contest winner" card a while back:

I'd love to get all ten of the "contest winner" versions too but the Etoh is the only one I've ever seen.  And I suspect the Ichiro is pretty expensive.

There was a ten card "Dream Team" insert set in the 1998 set also but I found it less interesting because it wasn't die-cut and it didn't appear to be related to an MLB tour (since the one previous to 1998 would have been in 1996).  Here's the only one of those cards I have:

#D5

UPDATE - since Nick Vossbrink left a comment asking what the backs look like, here's the back of Etoh's card - both the regular card and the "contest winner":

Zippy Zapped Again!

I have been remiss about posting about a nice little RAK package I got from Kenny - aka Zippy Zappy - back in late June.  I had tweeted about it when I got it but I forgot to include the photo of the contents.  So let me start by sharing the photo I took but didn't include with the tweet:

Hmm, actually I left something out of the photo.  There was a third card in the package but I didn't know what it was.  I finally asked Kenny today and he said it was from a card game he'd never played but it featured Selen Tatsuki, an English V-Tuber.  He'd gotten a bunch of copies of the card and just threw one in the package:

The other two cards were baseball related.  The first is an autographed card of Enny Romero of the Dragons from the 2019 Epoch Dragons Stars & Legends set.  Kenny sent it to me in a case that was sealed with a bit of tape labeled "Stars & Legends" at the top.  I left it in the case when I scanned it so it's a bit blurry but it looks great in real life:

The last card was from this year's Topps Series Two set.  Normally I don't collect MLB cards but I'll make an exception for this one since I like both the team and the player:

Thanks for the cards, Kenny, and sorry it took so long for me to post about them!

Card Of The Week August 6

Kazuma Okamoto of the Giants had a good day today, hitting three home runs in Yomiuri's 13-0 trouncing of the Carp.  That gives him an NPB leading 30 homers on the season and he's reached that milestone for the sixth straight season.  He's also tied an NPB record with eight home runs in his last five games.  (H/T NPB Reddit.)

Here's one of Okamoto's rookie cards - his card in the 2016 BBM Giants set (#G50):

Ohtani's 2013 Baseball Card Chronology

I've fielded a couple questions in the past few months from folks asking what order Shohei Ohtani's various rookie cards were issued in 2013 so I decided that it might make an interesting post.  And even if it doesn't, it gives me an excuse to show off what I have of those cards considering that unbelievably they're now ten years old.

I've done a couple posts devoted to Ohtani's rookie cards in the past - one that showed a bunch of his base rookie cards and the other that listed all the cards I knew about at the time (including inserts, memorabilia and autographs).  For this post, I'm going to talk mostly about base set cards from BBM and Calbee and which sets came out at what time.  All the sets I'm going to mention are pack-based unless I say otherwise.  

The very first Ohtani base cards were in the 2013 BBM Rookie Edition set which came out in February.  He had three cards in the set - two "regular" cards - a "pitching" version and a "batting" version - that shared the same card number plus a card in the "Now & Then" subset:

2013 BBM Rookie Edition #42

2013 BBM Rookie Edition #42

2013 BBM Rookie Edition #90

The next set to feature him was the "Icons - Hope" set, a 27 card boxed set that was released in mid-March.  The set contained two cards of him - a "regular" card and a card entitled "Michinoku Express" that featured both him and fellow Hanamaki Higashi High School alum Yusei Kikuchi:

2023 BBM Icons - Hope #14

2023 BBM Icons - Hope #26

His 1st Version card, which came out in mid-April, was his first appearance in a "flagship" set:

2013 BBM 1st Version #183

It would be two months before his next cards were released but June would end up being a busy month.  Calbee's Series Two set was released in the middle of the month and included a subset called "Exciting Rookies" which featured all 12 of the first round draft pick from the 2012 draft.  This would be the first card of Ohtani that showed him as both a pitcher and a batter:

2013 Calbee #D-07

A little later in June BBM released their annual "comprehensive" team set for the Fighters which included a whopping 12(!) cards for Ohtani.  There are two "regular" cards - one showing him as a hitter and one showing him as a pitcher - that again share the same number (sort of - there's an 'a' and 'b' appended onto the number) and he appeared in the "Newcomer & Rookie" subset.  The other nine card formed a puzzle entitled the "Two Sword Player".  I only have four of these 12 cards:

2013 BBM Fighters #F02b

2013 BBM Fighters #F83

2013 BBM Fighters #F93

2013 BBM Fighters #F97

The back of each puzzle card shows what the completed puzzle looks like.  The puzzle cards are #F90 to #F98:

BBM also released the first edition of their "Classic" set in late June.  This was a set that featured current players in BBM's 1991 card format - sort of BBM's version of Topps' Heritage set - and one of the players, of course, was Ohtani:

2013 BBM Classic #037

His next cards weren't until mid-August with the release of BBM's 2nd Version set.  He actually had two cards in this set - a "regular" card and a "Cross Wind" subset card:

2013 BBM 2nd Version #554

2013 BBM 2nd Version #CW058

Also in August BBM released a 27 card box set called "Young Fighters" and as he was then 19 years old, Ohtani qualified as a young Fighter.  This is the second card that showed him as both a pitcher and a batter:

2013 BBM Young Fighters #01

Calbee's Series Three set came out in mid-September and included another card of Ohtani.  He appeared in the "All Stars" subset that included all the players voted into the starting lineup for the All Star teams:

2013 Calbee #AS-22

BBM put out "Genesis", their annual high end a week or so later.  It included a card of Ohtani but unfortunately I don't have it.

Right at the end of September BBM released a set that commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Fighters moving to Sapporo from Tokyo.  Called the somewhat awkward name of "10th Season With Hokkaido", the set included two cards of Ohtani - a "regular" card and a "Historic Highlights" subset card:

2013 BBM 10th Season With Hokkaido #02

2013 BBM 10th Season With Hokkaido #89

The final 2013 set that included Ohtani came out in November - the 48 card "Rookie Edition Premium" set.  This set - which I don't have - included two cards of him - a "regular" card and a "Golden Crop" subset card.

In addition to the cards from BBM and Calbee, Ohtani also had a card in the Bandai Owners League 02 set.  I'm not sure what the release date of the set was, however.  (Technically this isn't a base card - it's a short printed "Infinity" card):

2013 Bandai Owners League 02 #074

UPDATE - According to this Beckett article referenced by an anonymous commenter, he had a second Bandai card which showed him as a pitcher.  I don't know which Owners League set the card was in though.  UPDATE to the UPDATE - the pitcher version is also from the Owners League 02 set but it's not part of the "regular" set.  It appears to be from a single card insert set.

I think he also had a Konami card that year but I don't know that for sure. UPDATE - he had TWO Konami cards in 2013.  One was a "regular" card in the Baseball Heroes Vol. 2 set.  The other is apparently not a base card but a "Super Rookie" insert card in the Baseball Heroes Extra Version 1 set.  

Including the Owners League card I think Ohtani had a total of 30 base set cards in 2013.  Not including the Bandai and Konami cards, Ohtani had a total of 29 base cards in 2013.  This post shows 18 of them.

There were a number of promo versions of some of the BBM cards that were released during the season.  I don't want to get too much into them here as there's really nothing I can add to what I've written previously.  The only thing I want to say is that I'm still pretty confident that Ohtani's first appearance on a card was the promo Rookie Edition card that was included with Sports Card Magazine #97 which was published in the last week of January.  There's at least two other promo versions of an Ohtani Rookie Edition card.   One was issued with the Shukan (Weekly) Baseball magazine with a cover date of February 20th which I think (but I could be wrong) was actually published around February 5th.  The other one was part of a 6 card promo set that was distributed to card shops.  The cards were each double sided so they feature the 2012 first round picks for all 12 of the NPB teams.  Ohtani's card has Tomoyuki Sugano of the Giants on the other side.  Since I don't know when the card shop promos were issued, it's possible (although I think unlikely) they came out before the Sports Card Magazine card.

Rocking Out With Yoh Daikan

I finally got a chance to see former Fighter and Giant Yoh Daikan play independent ball here in the States.  He had spent last season with Lake Country Dock Hounds of the American Association who play in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin where my sister-in-law lives.  My wife and I were out there last summer but it was the one weekend in August that the Dock Hounds weren't home.  

I was happy this past winter when I heard he'd signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League as there's a couple teams in that league that play near where I live.  However, looking at team schedules I was surprised to see that this season High Point will never play in Lancaster, the nearest team to where I live, and will only play one series in York, the next closest team, and it'll be a mid-week series in mid-September.  The Rockers were scheduled to play against both of the Maryland teams in the Atlantic League - the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (who play in Waldorf) and the Spire City Ghost Hounds (who play in Frederick).  Both teams are about 70 miles from my house but Frederick is a much easier drive than Waldorf is, so I headed out there last Saturday to see the Rockers and Yoh play.  I also met up with my good friend Steve at the ballpark.  The last two times we'd seen each other was his son's Bar Mitzvah and my daughter's wedding and needless to say, we didn't get a chance to talk too much at either event.

Despite already having gotten Yoh's autograph when I went to the Fighters' spring training in Peoria, Arizona back in 2016, I decided I wanted to get another one from him.  But I also decided that instead of getting a card autographed, I'd print out a photo I took of him in Arizona and have him autograph that.  I ultimately got a 4x6 print done that incorporated two of the photos I took.

Grove Stadium in Frederick is about 33 years old - Steve and I were actually at the first game there in 1990 - and the team clubhouses are located at the same level as the concourse behind the seating bowl, meaning that the players have to dodge a gauntlet of fans to get to the field.  I arrived at the park about an hour before game time and joined the small group of autograph seekers who had staked out the Rockers' clubhouse on the third base side of the field.  We all had a good time hanging out, waiting for the players who seemed to be taking longer than expected to come out.

Finally, about 20 minutes before game time, the players started to head to the field.  Most of them seemed to be pretty good about stopping for autographs - even Frank Viola, the pitching coach.  None of the other autograph hounds were after Yoh so he was starting slip through the crowd before I was sure it was him.  I called out to him "Sumimasen, Yoh-san" which I think surprised him as he stopped and looked at me.  I handed him the photo and a sharpie and he quickly signed it.  I think he was amused that it was a photo and not a card.  I told him I had an extra copy of the photo if he wanted it and gave it to him.  We thanked each other and he headed off to the field.  (It wouldn't surprise me if he threw the copy of the photo away but I'd rather not know.)

Here's the signed photo(s):

I bought some food and made my way over to our seats just before the game got underway.  I had picked up really good seats - three rows from the field right behind home plate - so Steve and I had almost front row seats to what ended up being quite a ballgame, albeit a one-sided one.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Ghost Hounds scored first on a solo home run by former Rakuten Golden Eagle Jose Marmolejos, one of three former NPB players in Spire City's starting lineup.  The others were former Chiba Lotte Marine Jimmy Paredes and former Chunichi Dragon Moises Sierra.  I want to mention that former Carp pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Ghost Hounds as well.  

High Point tied the game in the third inning on a solo home run from Quincy Latimore and went ahead with a four run fifth inning which included a two run shot by Zander Weil.  The Ghost Hounds scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-2 but that was as close as they'd get.  High Point went up 8-2 in the eighth inning on Latimore's second home run of the night, a three run shot but they really poured it on in the top of the ninth, scoring an amazing 14 runs to make the score 22-2 which was how it finished.

I have to mention a couple of things about that ninth inning.  The Rockers sent 17 men to the plate so they almost batted around twice.  Everyone who batted in the inning either scored or made an out (14 runs plus 3 outs equals 17 batters).  With only one out, ten runs already in and the bases loaded, Spire City had a position player come into pitch - second baseman Scott Kelly.  Ben Aklinski hit Kelly's first pitch over the right field wall for a grand slam for the final scoring of the game.  Kelly did retire the next two batters to mercifully end the inning.

Yoh was originally listed in the lineup at first base but actually played third.  He went 2-4 with two walks, scored two runs and had one RBI.  His double started the onslaught in the top of the ninth and he reached on a fielders choice in his second at bat of the inning.  He scored both of his runs in the ninth.

I want to share some photos I took although the screen behind home plate prevented me from getting many good shots.

Yoh heading to the field after signing for me

Pregame lineup showing Yoh at first base

National Anthem

Yoh playing third

Yoh on deck

Yoh batting

Latimore reaching home after his second home run

Beautiful sky that evening

Yoh leading off in the top of the ninth

Yoh at second after doubling

Scoreboard after Aklinski's grand slam - it can't do double digits for runs in an inning

Post-game fireworks as Steve and I left the park

Lastly I thought I'd share a scan of the card that Yoh autographed for me before.  It was his 2006 BBM 1st Version rookie card when he was still going by the name Chung-Shou Yang:

His signature doesn't appear to have changed much in the past seven and half years.

Best Card Shops In Japan?

I recently came across a YouTube video by someone called the "Sports Card Investor" who went to Japan and reported on the "Best Card Shops In TokyoJapan" (UPDATE - as Zippy Zappy points out in the comments, the video actually says "Tokyo" not "Japan".  Not sure how I convinced myself it said "Japan" but it doesn't).  Now, obviously that's a pretty subjective topic as what appeals to one collector may not appeal to another but I found the whole thing kind of grating.  Here it is if you want to watch it:

He visits six locations in Tokyo - Mint Lab, Mint Games (in Ikebukuro), Mint Akihabara, a Pokemon Center, Mint Shibuya and a Pikachu Sweets/Pokemon Card Game station.  It's kind of an odd group since half of those sell game or Pokemon cards rather than sports cards although to be fair, he did label it "Best Card Shops" and not "Best Baseball Card Shops".  Of the sports card shops, I've been to Mint Akihabara and Mint Shibuya (although before they moved to their current location).  I have also been to Mint Lab's predecessor Mint Kanda although Mint Lab is a much different store than Mint Kanda was.  I would not rate any of those stores as "the best in Japan" or even " the best in Tokyo" but again, those are subjective ratings.  For me, the "best stores in Japan" are Quad Sports, Coletre, Mint Ikebukuro, Mint Urawa, BITS! and Mint Hakata - along with Wrappers if they're still actually open - and two of those aren't in Kanto.

I think what I find annoying is the narrator's focus on Western cards.  "Oh, wow, look at all the Kobe cards!"  "Hey, you can get American football cards here!"   I guess I don't understand the point of traveling halfway around the world to look for cards you can find in the US.  I feel like he just gives the NPB and J-League cards a passing glance, except for the Shohei Ohtani 2013 rookie cards which he drools over.  And he's surprised there are sumo cards.  I mean, there are plenty of oddball sports sets in Japan that would surprise someone - curling, women's bowling, beach volleyball - but sumo?  Of course there are sumo cards.

I was amused that the guys at Mint Lab gifted him a box of 2022 Epoch NPB Luxury Collection, saying it was more beautiful than Topps Chrome Refractors.  Yeah, maybe, but it's still ugly.  I would have rather watched his kids bust that box than the ones they did - one kid had a couple boxes of Donruss football cards and the other had a Topps Chrome soccer box.  Again - why go halfway around the world to get cards you can go across town for.

Bottom line I guess is that this is a style of collecting that doesn't appeal to me.  And that's fine, it's a big hobby.  But I don't think this video really gives a good sense of what the card market is like in Japan.

Latest COMC Order

I did another order from COMC recently to pick up some more old Calbees.  I had placed the order a few weeks back and I'd kind of forgotten what I was getting so it was a bit of a surprise when the cards showed up earlier this week.  I thought I'd do a quick post about what I got.

First up was two cards from the "monster" 1975/76/77 set.  I was always surprised to rediscover that I didn't have any Calbee cards of Hal Breeden so I've solved that problem now (although I have a couple Calbee's with him making a cameo appearance on them):

1975/76/77 Calbee #1200

Always hard to pass up a Calbee Yutaka Enatsu Tigers card:

1975/76/77 Calbee #340

I also picked up a couple 1978 Calbee "Regular Type II" cards.  I didn't have any of these before now.  I thought I was getting some with an earlier order this year from COMC but it turns out they had mislabeled the cards.  The "Regular Type II" cards look the same as the "Regular Type I" cards except that the two lines with the player's name and team are in one of the corners of the front of the card rather than the bottom center:

1978 Calbee Regular Type II Takenori Emoto

1978 Calbee Regular Type II Shigeru Kobayashi

The final card I got was not a Calbee card and it wasn't a vintage card but it's still pretty cool - an autographed card of Hayato Terahara from last year's Epoch Baystars Premier Edition set.  Twenty years ago this card would have run me a lot more than the $10-ish this cost me as Terahara was once a huge prospect: