Here's Yanagita's card from the "Update" subset of the 2013 BBM 2nd Version set (#436). This was his first appearance in one of BBM's flagship sets after his rookie card in the 2011 1st Version set:
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Card Of The Week June 21
Interleague play wrapped up last week and the Hawks were the champs. Yuki Yanagita was named the Interleague MVP after hitting .429 with five home runs and 10 RBI over the three week stretch of a games. His most impressive home run was on June 3 in Yokohama where he broke part of the Baystars' jumbo-tron (H/T NPB Reddit):
Here's Yanagita's card from the "Update" subset of the 2013 BBM 2nd Version set (#436). This was his first appearance in one of BBM's flagship sets after his rookie card in the 2011 1st Version set:
Here's Yanagita's card from the "Update" subset of the 2013 BBM 2nd Version set (#436). This was his first appearance in one of BBM's flagship sets after his rookie card in the 2011 1st Version set:
Thursday, June 18, 2015
1970's Giants Magazine Cards
There were a number of magazines in the 1970's that included uncut sheets of baseball cards, mostly for the Giants. I picked up a few examples of these off of Ebay over the past year or so and thought I'd share some of them.
According the Gary Engel's "Japanese Baseball Cards Checklist And Price Guide - Vintage Edition", the magazine Elementary School issued at least eight sets of cards of Giants players between September 1976 and July 1978. I have cards from two of these sets.
The October 1976 issue featured an uncut sheet of 10 baseball cards for Giants players. Engel refers to this set as "1976 Elementary School 1st Year Yomiuri Giants" or JMC 2004. In his comments about the set, Engel says that they are white bordered - the ones I picked up actually have had their borders trimmed off. Engel says that the cards are 2 1/2" by 3 3/8" - mine are a little smaller than that due to the missing borders. The ten cards include pretty much everyone that you'd expect - Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima, Isao Harimoto, Isao Shibata and Tsuneo Horiuchi plus Dave Johnson, Shozo Doi, Shigeru Takada, Takeshi Yoshida and Yoshimitsu Tsuetsugu. I only have Horiuchi and Yoshida - here's the front and back of Horiuchi's card:
Engel lists another set as "1977 Elementary School 2nd Year Giants V2 Cards" or JCM 2007. He doesn't list the issue that these cards came from. What's kind of odd about this set is there are two groups of cards in it that have different sizes. There are three large ones (2 5/16" x 3 5/16") for the three biggest names on the Giants at the time - Oh, Nagashima and Harimoto. There are 15 smaller cards (1 7/8" by 2 1/2") for the somewhat lesser players on the team - Kenji Awaguchi, Shozo Doi, Kazuaki Fujishiro, Tsuneo Horiuchi, Shigeru Kobayashi, Kazumasa Kono, Toshio Niura, Isao Shibata, Toshimitsu Suetsugu, Shigeru Takada, Masahiro Yanagita and Takeshi Yoshida. The smaller cards have either blue or magenta borders. I have nine of the smaller cards and none of the large ones. Here's an example of each border (blue is Takada and magenta is Yoshida) and the back of Yoshida's card:
The last Giants magazine set that I have examples from is the set Engel refers to as "1979-80 Gekkan Giants" or JMC 128. This 72 card set was issued as 12 six card sheets in (I assume) Gekkan Giants magazine (Gekkan means monthly - and a hat tip to Redditer kndy-nt2099 for pointing that out for me). Each card was 2 13/16" x 3 3/8". I have two of the uncut sheets - numbers 4 and 6. There's some text on the back of each that I suspect gives the month of the issue - sheet 4 may be from July of 1979 and sheet 6 may be from September - but I could be wrong. Here's the front and back of sheet 4 - from left to right (on the front) and top to bottom, that's Toru Kinoshita, Akihito Kitano, Akira Kunimatsu (coach), Rick Krueger, Kazumasa Kohno and Kosho Sakomaru.
According the Gary Engel's "Japanese Baseball Cards Checklist And Price Guide - Vintage Edition", the magazine Elementary School issued at least eight sets of cards of Giants players between September 1976 and July 1978. I have cards from two of these sets.
The October 1976 issue featured an uncut sheet of 10 baseball cards for Giants players. Engel refers to this set as "1976 Elementary School 1st Year Yomiuri Giants" or JMC 2004. In his comments about the set, Engel says that they are white bordered - the ones I picked up actually have had their borders trimmed off. Engel says that the cards are 2 1/2" by 3 3/8" - mine are a little smaller than that due to the missing borders. The ten cards include pretty much everyone that you'd expect - Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima, Isao Harimoto, Isao Shibata and Tsuneo Horiuchi plus Dave Johnson, Shozo Doi, Shigeru Takada, Takeshi Yoshida and Yoshimitsu Tsuetsugu. I only have Horiuchi and Yoshida - here's the front and back of Horiuchi's card:
Engel lists another set as "1977 Elementary School 2nd Year Giants V2 Cards" or JCM 2007. He doesn't list the issue that these cards came from. What's kind of odd about this set is there are two groups of cards in it that have different sizes. There are three large ones (2 5/16" x 3 5/16") for the three biggest names on the Giants at the time - Oh, Nagashima and Harimoto. There are 15 smaller cards (1 7/8" by 2 1/2") for the somewhat lesser players on the team - Kenji Awaguchi, Shozo Doi, Kazuaki Fujishiro, Tsuneo Horiuchi, Shigeru Kobayashi, Kazumasa Kono, Toshio Niura, Isao Shibata, Toshimitsu Suetsugu, Shigeru Takada, Masahiro Yanagita and Takeshi Yoshida. The smaller cards have either blue or magenta borders. I have nine of the smaller cards and none of the large ones. Here's an example of each border (blue is Takada and magenta is Yoshida) and the back of Yoshida's card:
The last Giants magazine set that I have examples from is the set Engel refers to as "1979-80 Gekkan Giants" or JMC 128. This 72 card set was issued as 12 six card sheets in (I assume) Gekkan Giants magazine (Gekkan means monthly - and a hat tip to Redditer kndy-nt2099 for pointing that out for me). Each card was 2 13/16" x 3 3/8". I have two of the uncut sheets - numbers 4 and 6. There's some text on the back of each that I suspect gives the month of the issue - sheet 4 may be from July of 1979 and sheet 6 may be from September - but I could be wrong. Here's the front and back of sheet 4 - from left to right (on the front) and top to bottom, that's Toru Kinoshita, Akihito Kitano, Akira Kunimatsu (coach), Rick Krueger, Kazumasa Kohno and Kosho Sakomaru.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Sung-Heon Hong
Sung-Heon Hong of the Doosan Bears became the fourth player in KBO history to reach the 2000 hit milestone today. I thought I'd do a quick post showing the cards I have for him (including his rookie card from 1999):
Here's the clip of today's hit:
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| 1999 Teleca #14 |
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| 2006 Upper Deck WBC Inaugural Images #II-1 |
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| 2010 KBO #AL-008 |
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| 2014 Super Star Baseball Season 2 #SBC02-015 |
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| 2014 Super Star Baseball Season 3 #SBC03-011-SS |
Here's the clip of today's hit:
Card Of The Week June 14
Ikuhiro Kiyota of the Marines had a 23 game hitting streak stopped last Wednesday against the Dragons. One of my complaints about this year's 1st Version set was the number of significant guys left out of it - Kiyota is just another example of this. He hasn't had a 1st Version card since 2013.
Kiyota was taken by Lotte in the fourth round of the fall 2009 draft. He capped his rookie season by winning an "Outstanding Player" award in the 2010 Nippon Series where he went 10 for 30 with a homer and six RBIs and six runs scored:
Kiyota was taken by Lotte in the fourth round of the fall 2009 draft. He capped his rookie season by winning an "Outstanding Player" award in the 2010 Nippon Series where he went 10 for 30 with a homer and six RBIs and six runs scored:
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| 2010 BBM Nippon Series #S68 |
Shikoku Island League All Stars vs New Jersey Jackals
I made the trip up to Little Falls, New Jersey last night to watch the Shikoku Island All Stars take on the New Jersey Jackals in the second game of their CanAm League tour. I was accompanied by Chuck, one of my best friends who is not a baseball fan but gamely agreed to come out with me since we almost never get to see each other.
We arrived at the ballpark about 45 minutes before game time and I immediately headed down to the front of the stands by the Islanders dugout where there was already a group of fans attempting to get autographs. I had brought three baseball cards along, hoping to get autographs from manager Terushi Nakajima, pitching coach Hirota Katoh and pitcher Itsuki Shoda (who had started the night before). I actually didn't think my chances of getting Nakajima or Katoh were very good as I figured that they would be busy before the game started.
The players were very friendly to the fans attempting to get autographs. Most of the fans were kids trying to get the players to sign the roster/program that the league was distributing at the game, although there was an adult who was getting them to sign a baseball. A couple of the guys were surprised to discover that there were Japanese baseball cards of some of the guys (actually that there were Japanese baseball cards at all!)
To make a long story short, I was actually successful in getting autographs on all the cards I had brought with. Katoh was the first to come out, signing for everyone before he headed out to the bullpen. He expressed surprise at seeing a baseball card of himself here - I apologized to him that it wasn't a card of him with the Swallows.
Nakajima came by shortly afterwards and quickly headed out to the bullpen to confer with Katoh. I was able to catch him as he was walking back to the dugout. He too expressed surprise at seeing a baseball card of himself here.
Shoda was surprisingly a bit more difficult to catch. I think he came out to the Islander's dugout while I was getting Nakajima's autograph. I ended up talking a little bit to Drew Naylor, the Australian pitcher from Kagawa - he mentioned that he was hoping that pitching in the league would get him some exposure and help him get a job in NPB and we talked briefly about Mitch Dening's recent success with the Swallows. He was gracious enough to call Shoda over so I could get his autograph just before the game started. I felt bad that I hadn't brought that WBC card of Naylor with me so that he could sign it.
The league had a table set up with a little bit of merchandise. Besides the roster/programs they were handing out, they were selling t-shirts, hats and jerseys. I was tempted, but ultimately decided not to get anything - if they'd had a XXL size in the t-shirt, I probably would have bought one.
Here's some photos from the game (which the Jackals won 6-1):
We arrived at the ballpark about 45 minutes before game time and I immediately headed down to the front of the stands by the Islanders dugout where there was already a group of fans attempting to get autographs. I had brought three baseball cards along, hoping to get autographs from manager Terushi Nakajima, pitching coach Hirota Katoh and pitcher Itsuki Shoda (who had started the night before). I actually didn't think my chances of getting Nakajima or Katoh were very good as I figured that they would be busy before the game started.
The players were very friendly to the fans attempting to get autographs. Most of the fans were kids trying to get the players to sign the roster/program that the league was distributing at the game, although there was an adult who was getting them to sign a baseball. A couple of the guys were surprised to discover that there were Japanese baseball cards of some of the guys (actually that there were Japanese baseball cards at all!)
To make a long story short, I was actually successful in getting autographs on all the cards I had brought with. Katoh was the first to come out, signing for everyone before he headed out to the bullpen. He expressed surprise at seeing a baseball card of himself here - I apologized to him that it wasn't a card of him with the Swallows.
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| 2001 BBM #266 |
Nakajima came by shortly afterwards and quickly headed out to the bullpen to confer with Katoh. I was able to catch him as he was walking back to the dugout. He too expressed surprise at seeing a baseball card of himself here.
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| 1994 BBM #387 |
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| 2003 BBM 1st Version #317 |
The league had a table set up with a little bit of merchandise. Besides the roster/programs they were handing out, they were selling t-shirts, hats and jerseys. I was tempted, but ultimately decided not to get anything - if they'd had a XXL size in the t-shirt, I probably would have bought one.
Here's some photos from the game (which the Jackals won 6-1):
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| Front gates of Yogi Berra Stadium |
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| Katoh signing |
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| Nakajima and Katoh in the bullpen |
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| Players at the Islander's dugout |
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| More players at the Islander's dugout |
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| Drew Naylor |
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| Starting Lineup |
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| View from our seats |
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| Shungo Fukunaga with Yoshihiro Kobayashi in the background |
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| Sunset |
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| Lining up for the post-game bow |
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| Post-game bow |
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Kazuhiro Wada
I wanted to do a quick post on Kazuhiro Wada getting his 2000th hit on Thursday. I think Wada's the first player to reach that milestone since Tadahito Iguchi almost two years ago.
Wada was drafted as a catcher by the Lions back in the fall 1996 draft. He was with the Lions through the 2007 season before joining the Dragons (bit of bad timing there - his new team had just won the 2007 Nippon Series and his old team would win in 2008). He's played in six Nippon Series but only won once (in 2004). He's made the Best 9 team six times, lead the league in batting once and was the 2010 Central League MVP. He played for the Japan National Team for the 2003 Asian games, the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Wada was drafted as a catcher by the Lions back in the fall 1996 draft. He was with the Lions through the 2007 season before joining the Dragons (bit of bad timing there - his new team had just won the 2007 Nippon Series and his old team would win in 2008). He's played in six Nippon Series but only won once (in 2004). He's made the Best 9 team six times, lead the league in batting once and was the 2010 Central League MVP. He played for the Japan National Team for the 2003 Asian games, the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
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| 1997 BBM #458 |
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| 2003 Calbee #C-7 |
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| 2004 BBM Nippon Series #60 |
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| 2006 Upper Deck WBC #32 |
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| 2008 BBM All Stars #A30 |
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| 2010 BBM 2nd Version #541 |
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| 2011 BBM 1st Version #326 |
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| 2012 Bandai Owners League #078 |
Friday, June 12, 2015
Shikoku Island League All Stars
There's a an all star team from the independent Shikoku Island League that is playing a set of games against the teams of the independent Can-Am League. The first game is tonight in Little Falls, NJ against the New Jersey Jackals. The roster for the all star team can be found here and the league is streaming the games (as they do all the games of the league) at CanAmLeague.tv (registration is required but it is free).
I thought I'd do a quick little summary of what cards the guys on the rosters have, in case anyone wants to try to get something autographed at one of the games. (Obviously I'm talking NPB cards as I don't know much about what's available for the Shikoku Island teams).
The player with the most experience in NPB is tonight's starting pitcher - Itsuki Shoda. Shoda was the first round pick for the Fighters in the fall 1999 draft. He was named Rookie Of The Year in the Pacific League in 2002. He was traded to the Tigers before the 2007 season and was released by them at the end of 2008. He spent the next two years with the Sinon Bulls in Taiwan before actually getting an invite to spring training with the Red Sox in 2011. He didn't make the Red Sox, however, and he ended up spending the season with the Niigata Albirex BC team in the Baseball Challenge League. He then returned to NPB for the next two years, joining the Swallows. After being released at the end of 2013, he returned to Taiwan with the Lamigo Monkees but he was let go after two months. He then signed with the Ehmine Mandarin Pirates of the Shikoku Island League.
Shoda's rookie card is #366 in the 2000 BBM set. He appears in the 2003-06 BBM 1st Version sets and the 2003-04 and 2007 2nd Version sets and the 2003 Calbee set. He also appears in the BBM team sets for the Fighters (2004-06), Tigers (2007-08) and Swallows (2012-13).
It looks like the only two other players on the roster with any NPB team experience are Takahiro Kawasaki of Kagawa and Noriyuki Kobayashi of Ehmine. Kawasaki was taken in the fifth round of the fall 2011 draft by the Dragons. He spent three years in Chunichi's organization, pitching only one inning for the ichi-gun team in that period. He was released by the Dragons at the end of last year but I think they resigned him as an ikusei player and "dispatched" him to Kagawa for the season. I'm only aware of five cards for him, all from BBM - 2012 Rookie Edition, 2012 1st Version and the 2012-14 Dragons team sets.
Kobayashi has pitched in the Shikoku Island League every year since 2005 with the exception of the two years he spent in the Marines organization (2008-09). He spent three years with Tokushima, one year with Nagasaki and has spent the last five seasons with Ehmine. He never appeared in ichi-gun with the Marines (and in fact I'm not sure if he was on the 70 man roster or if he was ikusei) but he did make the BBM Marines team set both years he was with them. I don't have either of those cards.
There are a trio of Western players on the roster. Two of them are former collegiate players from America - Edward Brandsema and Tomo Delp. The other is an Australian pitcher named Drew Naylor who had pitched in the Phillies organization from 2006 to 2010. He was also a member of the 2009 Australian WBC team and was in the Topps WBC box set that year:
Both the manager and the pitching coach for the team have a lot of NPB experience as well. Manager Terushi Nakajima played for the 1988 Japanese Olympic baseball team before being drafted in the first round by the Fighters in the fall of 1988. He had an eight year career in NPB, all with Nippon Ham except his final season which he spent with Kintetsu. He coached some with Kintetsu, Nippon Ham and the Uni-President 7-11 Lions (Taiwan) before taking over the Tokoshima Indigo Socks last year. He has cards in the 1989-90 Lotte sets, BBM's "flagship" sets from 1991-1996 and their 1992 All Star set, and Tomy's 1993 and 1994 sets.
Pitching coach Hiroto Kato signed with the Swallows outside of the draft in 1987. He spent 13 seasons with Yakult before finishing his career (like Nakajima) with a single season with Kintetsu. He's spent most of the last 11 seasons coaching in the Shikoku Island League with the exception of the three years he spent as the Swallows ni-gun pitching coach from 2011-13 (where he met Itsuki Shoda and recruited him for Ehmine in 2014). Kato appears sporadically in BBM's flagship sets during his career (1991-93, 1996-99 and 2001) although since he pitched in both the 1995 and 1997 Nippon Series for the Swallows, he appears in the corresponding Nippon Series sets from BBM.
This is not a comprehensive list for these players but I tried to hit the highlights of the most common cards you might run across for these guys. You can get more complete lists over at the Inventory Manager at SportsCardForum.com.
I thought I'd do a quick little summary of what cards the guys on the rosters have, in case anyone wants to try to get something autographed at one of the games. (Obviously I'm talking NPB cards as I don't know much about what's available for the Shikoku Island teams).
The player with the most experience in NPB is tonight's starting pitcher - Itsuki Shoda. Shoda was the first round pick for the Fighters in the fall 1999 draft. He was named Rookie Of The Year in the Pacific League in 2002. He was traded to the Tigers before the 2007 season and was released by them at the end of 2008. He spent the next two years with the Sinon Bulls in Taiwan before actually getting an invite to spring training with the Red Sox in 2011. He didn't make the Red Sox, however, and he ended up spending the season with the Niigata Albirex BC team in the Baseball Challenge League. He then returned to NPB for the next two years, joining the Swallows. After being released at the end of 2013, he returned to Taiwan with the Lamigo Monkees but he was let go after two months. He then signed with the Ehmine Mandarin Pirates of the Shikoku Island League.
Shoda's rookie card is #366 in the 2000 BBM set. He appears in the 2003-06 BBM 1st Version sets and the 2003-04 and 2007 2nd Version sets and the 2003 Calbee set. He also appears in the BBM team sets for the Fighters (2004-06), Tigers (2007-08) and Swallows (2012-13).
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| 2013 BBM Swallows #S29 |
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| 2012 BBM 1st Version #188 |
There are a trio of Western players on the roster. Two of them are former collegiate players from America - Edward Brandsema and Tomo Delp. The other is an Australian pitcher named Drew Naylor who had pitched in the Phillies organization from 2006 to 2010. He was also a member of the 2009 Australian WBC team and was in the Topps WBC box set that year:
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| 2009 Topps WBC #24 |
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| 1990 Lotte #25 |
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| 1997 BBM Nippon Series #S2 |
This is not a comprehensive list for these players but I tried to hit the highlights of the most common cards you might run across for these guys. You can get more complete lists over at the Inventory Manager at SportsCardForum.com.
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