Lots Of New Stuff
BBM put out information about a number of new sets this week:- As a follow up to last year's All Star Memories 80's set, BBM is releasing an All Star Memories 90's set. As you've probably guessed,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
1994 "Perfect" Card Guide
One of the odd things about the Japanese baseball card market is that there isn't a Japanese version of Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. While Sports Card Magazine has been running checklists of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week June 22
This is a 1947 JDM 11 menko card of Giichiro Shiraki of the Flyers. I've been wondering ever since I first saw this card what the deal with the duck or goose was. I think I finally have an answer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2014 Korean Super Star Baseball Card Box Break
I received the two boxes of the new KBO set (Super Star Baseball Card) that I ordered from Ebay in the mail today. It took about two and a half weeks from when I ordered the cards for them to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Emperor's Game
Today is the 55th Anniversary of what is probably the most famous game in Japanese baseball history. On June 25, 1959, the Emperor of Japan for the first time ever attended a professional baseball...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week June 29
Interleague play wrapped up last week with the Giants taking the title. Yoshiyuki Kamei was named Interleague MVP. It seems a little odd to me that a position player who only played two thirds of his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Report From Lancaster
When we last saw Shunsuke Watanabe, formerly of the Chiba Lotte Marines, he was in spring training with the Red Sox. He ended up getting released by the Red Sox before the end of spring training but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More Late-80's Calbee Laziness
A few months back I had a discussion with Sean that lead to a post about some 1988 Calbee cards that appeared to feature pictures taken from a TV screen, (He later did a post about a Bill Gullickson...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week July 6
Last Tuesday, the Fighters took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth against the Lions out at Seibu Dome. That lead turned out not to be safe, however, as the Lions rallied in the bottom of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Junzo Sekine
The rosters for the two NPB All Star games were announced last week and Shohei Ohtani of the Fighters made the team as a pitcher. This is his second All Star selection as he had made the team last...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week July 13
Last week was an auspicious week for two former Fukuoka Daiei/Softbank Hawk pitchers. On Wednesday, Tsuyoshi Wada of the Chicago Cubs made his first major league appearance. Wada had left the Hawks...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Calbee All Stars From 1975 And 1976
With the All Star break currently in full swing in Japan, I thought it might be fun to show some cards that commemorated earlier All Star games. The huge (1472 cards!) 1975/76 Calbee set had two...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week July 20
During the first inning of yesterday's All Star game at Koshien, Fighters pitcher (and outfielder) Shohei Ohtani matched the all time NPB pitch speed record (held by Marc Kroon, then of the Baystars I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alfredo Despaigne
The latest Cuban import to Japan is Alfredo Despaigne, who will likely make his debut with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the next week or so. Despaigne actually started this season playing for Piratas de...
View ArticleClik here to view.
1988 IFT Round Menko
I am not generally a fan of round menko and I'm also not generally a fan of cards that show caricatures of players rather than pictures. So I was kind of surprised at myself that I ended up kind of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week July 27
There was a wild play in the bottom of the eighth in yesterday's Tigers-Carp game. With the score tied at 5 each, the Carp had runners on second and third with one out. Ryosuke Kikuchi was the batter...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sports Card Magazine #106
The latest issue of Sports Card Magazine (#106) hit the newsstands in Japan last Saturday. It's the usual mixed bag of articles and ads that are of limited appeal to non-Japanese readers. The issue...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2014 BBM 80th Anniversary Pitchers Edition Set
NPB is celebrating 80 years of professional baseball in Japan this season and BBM is issuing two separate historic sets as part of the celebration. The first set, called 80th Anniversary Pitchers...
View ArticleUpcoming Releases
I've been putting off doing a post on upcoming sets because I've been waiting for BBM to put up information on the Dragons team set on their website. They still haven't but I figure that I've waited...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week August 3
On Friday, Giants third baseman Shuichi Murata hit his 300th career home run off of Kenta Maeda of the Carp:251 of Murata's home runs came when he was a member of the Yokahama Baystars between 2003 and...
View Article