Cards From Ryan
This week I got another big box from Ryan of "This Card Is Cool" containing the latest stuff he's found for me in Japan. And when I say "big box" I mean BIG box - it weighed around 13 pounds! It...
View ArticleCard Of The Week October 17
Seiya Suzuki is on tear. Again.He hit two home runs today against the Tigers which gives him five in his last five games. This is after he had 10+ home runs during the month of September. His timing...
View ArticleGPBL And JWBL Cards
Ryan sent me a number of cards from the now defunct Japan Woman's Baseball League (JWBL). The cards fall into two groups - cards from the 2011 set that BBM did for the Girl's Professional Baseball...
View ArticleDaisuke Matsuzaka
Daisuke Matsuzaka made the final appearance of his 23 year career today. He had burst onto the scene in 1998 with a spectacular performance for Yokohama High School in that year's Summer Koshien...
View Article1999 BBM/Yomiuri Giants Set
I came across an interesting item on Yahoo! Japan Auctions a few months back. I asked Ryan to pick it up for me and he included it in the stuff he shipped me last week. In 1999 the Yomiuri Shimbun...
View ArticleMagazine Cards From Ryan
I've got a couple card collecting goals that revolve around cards that BBM issued in magazines. Among the cards that Ryan sent me last week were a bunch of cards that go towards those goals.He found a...
View Article2011 Pro Yakyu Data File Promotional Item
I've mentioned a number of times (as recently as yesterday) that cards issued with magazines are one of the two biggest unknown areas in Japanese baseball cards (the other being team issued cards)....
View ArticleEpoch One Cards
Among the cards Ryan sent me last week were the latest batch of Epoch One cards that I'd asked him to pick up for me - the final ones from last year along with a bunch from this year. Epoch One is the...
View ArticleCard Of The Week October 24
50 years ago yesterday the Baltimore Orioles kicked off their tour of Japan with an 8-4 victory over the Yomiuri Giants at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo. It was the first of 18 games the Orioles would...
View Article2020 Epoch Hawks & Swallows Rookies & Stars sets
Another couple items that I had asked Ryan to pick up for me were the 2020 Hawks and Swallows "Rookies & Stars" team sets from Epoch. Epoch started doing team-specific sets in 2017 but in 2018...
View Article2021 BBM Farewell Set
For the 11th edition of their annual set for retiring players, BBM changed things up a little. It came out in February, a month later than normal (although that could have been COVID-related) and for...
View Article2021 Epoch Japan Retired Foreign Player Association Set
Epoch did a box set earlier this year in association with the Japan Retired Foreign Players Association (JRFPA). Each box had 43 cards - a 41 card base set, a "foil signature" parallel card and an...
View Article2021 BBM Icons - Progress
The 2021 edition of BBM's annual "Icons" box set was released back in March. The theme was "Progress" and featured players who (according to BBM's website) "made progress" last year and rookies who...
View ArticleTime Is Running Out...
...for any new 2021 sets to be announced. Hard to believe but 2022 is just over two months away. There are a number of sets that have recently been announced that will be released over the next two...
View ArticleCard Of The Week October 31
The NPB regular season wheezes to a close tomorrow with the final make up game between the Carp and the Swallows. The playoff teams are all set and the post-season will start for them next weekend....
View Article2021 Epoch Pacific League Rookies
Getting back to the cards Ryan sent me....Epoch issued their annual "Pacific League Rookies" set back in July. This is a box set containing 38 cards - the 35 card base set, two "foil signature"...
View Article2020 Indy Ball Cards
Ryan included some cards from a couple Japanese independent league teams in the big box he sent me a couple weeks back. One of these was a team I'd gotten cards from before while the other was from a...
View ArticleDual Champions Update
Just about a month ago I did a post about the only two players on MLB playoff teams that could potentially become the twelfth player in history to win both a Nippon Series championship and a World...
View ArticleAnimated
BBM included nine card puzzle subsets in their 1995 and 1996 sets. The 1995 set had ones for Ichiro, Hideki Matsui and Hideki Irabu while the 1996 set had ones for Masaki Saitoh and Akira Etoh. To be...
View Article2021 Epoch Baystars, Carp, Hawks and Lions Rookies & Stars sets
Epoch continued to make their "Rookies & Stars" team sets in 2021. These are pack based sets with a 36 card base set. For whatever reason, Epoch only does these sets for a subset of the 12 teams...
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