Clik here to view.
Three Is A Magic Number
I got a package in the mail today from Japan that contained my latest Yahoo! Japan Auction purchases. The bulk of the contents were the 2022 Calbee Series One and BBM 1st Version sets which I will be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
20 Years Of Rookie Edition
Every year since 2003 BBM has released the Rookie Edition set which contains all (or most) of the players taken in the NPB draft the previous fall*. With the 2022 edition of the set being the 20th, I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week May 15
Ho, hum, another week, another Card Of The Week involving a no-hitter or near no-hitter...On Wednesday of last week, Hawks pitcher Nao Higashihama threw a no-hitter against the Lions. He struck out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RIP David West
Former Fukuoka Daiei Hawk pitcher David West has passed away from cancer at age 57. West was a top prospect in the Mets organization in the 1980's who was traded to the Twins in 1989 in the Frank...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2022 Calbee Series One
When I did my post about what I called the "10 Worst NPB Sets Of All Time" (which was really just my least favorite sets) about a month ago, Sean commented that while he was initially surprised I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week May 22
Akira Neo was one of the top high school prospects going into the 2018 NPB draft. He was a two-way player with the powerhouse Osaka Toin team, playing pitcher, shortstop and outfield depending on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2022 BBM 1st Version Set
 2022 BBM 1st Version Set SummarySize: 372 cards numbered 1-336, CG01-CG36Cards Per Team:  28 (team card, manager + 26 players)Team Card Theme:  Spring TrainingNumber Of Leader Cards:  N/AChecklists:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week May 29
Interleague play started last week and the most interesting of the six opening series were the three games between the Fighters and Swallows played at Jingu Stadium. On Tuesday the Fighters had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
History Of Calbee Part 2 - 1977 to 1980
1977 was kind of a transitional year for Calbee. After several years of having sets that spanned multiple years, Calbee switched to having multiple sets in one year! The 1977-79 issues are probably...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week June 5
On Friday night the Swallows beat the Lions 1-0 behind the pitching AND hitting of Yasuhiro Ogawa. Ogawa threw eight shutout innings, striking out six while giving up just three hits and a walk,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Discovery - 2013 Konami Samurai Japan set
It's probably not a secret that I'm a sucker for National Team sets so I was very intrigued a few months back when Steve, a collector I've done some trades with, sent me an email asking me for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
1968 Shonen Book Cards
I've been cutting way back on my vintage card purchases the last couple years but I couldn't resist picking up a couple cards from Prestige Collectibles recently. Robert had several cards from the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jun Hagiwara
The Dragons' recent experimentation with using Akira Neo as a pitcher got me curious if this had happened before in recent-ish (say the last 50 years of so) NPB history. I could think of a number of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week June 12
On Tuesday evening Shota Imanaga of the Baystars threw the third no-hitter of the 2022 NPB season. His gem came against the Fighters who had previously this season been no-hit for nine innings by the...
View ArticleSecond Flagships, Team Sets and a KBO OB Set
It's been about six weeks since I last did a rundown on upcoming sets in Japan so there's actually a lot to talk about. Starting with a set that I was surprised to discover was actually released TODAY...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nine Men Out
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole regarding the "Black Mist Scandal" last week while researching Masaaki Ikenaga for my post on the two 1968 Shonen Book cards I'd picked up. The "Black Mist Scandal"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week June 19
Couldn't decide on a topic for this week's Card Of The Week so...ok, actually, that's not quite true. I've done a post for the Interleague MVP each year for the past I don't know how many years so my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week June 26
I apologize for not posting much lately. Life's been pretty busy the last few weeks between work, having work done on the house and a couple family emergencies. The busy-ness has come to a peak this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
History Of Calbee Part 3 - 1981 To 1984
At first glance, Calbee's sets from the early 1980's seem pretty straightforward, especially compared to the sets from the 1970's. There was only one set each year and each set only spanned one year....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Card Of The Week July 3
Last Sunday Hotaka Yamakawa of the Lions hit the 200th home run of his career. The milestone came in his 697th game, the fewest games ever by a Japanese player. Here are Calbee cards celebrating...
View Article