30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Cards From Across The Pacific

I collect a lot of stuff.  A fellow blogger recently pointed this out to me and he's 100% correct.  I'm starting to think that maybe I've spread myself too thin.  Heck... the thought of scaling things down a bit has even entered my head.

Whatever ends up happening, I can tell you right now... I'll still continue to build my BBM and Calbee Japanese trading card collection.  Even though I don't recognize 99.9% of the athletes, I enjoy the uniqueness of this collection and the fact that it's not something I come across on a regular basis.  In fact, none of my local card shops carry these cards and I've never seen singles for sale at card shows or flea markets.

That's why I rely on eBay, online card shops, and fellow bloggers to help me out.  Over the past year or so, Ryan over at This Card Is Cool - My Life in Baseball Cards has been putting together a nice collection of Japanese sets, packs, and singles.

Whenever he finds something cool, he'll shoot me an email and ask if I'm interested... which is always "yes".  After he's a accumulated a nice stack, he'll ship them out and send me the bill.

Here's a quick glance at the package I received in the mail yesterday:


It contained six sets, eleven packs, and a handful of singles and knickknacks.  Total cost (including shipping):  $88.  I'm sure some of you would rather have a jumbo box of 2014 Topps or maybe a hobby box of Topps Archives.  But for me... I'll take this deal any day of the week.

Let's take a closer look at what Ryan put into the box:

2012 BBM Dynamic Beauty (27 Card Set)


This twenty-seven card set covers Japan's gymnastics team.  I've never really followed this sports since Mary Lou Retton won five medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to acquire this unique set.



2013 BBM Rie Tanaka (27 Card Set)



Last summer Ryan wrote a post about this set which features one of Japan's top gymnasts and I knew this set was right up my alley.  I've never heard of Ms. Tanaka, but she must be a huge star if BBM went out of their way to make her a special boxed set.


2012 BBM Fairies on the Lane (44 Card Set)


Nope... your eyes aren't deceiving you.  You're looking at a women's bowling set.  I'm pretty sure only the Japanese would produce cards like these and call them Fairies on the Lane.


BBM Real Venus Sets


The last three sets are bigger and much more diverse than the sets mentioned above.  These sets sort of remind me of a Japanese version of Allen and Ginter or Goodwin Champions, because they cover a variety of sports ranging from rugby to swimming to golf.  The biggest difference is that they feature a modern design and include only the ladies.  Here's a sampling of what each set has to offer:

2009 Real Venus Set (93 Card Set)



2010 Real Venus Set (99 Card Set)




2013 Real Venus Set (90 Card Set)



Miscellaneous Cards (44 Cards)


If you're wondering if Ryan included any baseball cards... he did.  There were a bunch of BBM cards and a handful of Calbee and Sega Card Gen baseball cards too.  I really like the Carlos Gonzalez, but my favorite is easily the cheerleader card in the middle.


Unopened Packs (10x 2013 Calbee and 1x 2012 Panini Euro2012)


If the sets are the bulk of this package... then these packs are the heart and soul.  One of my most treasured collections is my Japanese Wax Pack PC and I relish every opportunity I get to add a new pack to it.  He actually sent me ten packs of 2013 Calbee.  I'll keep one of them sealed, and probably bust the rest.


2005 Donruss Studio #SP-19 Tony Gwynn (#'d 38/50)



Speaking of baseball cards, he also threw in this cool, non-Japanese card for my Tony Gwynn collection.  It's one of the fifty-five different parallels from 2005 Donruss Studio baseball.  And you thought Topps had too many parallels.


Satoru Tsuda Cat Cards



Last, but definitely not least... I'm pleased to announce that the cats are back!  I blogged about them before and they were a hit.  These might be the most obscure oddball cards ever produced.  Seriously.  How often are you blessed with DJ Kitty?  I might need to give this card it's own post in the future.

Sadly... this insanely long post must come to an end.  Now I can truly appreciate the time and effort people like Night Owl put into their posts.  The scanning and cropping time alone for these twenty-seven images took longer than one of my standard posts.

Thanks Ryan for going out of your way to pick up these cards and shipping them out to me.  You're a class act and I truly appreciate you going out of your way to help me with my collection.  I'll start working on a care package for you as a way of saying thanks.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool stuff! As a league bowler, I particularly like the "Fairies On The Lane" set.

I also find it interesting that I'd think a set for a Japanese gymnast is kinda cool, because if Topps put out a set for Gabrielle Douglas (just as an example), I wouldn't give it a second glance... Not because I don't appreciate Ms. Douglas and her accomplishments, but it wouldn't have the "exotic factor" to it.

Didn't BBM stand for "Baseball Magazine" at one point? I guess it's the same as "TLC" no longer standing for "The Learning Channel".

Yankeejetsfan said...

Very cool cards!

Ryan G said...

I'm glad you're happy with the cards. To be honest, that Panini pack is a pass-on from a trade because I figured you'd appreciate it more than I!

shlabotnik: Yes, BBM still stands for Baseball Magazine, technically. It shows up on products still today - it's on the copyright line of every trading card they produce, I think. BBM's company still makes magazines, though I think "Baseball Magazine" might not exist anymore.

Zippy Zappy said...

Awesome haul :).

Commishbob said...

Ayumi Kataoka........... whoa! I think I want her autograph. ;-)


Can I say that as a 62 year old without being arrested or something?

Fuji said...

Yeah... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't collect them if these cards were produced by Topps here in the states.

Fuji said...

I'll probably wait until this summer to bust the Panini pack... just in time for the World Cup.

Fuji said...

Lol... believe it or not a lot of these girls are in their twenties... which makes them legal ;-)

Ana Lu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ana Lu said...

Did you get any Portugal stickers?

Fuji said...

Haven't open it up yet... going to wait until this summer's World Cup. If I do... it's yours.

Rich said...

Hello. Where do you find checklist or set information for these Japanese sets? I collect mostly Olympic or Olympic-type sports cards, but sometimes any sports outside the "big 5" (football, soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey) so all these card sets interest me. I was trying to find the list of 2008 BBM Baseball Ceremonial First Pitch cards, but I can't find it anywhere and had no idea most of the sets in your blog even existed!!!

Rich said...

Hello. Where do you find checklist or set information for these Japanese sets? I collect mostly Olympic or Olympic-type sports cards, but sometimes any sports outside the "big 5" (football, soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey) so all these card sets interest me. I was trying to find the list of 2008 BBM Baseball Ceremonial First Pitch cards, but I can't find it anywhere and had no idea most of the sets in your blog even existed!!!

Fuji said...

Best thing to do is check out Ryan's site... or contact him directly. There's a link in the post. He's my goto guy when it comes to Japanese trading cards. There's also another blogger: NPB Card Guy. Here is his blog:

http://japanesebaseballcards.blogspot.com/

I wish I could help you myself... but my knowledge is very limited.

Ryan G said...

Checklists for most Japanese sets are entered into the Trading Card Database http://tradingcarddb.com - Jason of Clyde's Stale Cards manages most of that!

There is a guide called SCM that's issued in Japanese which has about once-a-year issues which include many of the oddball sport sets. I should probably put together a post of sets I know about too.

As for the First Pitch cards, I have completed an entire run of cards from the first First Pitch set to 2015. I haven't posted about them yet but I should.

Just as a quick reference, 2008's set is #764-775 in the BBM 2nd Version set.