Paving the Road

Things are beginning to wind down around here.  The regular school year ended twenty days ago.  I immediately headed up to Lake Oswego for a few days, then drove down to Ashland for a few more days.  We're now into the summer school phase.  It's not my normal gig.  This time around I'm working for my district... and absolutely love it.  I've got two more weeks and my official summer break begins.

Until then... cards and the blog are still on the back burner.  I have a few posts I've been tinkering with that are sitting in my drafts folder.  However this one was more of a spur of the moment post.

Over the weekend, I opened up a PWE from Tom over at The Angels, In Order.  Back in January he sent me a BAG (blogger appreciation gift) and it only took me five months to get around to it.  Sorry about that Tom.

There were six cards in the envelope, but one card stood out:

1991 Line Drive Pre-Rookie AAA #175 

Lenn Sakata is one of those ballplayers that takes me back to my childhood.  Obviously he wasn't a superstar, but he was the only Japanese MLB player I knew at the time... and he rocked a perm.  In a sense, he paved the road for my Japanese Athlete PC.

Fast forward three decades and he's probably more known for minor league managerial career where he holds the record for most wins in California League history.  Most of those wins came while he was managing the San Jose Giants off and on from 1999 to 2021.

Over the years, he's managed and coached all over the place.  As you can see from this card, he was the hitting coach for the Edmonton Trappers back in 1991.  And thanks to Tom, it's the sixth Sakata in my Japanese binder.

I'm sure there will be at least one reader who is curious or interested in the other guy on the card.  If that's you, you can read more about Gary Ruby here.

Tom also sent me these 1992-93 Upper Deck checklists of my Jordan PC:

When this product came out, I was taking a break from the hobby.  I had just finished building my 1992 Fleer Ultra baseball set... and the card shop I had worked at closed its doors.  That's my long winded way of informing you that I never opened any of this stuff.  And all five of these Jordans are brand new to my collection.  Thank you Tom.

While we're on the subject of Japanese-Americans, here's a card I picked up off of eBay back in mid-April:

1998 DuoCards Happy Days #11

Just like there weren't a lot of Japanese baseball players back in the 80's, there were a lot of super famous Japanese-American actors either.  Only two really come to mind.  George Takei is one of them.  Pat Morita is the other.  That's why I was very happy to see that Mr. Morita had a card in this set after it was featured on A Pack To Be Named Later back in April.

I was first introduced to Mr. Morita as Arnold on Happy Days, but as the back of his card states... he is "perhaps best remembered as the indomitable Mr. Miyagi" from the Karate Kid movies of the 80's.

I recently discovered that my father and him were born only three weeks apart.  His birthday was last Friday.  Happy belated birthday Mr. Morita!

As for the rest of you...

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Extra Innings!

Just realized this is the perfect opportunity to show off a ton of new additions to my Japanese Athlete PC that were sent by John over at Johnny's Trading Spot across several care packages.

Let's start off with the hits:

Shogo's stint in the MLB only lasted two seasons, while Ishii spent three seasons with the Dodgers and one with the Mets back in the 2000's.

Like Akiyama, Hirano's MLB stint was short, but when he returned to the NPB he was very successful.  Kenta on the other hand is still pitching in the MLB after eight seasons.

 

Johjima was one of those players (along with Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and Kurt Suzuki) that made me decide to start collecting Japanese baseball players.  

Yamamoto is a Hawaii guy.  When I went to the Giants game a few weeks ago, my cousin's son brought him up.  He mentioned that he was now coaching high school and had just won a state title in Florida.

Kazuo had a decent MLB career back in the 2000's, but he's probably best known for being the first Japanese infielder to sign a MLB contract.  Yamaguchi spent his first fourteen seasons in the NPB before coming over to play with the Blue Jays.  After less than two seasons, he went back to Japan.  But he pitched in more MLB games than Shunsuke Watanabe.  If his name sounds familiar, he is credited as giving up the longest home run ever hit at the Tokyo Dome to Big Papi:

I don't have the best of luck when it comes to sharing YouTube videos on my blog, so if this clip didn't load, you can watch it here.

Moving along... here's a card of a Japanese chef throwing out the first pitch at a Mariners game:

2017 Topps First Pitch #FP-31

Can't say I am familiar with Mr. Morimoto, but I definitely know Mr. Fuji:

1991 Classic WWF Superstars #47

Honestly... this guy deserves to be up there with Mr. Sakata and Mr. Morita... because he's another one of those Japanese performers that paved the road for so many others.

Here are a few other WWE wrestlers with a sumo wrestler and a UFC fighter:

Technically Ulambayaryn Byambajav isn't Japanese, he's Mongolian.  But I collect sumo wrestlers too.

I also collect Japanese F1 and NASCAR drivers as well as soccer and hockey players:

And don't forget... golf is a sport too:

I wouldn't consider myself a huge PGA fan, but if I had to pick a current golfer to root for... it would be Mr. Morikawa.

Thank you John for this massive contribution to my Japanese Athlete PC!

Extra Extra Innings!

Back in February, Rod over at Padrographs pulled this jumbo Masataka Yoshida out of a 2023 Topps Update Super Box:

2023 Topps Update Oversized #US5

As I stated in the comment section of his post, I'm a sucker for oddball stuff like this.  As you can see on the back of his card, he had a solid MLB debut:

And he finished 6th in the AL ROY voting last year.  He's cooled off quite a bit this year.  Regardless... this is another massive contribution to my Japanese Athlete PC:

This card is huge!  It's more than 4x larger than Yoshida's standard rookie card.  Thanks Rod!

Dollar COMC Club

The older I get... the more I forget.  Thankfully over at COMC you have the ability to see your entire purchase history.  Two weeks ago, I focused on some of my worst purchases.  Today, I figured... let's check out some of my favorite dollar (or less) acquisitions.

Although the first card I show off is probably my favorite purchase, the rest are in no particular order.

#1:  1970 Topps #21 Vida Blue/Gene Tenace RC

 (4/22/12)  $1

A vintage rookie card featuring two Oakland A's fan favorites for under a buck is a no-brainer in my book.  Neither of these guys are hall of famers, but they're both MVP's.

#2:  2009-10 Panini #307 Steph Curry

(1/21/12) 70¢

Anyone who doesn't believe you can make money investing in sports cards hasn't heard about Steph Curry.  This rookie card easily sells for twenty to thirty times what I purchased it for.  The same can almost be applied to the these other two Curry rookie cards I picked up on COMC too:

2009-10 Panini Prestige #157 Steph Curry  (1/21/12) 75¢

2009-10 Panini Prestige #230 Steph Curry (7/21/11) 62¢

#3:  1970 Topps #247 Fred Dryer RC

(9/22/12) $1

This guy is in the College Football Hall of Fame, holds the NFL record for most safeties in a single game (2), married a Playboy model, and was a badass 80's TV cop.  I'd buy that for a dollar.

#4:  2007 Topps Santa Claus Relic #SCR-SC

(12/5/10) $1

It's not as cheesy as the Machado table cloth card.  But then again... that card isn't selling for a buck either.  Well... not yet at least.

#5:  1978 Topps #703 Jack Morris RC

(6/22/12) 27¢

Okay.  So back in 2012, I didn't think that Morris would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  But he was and that makes this 27¢ purchase that much cooler.


#6:  1997-98 SP Authentic #165 Tim Duncan RC

(5/9/10) 52¢

Technically this is a subset card from Duncan's rookie year, but it's a great looking card... especially for the price.


#7:  1969 Topps Deckle Edge #31 Willie McCovey

(6/22/12)  79¢

This card is beat up, off-centered, and diamond-cut... but it's also a forty-something year old insert of a hall of famer that set me back three quarters and four pennies.

#8:  1990 Classic WWF #22 Mr. Fuji

(12/29/09) 10¢

You don't see too many 10¢ COMC purchases these days.  According to my records, I've only have two.  The other dime card was a Kurt Suzuki base card.  Both of these cards represent my cheapest COMC purchases of all-time.

#9:  1997 Bowman's Best International Preview Refractor #BBI-14 Vladimir Guerrero

(2/1/18) 75¢

Are you attracted to affordable, shiny parallels from the 90's?  If so, then this card might be for you.

#10:  1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold #103 Reggie White

(11/25/11)  79¢

If you collected back in the mid 90's, then you're probably familiar with the 1995 Select Certified Mirror Golds.  They were fairly easy to pull, but back in the day... they sold for a decent dime.  Doesn't look like Reggie held his value.

#11:  1992 Classic Best Autographs #NNO Brien Taylor (#'d 676/3100)

(5/26/10) $1

Taylor is one of baseball's most famous draft busts and the 1992 Topps Gold is probably his most popular autograph.  However... for a dollar, this card is an excellent placeholder that offers up a great photograph and a bold blue signature.

#12:  1979 Topps #310 James Lofton RC

(6/24/11)  $1

Steve Largent is my favorite wide receiver of all-time.  James Lofton is a very close second.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick up his rookie card for a buck.


#13:  1996 Studio Stained Glass Stars #4 Greg Maddux

(6/14/11)  84¢

Acetate.  Colorful.  Cheap.  A new era of trifectas.

#14:  2008 Allen and Ginter Framed Relic #AGR-DO1 David Ortiz

(4/24/11)  $1

During the second half of Big Papi's career, he was one of my favorite players.  And I'm one of the remaining collectors who appreciate the supposedly "game used" relics.  It was hard to pass this card up for the price.

#15:  2007-08 Bowman Elevation Relics Blue #ER-DN Dirk Nowitzki (#'d 51/79)

(9/26/10) 99¢

Another low numbered relic.  Another superstar.

#16:  2008 UD Goudey Mini Green Back #260 Ichiro Suzuki (#'d 57/88)

(4/24/11) $1

Low #'d serial number cards aren't nearly as cool as they used to be, but I'd still be willing to add any Ichiro card #'d to 88 to my collection for a dollar... unless it's one of those silly Topps Moments and Milestones cards.

#17:  2005 Topps Bazooka #190 Aaron Rodgers RC

(12/29/09)  $1

It's a low-end rookie card of Mr. Rodgers, but it's a rookie card.

#18:  1964 Topps The Story of John F. Kennedy #15

(1/30/18)  93¢

Love this card.  Wrote about it a few months ago.

#19:  1997 Pinnacle Zenith V2 #V-17 Jerry Rice

(6/21/17)  85¢

One of the great things about 90's inserts is they're innovative and interesting.  Pinnacle took lenticular technology to the next level by including two seconds worth of action on each of these inserts.

#20:  2009 Topps Chrome Copper Refractor #TC75 Aaron Rodgers (#'d 242/649)

(11/30/09) 65¢

I'll wrap up this post with this Aaron Rodgers.  This card was part of an Aaron Rodgers refractor shopping spree I went on back in the day.  I really love the action shot and the shine.

Well there you have it.  Twenty-two cards for under $20 ($17.55 to be exact).  A quick glance reveals that the majority of these purchases were made between 2010 and 2012.  Part of that probably has to do with people cleaning out their collections, but that's also during the bargain hunter phase of my life.  I still enjoy a good bargain or two, but the days of scouring COMC for deals on a regular basis are long gone.

Okay... it's your turn.

What are some of your favorite sports card dollar deals (COMC or otherwise)?

Looking forward to reading your responses.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Thanks again to all of you who have left me and my family kind and supportive comments.  I wanted to let you know that my presence on the blogosphere may not be at 100% for the next month or so.  Long posts like these probably won't pop up very often.  In fact, 90% of this post was written over a week ago.  I'm looking forward to getting back out there and reading your blog posts.  Hopefully as soon as this evening.  Well... just wanted to get everyone caught up.