Oh My!

One of the highlights of the Southern California Road Trip was having the opportunity to meet and hang out with Ryan from Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko.  I quickly discovered that he's a super cool guy to hang out with.  It truly felt like we were a group of old friends getting together.

On top of that, it was great to finally shake his hand and thank him for all of the amazing care packages he's sent my way over the past three years.

He's sent me some truly unique cornerstone pieces for my Japanese PC, a plethora of unopened packs, hundreds of sumo wrestling cards, and thousands of calories worth of treats.  And he's never once asked for anything in return.

That's why it felt good to be able to hand him a few cards he could use and buy him some beer he could appreciate in an effort to return the favor.

And just when I thought I was starting to pay off my tab... he hit me up with some more awesome items for my collection.

I struggled with which item I wanted to talk about first... because they're all so unique.  But ultimately I decided to go with the guy who smacked 868 career home runs and one of the most recognized names in NPB history:

Feast your eyes on a postcard sized card that actually serves as a vinyl record too.  As soon as I saw this, it reminded me of the 1964 Auravision Sandy Koufax card/record that I own.  Here's a look at the card outside of the plastic protective sleeve:

I tried to do my homework on this cool piece of memorabilia, but the only information I could find was that this is probably from the 1960's.  This is definitely one of the most unique additions to my Japanese PC.  I just love the photo they used for this card.

Ryan also hooked me up with another one of these cool postcard/records.  Check out Shigeo Nagashima:

Nagashima was Oh's Yomiuri Giants teammate for sixteen seasons and is a fellow Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame member.  Once again this sweet vintage oddball features a great pregame photo.

Next up are some bookmarks featuring beautiful manga style artwork:

I'm not sure if these represent actual players, but they are truly stunning.  I have no idea when these were produced, but I'm gonna guess these are from the 50's or 60's.  The colors are as vivid as any 2019 baseball card out there.

Both bookmarks feature some sort of chart on the back.  Maybe they're designed for kids to tally up how many books they've read or something.  Feel free to comment down below if you can read Japanese and know the answer.

The only downside (and trust me, I'm not complaining) is the issue of storage.  As of right now, I'm currently storing them in Cardsaver IV's... which may or may not be their permanent home.  I'd love to display them on my desk, but I don't want the sun to darken the paper over time.

Moving along...

1987 Roadshow Magazine Uncut Sheet

Ryan showed off one of these sheets earlier in the month on his blog.  If you're interested in reading about it, click here.  I recognized 75% of the people on this sheet: all four ladies, Officer Baker, and Officer Poncherello.

Personally my favorite actor on this sheet is Jaclyn Smith.  She was always my favorite Angel... and I've gotta say... she's still gorgeous as she approaches seventy-four years of age.

Rounding out Ryan's care package are more packs for my collection:

Like I mentioned earlier in the post, Ryan has hooked me up with a bunch of packs over the years.  In fact most of the newest additions to my unopened Japanese pack collection have come from him.  Some of these will be headed there.  The others will be opened up and either reviewed on here or over at APTBNL.

Ryan said he's planning to do a review on the UFO pack, which I'm really interested in reading... because out of all of the packs... it's the one I'm most curious about.  I'm also interested in opening up one of the Panini Kimmidoll packs.  According to Ryan, they were sold exclusively in Spain.  I'm not 100% sure what a Kimmidoll is, but they resemble Japanese Kokeshi dolls, which are decorative wooden dolls.  I've actually bought a few of these over the years and have given them away as gifts to family members and friends.

Thank you Ryan for another awesome care package!  The stuff you give me is always very unique and 100% appreciated.  Oh... and thanks for lunch.  If you decide to come up for the Serramonte Mall Show, lunch is on me this time.

Happy Monday and sayonara!