Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Cleaning, Organizing, and Sorting

On a recent trip to Costco, I purchased some heavy duty Bankers Boxes which led to some early spring cleaning in my office.  When I was finished, I had cataloged most of my larger card sets which is something I've been meaning to do for years.  Most of the large boxes have been sorted and put away, but this major cleaning/organization project will probably continue until mid-March when spring actually arrives.


In the meantime... I'm also organizing parts of my card collection as well.  Back in December, I received a large flat rate box from Woody over on Sports Card Forum and inside were hundreds of Japanese MLB cards.  It took an entire afternoon to sort through his stuff and integrate it into my binders.

Here are the highlights from his care package.  Let's start with the Ohtani's since he's arguably the hottest player in the hobby:

2018 Topps Opening Day #200
2018 Topps Archives #50
2018 Topps Update #US285

It's not often anyone sends me an Ohtani rookie card... let alone three.  Once upon a time I owned a PSA graded copy of that Opening Day card, but I sold it during the pandemic.  The other were completely brand new to me.

In fact out of the thirteen Ohtani cards he sent my way, I needed twelve of them.  Here's a look at the other nine:





This influx of Shohei cards motivated me to give him his very own binder.  Up until now, his 9-pocket pages were crammed between Tomokazu Ohka and Hideki Okajima pages.   He joins Kurt SuzukiIchiro Suzuki, and Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese baseball players with their very own binders.

Speaking of Ichiro and Nomo, here are their new additions from Woody.  Let's start with Ichiro:

2021 Topps Platinum Players Die-Cuts #PDC-15
2022 Topps Archives #185

2021 is the least represented year in my Ichiro PC.  That die-cut insert is only the second card of him in my binder.  Maybe Topps didn't add him to a lot of checklists that year.

Next up are the new Nomos:

1995 Stadium Club #556
1998 Bowman International #289

I thought I owned most of Nomo's rookie cards, but was surprised to see I needed his Stadium Club card.  This Bowman parallel (which didn't scan well) is really cool as it shows off his birthplace.

2000 Pacific Invincible #56
2003 Playoff Portraits #17

Both of these cards are proof that card companies are capable of making high quality base cards.  The Nomo on the left combines cardboard and acetate... but what makes this card especially cool is that it features him with the Detroit Tigers.

The Playoff Portraits card is thick and textured to give off the feeling that you're holding a card that was actually hand painted.  If you've never owned one of these cards, it might be worth tracking down a copy.

Wrapping up today's post is a Masahiro Tanaka relic card:

2017 Topps Museum Collection
Meaningful Material #MM-MTA (#'d 18/35)

I'm not exactly sure why Topps chose to call these Meaningful Material relics... since according to the back of the card the swatch isn't from any specific game, event, or season.  But when you consider that there are only 35 copies of this card out there and Woody was kind enough to send me one of them... that's pretty cool (and meaningful).

Thank you Woody!  I have at least one more post planned that will show off some other cards that were part of this care package.


There were literally hundreds of duplicates in Woody's care package that when combined with my extras ended up filling close to two full rows in a 5,000ct. box.  In the midst of the office organization, I sorted them by player.

Anyone interested in starting a Japanese baseball player collection?  If so, shoot me an email and I'll gladly help you out.  Unfortunately I don't have many Ohtani or Ichiro duplicates, but I've got plenty of other guys like Nomo, Matsuzaka, and Okajima.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

16 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

OMG. After you have cleansed those two boxes I sent you, I imagine you might just fill that dupes box completely.

The Angels In Order said...

All those Ohtani's are nice. I'm sure gonna miss him in an Angels uniform.

Dennis said...

Wow, nice work doing all of that sorting!

BaseSetCalling said...

Ohtani cards never get old. Wise to give him a whole binder.

Jeff B - Wax Pack Wonders said...

Nomomania was one of the many great sports times of the 90s.

CaptKirk42 said...

Congratulations on the cleaning/organizing progress.

Mark Zentkovich said...

👍

bbcardz said...

Wow, gotta love the generosity of other collectors/bloggers--that's quite the haul!

I did get to work some of the Angels games at Angel Stadium last season and saw Ohtani hit a majestic home run over the center field fence. But as a lifelong Dodger fan, I'm so glad he'll be wearing Dodger blue for the foreseeable future.

Big Tone said...

Ohtani is superhuman, lol. I sold off two of his rookies when I was in a tight spot a few years back. I still have his Panini Score rc.

BTW-Where did you find that rising black card organizer?

Fuji said...

johnnys trading spot - i won't be surprised. i don't have any documentation, but if i were to guess, i'd say that you have been the largest contributor to this pc over the years. i remember sorting through the last batch and it was awesome

the angels in order - me too. was really hoping he'd stay with the angels.

dennis - it feels good to have that crossed off my list of things to do. unfortunately... it's only a small fraction of the cards that need to be sorted. so i guess there's plenty of entertainment for me in 2024

basesetcalling - i figure topps will release plenty of cards of him with each passing year, so it makes sense to give him his own home

wax pack wonders - seems like there are lots of big hobby and sports moments in the 90's. nomomania was definitely one of them

captkirk42 - thanks. it's a small dent, but at least i've got the ball rolling

mark zentkovich - thanks for stopping by

bbcardz - yeah... as much as i wish he would have stayed with the angels... i am very excited to add some dodger cards of his to the binder

big tone - glad he was able to help you out when you were in a tight spot. the black thing is called a sorting tray. i forgot where i purchased mine (probably at the local wholesaler), but if you look up bcw sorting tray on amazon... it should pop up.

The Snorting Bull said...

Love the Nomos, especially the International Refractor. That's a sweet card!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Time to be a dealer at a card show! Great post!

Uncle Charlie's Shoebox said...

Winter is a good time to get the organizing done! Wish I had not been in my baseball watching lull when Ichiro played. Love small ball base hit guys as that's more my style of play.

Nice to get Ohtanis let alone rookies!

Matt said...

I desperately need to feel better so I can get to more sorting. This stent is killing me.

Fuji said...

the snorting bull - it's actually not a refractor... although i'd love to add that card to my collection one day :D

sumomenkoman - i've done the dealer thing. i'm much better at being the customer, but maybe one day i'll set up again.

uncle charlie's shoebox - i'm very thankful that i got to see ichiro play on several occasions. but even if i hadn't... it's still fun to watch his highlights. it was truly amazing how he could put the ball in play and get on base.

matt - sorry to hear about the pain. hopefully your doctor can move up the removal date.

Jon said...

2000 Pacific Invincible was a really neat set. It still holds up all of these years later too.