Cleaning Some Clutter

My classroom is cluttered with cards right now.  The eighth graders are wrapping up the civil rights trading card projects... while the seventh graders are designing trading cards of themselves, the teammates, and for me.

Part of the 7th grade assignment is to interview me.  This gives them an opportunity to learn about me while helping them fill the card back with biographical information and other facts.  Almost every group add strengths and weaknesses... along with an assortment of "favorites" to their list of questions.

I'm not exactly someone who is particularly strong or good at anything interesting to kids... so I have been giving them very vanilla responses like "sorting", "organizing", and "cleaning".

Coincidentally... that's how I spent my Saturday morning.

The goal was to clear my desk, scan some cards, and knock out a blog post.  Let's see if I achieved it.

First up are two stacks of cards... which contain stuff from flea market and card show purchases as well as stuff from bloggers.  In an effort to keep this post short and simple, I'll only be showing off a handful of those cards... all of which are either customs or legendary Japanese baseball players.

Let's start off with this custom card of Shohei Ohtani:

Last year... Nick over at n j w v created a series of home run celebration hat cards utilizing the 1981 Topps baseball card design.  I'm not surprised that Ohtani's kabuto made the checklist.

In addition to Ohtani, he sent a pair of Padres customs.  I'm going to save them for the Cinco de Mayo post.  Thank you Nick!  Great job on these customs.  Very impressive.

Next up is a custom of the legendary Sadaharu Oh created by Gregory over at Nine Pockets...

I'm not the first blog to show off this beauty and I'm sure I won't be the last.  I purchased a few copies from his eBay store last year and was hoping to share it when I unveiled my copy of Oh's 1975 Menko Rocket Robot card.

Unfortunately... I still don't own that Rocket Robot card yet... so I decided to pair it with Nick's Ohtani instead.

The card is printed on clear plastic and doesn't contain any printing on the back:

This allows you turn Oh into a switch hitter... or scan his card with different colored backgrounds:

If you're interested in picking up a copy for your own collection, click here.  It's perfect for any Oh PC.

Last, but not least are some singles for my Japanese PC from Bob over at The Best Bubble.

Here are the three new additions to the Ichiro binder: 

2002 Topps Pristine #10

I took a break from collecting right around the time Ichiro stormed the hobby... so I never got a chance to experience Topps Pristine and its unique three packs within a pack concept.  It was cool to see Topps bring this product back.  Unfortunately... with triple digit price tags... it looks like I won't be experiencing the thrill of tearing into Pristine anytime soon.

2002 Upper Deck #123

Ichiro looks like he just took a shot to the groin... but the photo is well-cropped and all body parts are intact, so no complaints here.

2022 Stadium Club Box Topper #184

This might look like your standard sized base card... but it's actually an oversized box topper.  Some collectors might frown upon these, but I embrace them.

The next two cards are a pair of die-cut Nomo's from the 90's that look way cooler in person...

1997 Pacific Crown Collection Fireworks Diecuts #FW-16

This card combines jagged edges and colorful foil (similar to 90's Fleer Metal) to produce a really attractive card.  Plus this was produced in the 90's... which means they were reasonably tough pulls (1:72 packs).

1996 Select Claim to Fame #10

Here's another cool die-cut insert from the 90's.  It references Nomo's stellar rookie season and the fact that he was the starting pitcher in the MLB All-Star Game.  But personally... I feel like his claim to fame is the fact that he paved the way for other NPB players like Ichiro and Ohtani to cross the Pacific Ocean and play in the MLB.

The final card for today is this memorabilia card of Nomo's teammate that was also part of Bob's care package:

2005 Donruss Champions Impressions Materials #141

Kaz Ishii was a starting pitcher for the Dodgers from 2002 to 2004.

Thank you Bob, Nick, and Gregory for these generations additions to my Japanese player collections!

And thank you to those of you who stuck around to find out whether or not I accomplished my Saturday goal.  I didn't.  There are still about 20 cards I need to scan that are sitting on my desk... and I wasn't able to finish writing this post until this morning (Sunday).  That being said... I made a step in the right direction and cleaned up some clutter.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!