Heartbreak is the word that best describes how I felt when I heard the news that Roki Sasaki picked the Dodgers. Obviously as a Padres fan, I wanted him to choose Yu over Shohei and Yoshinobu. But you don't always get what you want (unless you're a Dodgers fan).
The worst part about the situation is that even though he's officially a rival... I want to see him find success in the MLB and I'll definitely seek out his cards
Yesterday, I started the hunt. I kicked off my morning by purchasing his first Topps Now Dodgers card off of eBay. Then I ripped open seven packs of 2024 NPB cards that were sent to me by Ryan (@ SumoMenkoMan) a few weeks ago.
Back in December, I read on NPB Card Guy's blog that Topps was releasing three NPB products on their website. Since Ryan is currently in Japan for work, I showed these products to him. I also mentioned that if he was going to place an order, I'd be interested in buying some too.
A few weeks later, a box from across the Pacific arrived in my mailbox:
2024 Stadium Club NPB
2024 Topps 206 NPB
2024 Topps Chrome NPB
With shipping... these three boxes came out to almost $300. But he tossed in a few bonuses: more snack packs with cards, a pack of 2024 Stadium Club NPB, and a pack of 2024 Topps 206 NPB.
Let's bust into some of them. First up are five packs of 2024 Bandai Pro Baseball Deforme Card Collection. Some of you might remember these from Ryan's advent calendar back in December.
Here's what I pulled:
I actually pulled two of Takuya Kai's cards, but no Roki.
Next up is the pack of 2024 Topps 206 NPB:
Here's a peek at the card backs for those who are interested:
Not sure if they're celebrating a championship or a no-hitter... but this card is awesome. The joy on the catcher's face is priceless.
The final card in the pack wasn't a Roki, but it was an insert:
Even though part of his right hand is cropped of, it's a decent looking card. Unfortunately, the card back is boring:
Lots of wasted space, but that seems to be the trend with Topps NPB cards.
Well... no Roki cards in these seven packs. But that's okay, because there will be plenty of his cards for me to collect in 2025.
Just like they flooded the hobby with Yoshinobu Yamamoto cards this year. But I'm not complaining, I'm excited.
John over at Johnny's Trading Spot included a huge stack of Japanese athletes in the last care package he sent my way and one of them was this awesome rookie card of him:
2024 Topps Chrome #18
He also tossed in this Hobby Rip Night card:
2024 Topps Hobby Rip Night #35
Here are eight other cards from his care package:
2022 Allen & Ginter Pitching A Gem #PAG-9
2024 Topps 1988 Chrome Silver Pack #T88C-27
We live in an era where every Shohei Ohtani card is treated and hoarded like gold... so whenever I can add two new cards to my binder, it's an exciting day.
2024 Topps Chrome Future Stars #FS-9
Kodai sat out most of his sophomore season with a calf injury, but he did return for one game in the playoffs. It wasn't pretty... but these Future Stars inserts are.
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights WBC Preview #WBC1
Love this card. I'm a big fan of the 2008 Topps design... and this card previewed the 2009 WBC tournament... which Dice-K dominated in.
Here are two more popular Japanese players...
2006 Topps Stars #TS-HM
2020 Topps Chrome Prism Refractor #166
And you can't forget this legend...
2024 Topps Hobby Rip Night #31
Looking forward to seeing Ichiro get inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer.
And I'm looking forward to seeing where this guy will land in 2026...
2023 Topps WBC Stars #WBC-60
Unless... of course... he lands with Roki Sasaki and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thank you John for another large stack of Japanese athletes for my collection. And thank you Ryan for helping me acquire those boxes... and for all of the freebies you tossed into the box.
Happy Monday and sayonara!
8 comments:
Tanner Scott signed with the Dodgers yesterday......
On the bright side, great cards. Though Topps leaves a lot to be desired on the NPB cards, I do like them. Especially like the little Dragon logo!
I thought the Dragons had a great logo then I saw the Seagull on the Chiba Lotte Marines and that's it. Love gulls! If I see gulls I am happy.
Glad you found some you could use. I need to get to the post office. I've been lazy.
It wasn't so long ago that everyone was making fun of the Dodgers for losing in the postseason all the time. So I'm going to enjoy this. It doesn't mean they win another World Series anyway. People have got to get themselves together.
Those Bandai Cards are fantastic! They match the backs of the Topps 206 NPB set. Matsui and Tanaka are amongst my favorite Modern Yankees, especially Godzilla 🐲
Thrilled to see Roki 👀 get the chance to get an early start at his MLB career, as opposed to someone like Ichiro or Matsui whom both would have significantly better overall production if they debuted prior to their age 27 seasons. In Ichiros case he'd be an inner-circle HoFer, While Matsui might be knocking on Cooperstowns' front door.
I'd be interested to hear your take on overlooked Hall of Fame Candidates, aside from Bonds, Clemens, Arod...
My Top 3 Snubs:
3. Bernie Williams
2. Lefty O'Doul
1. John Donaldson (Pioneer/Player, KC Monarchs)
Thanks for showing off the cards! Too bad it wasn't on A Pack To Be Named Later haha. The Stadium Club cards are great!
The one guy who didn't vote for Ichiro better have a good reason!
ginko-5 - yeah... i saw that news the day it happened. sad that the padres were a short term stop for him.
billy kingsley - you should come to my school. we've got a ton of seagulls. they hang out waiting for the kids to leave their scraps.
johnnys trading spot - lol. you lazy? you write a post almost on a daily basis... and send out care packages all the time. if you're lazy... i'm not sure what i am :D
night owl - you definitely should enjoy it. the dodgers are the envy of the league. i wish the a's and padres owners would build their rosters like the dodgers do.
xavier higgins - next time i send you a package, i'll include the duplicate of the bandai card i pulled. i have a ton of matsui dupes i can send your way as well. i wrote a post a few years ago about guys i thought should be in. it's funny, because guys like ted simmons, tony oliva, and dave parker have all gotten the call. but thanks for the post idea. i'll definitely look into it. by the way... i just looked up o'doul's numbers. very impressive
jafronius - yeah... i wish i had more time. i definitely thought about publishing posts on a pack to be named later, but honestly... i'm lucky to even post something on this blog. as for the voter who chose to not vote for him... i wish he'd at least come out and explain his decision. but that probably won't ever happen.
Roki Sasaki's not in the Bandai set (no idea why) so you didn't miss out there. Munetaka Murakami isn't either which is just weird. I wonder if they intended to issue a second series. Two of the players you have, though - Kona Takahashi and Hiroto Takahashi - have expressed interested in someday playing in MLB.
You've got me curious about the photo on the Stadium Club card of Kai. It's probably from the final game of the playoffs when the Hawks eliminated the Fighters to advance to the Nippon Series. My only reservation on that would that I don't believe that Topps Japan has the ability to turn a photo into a card in one of their pack-based sets (as opposed to Topps Now) in two months.
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