Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Taiwan Baseball and Baseball Cards

First, if you haven't seen my most recent post (because, hey, that happens sometimes), it's about St. Anky Beer. No it isn't. It's about two very nice, expensive autographs. Well, expensive to me.

So go here to read about the time I blew my wad splurged.

But now, Taiwan baseball and cards. This is actually a question (sorry if the title is misleading). And I promise you in a month or so I'll have full-out posts really talking about the subjects.

Have you been to Taiwan? If so, please read on.

Did you see a baseball game? What can I expect as far as souvenirs, food, and crowds? I don't need to many details, but any tips you can give me are appreciated. I am hoping to see three or four games while I'm there next week!

SportsCardForum.com Image
Did you find any baseball cards? Do you know of any baseball card stores or night market hopefuls? Any details you can give me are helpful - when you visited, where the stores were located, or even what to search on Google. I tried translating terms like "sports card shop/store" and "baseball card shop/store" and then searching but I had no luck. I've heard that I could possibly find packs at Seven Eleven of current releases, but I'm interested in older cards too (granted, they won't go any further back than 1989).

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated. I'd really love to find a good selection of Taiwanese cards while I'm there but I don't have much of a starting point.

I leave for Taiwan on Sunday, so I'd appreciate any help before then. But if you come across anything next week or even in the future, let me know - eventually I would hope to return to Taiwan or at least be able to forward the information on to others looking for it.

5 comments:

  1. The official CBPL blog (http://cpblonline.pixnet.net/blog) typically announces when the latest sets go on-sale. From what I've been able to decipher from the comments and liberal application of Google Translate is that the official CPBL cards tend to be completely sold out from retail locations within days of release. Ask you assumed, 7-11 would be one of the main outlets (especially since they own a team), but the cards go fast. I haven't dug deep enough to find any Taiwanese trading forums to check for a secondary market.

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  2. My brother is there now. I asked him to bring some back for me and he told me that the best place to get them was right at the stadium (I'm not sure if that's true, but that's what he seemed to think).

    I believe all of the teams in Taipei play at the same stadium. I saw a game there once (The Brother Elephants, I believe) and it was pretty cool. Lots of coordinated cheers.

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  3. Thanks for your input, guys.

    I mentioned on my Japan blog that I randomly found a card shop in Tainan with a Family Mart (similar to 7-11) branded team issue in packs. Those were the only CPBL cards they had.

    I don't think I really talked much about my success in Taipei, but I was able to visit a card shop and get a good assortment of singles from prior years.

    As for 7 Eleven, I saw a few packs of non-baseball cards among the dozens of stores I visited, and I had some (expensive) luck finding a two-pack of plastic stored value cards. They were $200 for the pair - about $6.

    I attended two games, one in Taichung and another in Tainan. I didn't find cards at either stadium, but souvenirs were limited as these stadiums aren't used often.

    Nathan: none of the teams have real "home" stadiums, and the Taipei stadiums seem to be used most often. I'm sure visiting one of those (I wasn't lucky enough for that experience) might have given me better luck.

    I'll eventually get to posting my CPBL finds!

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  4. Ryan, I found this post after texting with you. I googled baseball card shops and found a JJ's Sports cards that I will try to visit next week when I'm in Taipei for a week. He also has a Facebook page. It appears this might be some guy's house or rental space.

    Unfortunately it doesn't appear there will be any baseball being played while I'm there.

    JJ Cards Shop (Da'an District)
    台北市大安區通化街101巷5-2號1樓. Taipei, Taiwan 106
    (No. 5-2, Lane 101, Tonghua Street, Da'an)

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    Replies
    1. CPBL is a summer league, though with their weather I think that's just carry-over from US tradition.

      If that's the same place I saw on Google Maps it could be legit, but it looks like it's mostly/all boxes. You never know, though. Good luck!

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