I'd say the title explains it all. Here are scans of all the base cards from the second gaijin-focused set. The lone subset in this issue is "Off Shot" which is supposed to feature interesting more-candid photos of a few players.
If you're interested in adding any cards from this (or the first Strongest Foreign Legend set) let me know - I've been gathering cards for trade packages and I can either start a trade pile for you or add it to your current pile. I can usually get a couple complete sets too, if anyone is interested. [Please be sure to either email me or post a comment with an email address attached so I can reply.]
I am very happy with BBM this year - they've issued the No-Hitters set and two foreign players sets (well, the No-Hitters was late last year, and the foreigners set was labeled a 2013 set but came out before Christmas I think). They've also done a throwback set titled Classic (great idea and good execution though I didn't get a chance to really post about it when it came out). I hope they continue issuing topical sets, as it seems Epoch is catching on with their recent Rookie of the Year box set.
The last nine cards belong to the Off Shot subset.
The Willie Upshaw card is probably my favorite of this issue.
I'm guessing we'll be seeing at least one more of these sets if BBM intends to cover ALL of the gaijin players. Still unaccounted for:
ReplyDeleteMatty Alou
Bernardo Brito
Larry Doby
Mariano Duncan
Al Grunwald
Jim McManus
Don Newcombe
Rudy Pemberton
and apparently many, many more.
Now that Baseball Reference has historical stats for NPB, it is a lot easier to see who has been missed so far.
Yeah, sold. We'll start figuring something out this week.
ReplyDeleteI'd really like to see cards for Rich Gossage (1990 Hawks), Doug Decinces (1988 Swallows) and Don Zimmer (1966 Flyers). Decinces has a couple of Japanese cards (at least Takara) but there aren't any for the other two.
ReplyDeleteJason and NPB Card Guy: There are tons of players who have very few or no cards including some pretty important foreigners. I hope there will be at least a third edition with most if not all of the names you mentioned - plus it would be great to see a nod to the barnstorming all star teams that toured Japan over the years. It seems that they usually had special uniforms for the tours so there might be no MLB trademark issues (who arranged these trips, by the way?) and certainly those earlier teams were very important to the creation of NPB and of course the growth of baseball's popularity in Japan.
ReplyDeleteScott: You got it, dude.