Let's bust five more packs (bags?) of Calbee! This lot is quite ordinary...
It may be only a base card, but Itoh's play at the plate card is a great image. Actual collisions are extremely rare in Japan.
This pack has another Japan Series insert, which features Manabu Mima. Mima isn't that great of a pitcher during the regular season, and he had a rough first outing this year, giving up four earned runs in 4.1 innings; he struck out four batters, but he walked two, hit one, and gave up five hits.
I like the horizontal cards more. I'm not sure why. And I pulled another Starcard insert. I get the feeling that they really aren't any more difficult to pull than any other card in the release, though the gold signature versions are pretty limited.
Sakamoto is a pretty steady-hitting infielder for the Giants; he'll probably reach 1000 hits before the All-Star Break, which isn't too bad after less than seven seasons of full-time play. If he stays healthy I'm sure he'll be a member of the 2000-hit club.
The last pack has a couple more base cards. Nishioka is another solid hitter, who reached 1000 hits last year (also after seven full seasons, though he had a partial season prior to that). He had over 200 hits in 2010, when he had a .346 average, though he usually gets somewhere around 120-140 hits per season.
Those five packs bring me to my 10 packs for the week. I've put together a checklist, but I won't be sharing my results until I have another week's packs under my belt. I'm really tempted to buy a whole bunch of bags now to hopefully get a lucky card! A case of 24 bags may be in my future... when I can find one.
Thanks for sharing these Calbee cards... I'm enjoying checking them out, even though I don't know many of the players.
ReplyDelete...and it also clued me in to where Nishioka went. I lost track of him after his stint with the Twins - not that I went out of my way to find out where he was...
As I go to games and get more cards, I am starting recognize a lot of names and I am realizing who is good. But there are so many common names in Japan that sometimes I'm not sure if I know them because they're good players, they had a stint in America, or if I just have students with the same name.
DeleteOh! And I'm glad you're enjoying the posts!
DeleteApologies for the sort of off-topic comment, but when I hear the name "Sakamoto", I immediately thought of the Thomas Dolby song, "She Blinded Me with Science."
ReplyDeleteBack on topic: having never been to Japan nor having seen Calbee Chips to my knowledge, would it be possible to show the packaging? I'm thinking about checking our local international market here in Atlanta to see if they might possibly have them. It's a long shot, but I thought I'd try.
Several Japanese names and words remind me of pop culture references. Mr. Roboto and Turning Japanese come to mind frequently.
DeleteI'll post a photo of the chips bag in my next post. I never saw baseball chips in the Japanese supermarkets in SF but it doesn't mean they don't exist. It's pretty obvious once you see the bag. I think my next Calbee post will be in the next day or two.
Awesome! I busted a few packs of the Calbee you sent me last weekend. I didn't recognize any of the names, but they were nice additions to my Japanese baseball card binder.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to post your cards to your blog? I'm interested in seeing what you have. Once my personal purchases die down I'll be sure to put a few packs aside for you too. I have a few packs from non-baseball products already.
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