Looking at the scan folder from July (yes, July) I'm obviously way behind on posts for new releases. And the season itself is drawing to a close. But I'll chug along as best as I can to get these sets out there in the nothingness...
The Hanshin Tigers set for the year has 81 cards. The front design is very simple with full-bleed photos. The backs are standard. Seriously standard.
There are a few subsets for the Tigers set. The Mascot card isn't exactly a
set but it's worth noting, especially because the team's record for the past five years including some detail for last year is printed on the back.
Reliable Pitching Staff is a subset that features the team's pitching rotation. Backs of these show game-by-game statistics for the first month of the season.
And Dynamite Row rounds out the subsets with a look at the team's biggest hitters.
Most teams have only two insert sets this year, but the Tigers get four. Burning Bright is the meaningless one. Why is this player in this set? We will never know.
Rescue From Overseas is a bit more obvious - the team's foreign players are featured in this four card set.
The best younger players are in the five card New Age Builders set. Though again it would be really nice to know why they're in this set.
Last, there's a six card set for Shintaro Fujinami. With a black background and fancy gold foil it looks elegant.
The hits in this set are all autographed. The super-premium hits are the silver (above, 15 copies each for nine players) and gold (1 of 1, nine players) vertical design cards.
Most autographs are the usual horizontal ones, with the usual serial numbering to 60 cards in most cases.
Three combo signature cards can be found, numbered to five copies each.
And finally, boxes offer the chance at three Cross Sign cards, numbered to only 9 copies each.
That Rescue From Overseas insert set is a really cool idea. I wonder if it would work as well in the U.S. as a general insert set, maybe with guys like Jung Ho Kang, Jose Abreu and Masahiro Tananka?
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