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

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Sunday, February 12, 2017

2016 AIAIO JWBL (Japan Women's Baseball League) Special Sets

This is not comprehensive. I picked up a few singles off YJA a couple weeks ago. I'm still trying to find singles from the 2010 and 2011 BBM sets, but occasional cards from AIAIO can be found there too.

AIAIO creates custom cards for little sports stars, or anyone else who wants their own trading cards. They have a relationship with JWBL where they make cards for all of the players. Players then trade their cards with fans who get their own custom AIAIO cards made. Sometimes AIAIO sells or gives away singles or sets. I bought a full set in 2015, but haven't found a full set for other years. 

The first set is titled "All Star 2016" and includes a big logo in the corner.
 Chie Niihara is a manager, so her stats on the back are non-existent. Given her card number, I'd guess that the set size is 50 cards.
 Here is a player including her 2015 and career stats.
 Shiho Murata is the third player I picked up from this set. The diagram in the bottom corner identifies her position on the field.

The other special set is from a "Special Collaboration Match" of some sort.
 The cards pair Dione and Flora players. I only have three cards from this set and they aren't numbered.
 I'm not sure if all three cards I have equal a full set, or if there are more. Additionally, if there are more, do they only feature pitchers?
The mascots get the last card. The mascots have birthdays. And favorite foods. I didn't know that before.

I don't expect to ever have a full set of AIAIO cards other than the 2015 season. I'm not sure if I'd ever know if I had a full set, because I don't know of a catalog for them, either. But as I find them, I'll certainly keep adding them to my collection!

4 comments:

  1. Not sure I have ever seen a baseball card featuring a female baseball player. Very cool. But I gotta admit... the mascot card is the coolest in the lot.

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    1. There are female baseball players in the Real Venus sets. And Ted Williams Card Company put some in their sets. But as for a whole set, there have been a few out here, and information is very sparse so I'm still not sure exactly what was released.

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  2. Niihara's uniform number is 50 so I'd bet that the set is skip numbered by uniform number.

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    Replies
    1. It does seem the card numbers relate to the team, year, and jersey number so skip numbering is probably definite on the all star cards. I didn't notice that the first time around.

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