The race is on. 2000, 2004, 2005, and 2016 Calbee are all nearing completion. I hope to finish all four sets by the end of the year, and here are my pickups from late May explorations (I'm a bit behind on posting).
2004. I've noticed that (except for Ichiro) players who go by just one name really aren't that good - at least, anymore. They're beloved local stars but they haven't been productive in years. Ah, the joy of playing baseball in Japan. Shinjo actually played in the MLB for three seasons, posting a .245 batting average. His NPB career average is .254. But he's known for his attitude, not his performance. As most of these guys are.
The card on the right is a checklist from 2004.
Only one card from 2005, and one from 2000. Those sets are very close to being in the books! Or, more accurately, in the box. There's no space for binders in my tiny Japanese apartment.
Card #52 was the last basic common from the 1973 Calbee "Crossed Bats" set. I need several high numbers and the two iconic key cards in the set.
Here's one of those high numbers. For the longest time, I wasn't even sure they existed! This is my first, actually.
Which set do you think I'll finish first?
I’m going to say 2000. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI would say 2000 as well, that (along with 1999) seems to be the easiest Calbee set to complete (I think Ichiro's popularity at the time made them good sellers so there seem to be a lot of them out there). It was the first one I completed (got almost the entire set in one go, then filled in a short want list), though that was just the base set.
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