Card Store Pickups: Mint Akihabara

Akihabara is a fascinating place, and I enjoy visiting occasionally. Every time I go I try to make time to pick through the offerings at the Mint/Yellow Submarine card store near the station. In fact, I went twice in a month. How do they keep sneaking new oddball cards into the mix from years ago? Where do these random cards come from? How did I miss them before? The store is quite unorganized and has more Idol card singles than baseball card singles, but a bit of hunting always turns up something good.

 I had seen these metal cards in the store a few times, but never bothered to buy one until now. It's a premium card from BBM's Legend of Hideki Matsui set issued in 2002. Each box contained a silver (shown), gold, relic, or autograph card. They're blank-backed but there are several different types.

 BBM has issued super-limited "Photo" cards for several years. This is serial-numbered and I got it at a great price.

 I've been really focusing on Calbee cards, so finding this Top Player insert was great.

 A BBM Team Set single.

 Takara! After going months with very little luck locating Takara game cards, October and November were pretty good to me.

 The 1995 issue looks a little sleeker, but there's no escaping the Takara layout.

 This is a 2002 Calbee Checklist card!

 Compare this 2012 Owner's League game card's layout to the Takara card above. (Some of the border was cut off due to the use of black.)

This is the white border version. I'm not sure what the difference between white and black is, though they aren't part of the same checklist. They might be parallels or an entirely different set.

 1990 Calbee. The hunt continues for Calbee singles!

 This card is a serial-numbered insert from BBM's 2009 Historic Collection.

 Here's a team set serial-numbered parallel. This card is found in the 2009 BBM Fighters team set and is serial-numbered to 100. The front has a sort of holofoil design.

 Yu Darvish got his own insert set in the 2009 Fighters team set. This is Prince of Power Pitch.

 Another insert set, this time from BBM's flagship set.

 Konami's 2012 Baseball Allstar's is one of the better-looking game card designs. CardGen is better, though.

Take a close look at this card and the card just above it. Can you tell any difference? Neither can I. This is the second series of 2012 Baseball Allstar's, though it has the same design. Why don't they just continue the checklist since it's from the same year? I'm not sure.

 There is a Masters set that goes along with the Owners League game card, featuring retired players.

These days, it's the inexpensive random numbered cards that keep me coming back.