Dan's The Man: KBO Trading Cards Part 1

My KBO type collection just about doubled in size recently thanks to a trade package from Dan. But it's also a good indication of how few cards there are actually out there, or at least available.

My earliest KBO cards come from circa 1983, but they're all takji - similar to milk caps (remember POGs?). But the first card below might be just as old.

 This "card" is paper-thin, and seems to be a sticker that would be pasted in an album. It's very reminiscent of the NST stickers released in Japan. The player is Han Dae-hwa. While he played for 15 seasons, only three of those were with the OB Bears: 1983-1985.

The blue-ink back has the player position, name, and then team name in parenthesis. Below that is his date of birth, birthplace, current address (yes, really), height and weight, something I don't understand, and finally where he went to school. Actually, I'm not exactly sure what that last bullet point really is. The starred question translates as "lucky hits?" so maybe the five baseballs can be used in a game.

 This next card is also a paper-thin ... piece of paper. It's blank-backed, and may also have been a stamp or sticker to be placed in an album. This player is Lee Jong-do, who has the distinction of hitting the first home run in the history of KBO. Lee played with MBC Blue Dragon from 1982-1984, so this "card" dates from that era, also making it a contender for my oldest card. I believe the text at the bottom translates as The First Korean Series.

 The next two cards are definitely stickers, more like Panini's stickers from the 1980s. However, these come from 1998. Kim Ki-sung was drafted in 1998 but that's all I can find about him. The back of his sticker has a bit of baseball lingo.

 This is Ju Hyeong-Kwang. He spent his entire 14-season career with the Lotte Giants, leading the league in wins and strikeouts in 1996. But the remainder of his playing time was average at best. This is a foil card; looking at the checklist, the set is sorted by team, so each team must have one foil.

 The oldest true card set I have represented is this 1999 Teleca Premium (actually, I have a card from the regular Teleca set - this is my first card from the Premium set). However, KBO's first documented baseball card is from 1991, a 50-card set issued by Lotte Gum.

 Dan also included a checklist. There are a few insert sets, but I don't have those yet.

 This is the 2000 Teleca set - there was no premium set this year. The Teleca 2000 set had four inserts including a jersey card.

 This card is from one of those insert sets, the '99 Korea Japan Super Games set. While every card has Korean players, several of the cards feature multiple players and some of those include Japanese players. The remaining two insert sets are Golden Glove and Star Rookie.

The final card for today's post is from the 2005 Hanwha Eagles Baseball Sports Cards set. The backs remind me a lot of mid-1990s Fleer.

In my next post, we'll jump ahead a decade and look at the most-recent line of sets!

Until then... Thanks Dan!