Nagoya Shops and Show (Part 2)

 Continuing on with cards from my trip to Nagoya a couple weeks ago...

My new scanner isn't a big fan of glossy cards, nor does it like black borders. So the bottom got chopped more than the rest of the card. But Brian Bannister has only one card from his time in the NPB. He signed with the Yomiuri Giants for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, but after the 3/11 earthquake, he left the country without permission from the team. Long story short, he was placed on the NPB's version of the ineligible list, announced his retirement, and eventually started working as a scout and coach. (If you're interested in the remaining drama behind this story, just Google his name and "Yomiuri".)

Again, the scanner wasn't too happy with one of these cards. I found a couple of the 2009 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Griffey cards for 50 yen each, and figured they were worth picking up. I'm not collecting the set anymore, but I'm sure I'll find something to do with these.

These two sluggers' parallel cards were too appealing to pass up as well. Pujols is on a /99 parallel, while Frank Thomas is found on a Gold Reserve card.

A couple minor league cards. On the left, we have an awesome mascot with a horrible card design. "Hey! Let's put a giant opaque rectangle right over the photo!" And on the right, a certified autograph card of superstar Rick Elder. By superstar, I mean that he never made it higher than A ball before playing for some independent teams. Oddly enough, Elder went to high school near my high school. Sprayberry High School is also where Marlon Byrd attended before becoming an MLB star.

Once again, I must point out that the above cards came from the Mint branch in Gamagori. Every time I've visited, I've found a few little gems.

I should probably mention card show pick ups, huh? Well, these two cards and the one below represent several singles I picked up for various collections. I'm sure most of the singles wouldn't be too interesting out of context, but I'm sure you'll enjoy seeing MLBers still being put on cards from their days here in Japan. Yes, I realize Tanaka is now back in Japan, but these cards came out last summer. The set was released for BBM's 30th Anniversary.

This card, included in BBM's 2020 Fusion set, commemorates Hayato Sakamoto reaching 2000 hits, which is equivalent to the 3000 hit mark in the MLB.

And again, I'm going to call it a night. Until next time...