Some time forever ago (August), Captain Canuck, writer of Waxaholic and other blogs, sent a PWE my way via San Francisco. The envelope finally made it here last month, and I think I'm just about caught up with my trade posts from last year. He sent me six stickers from the 2012 Topps Stickers set toward my set!
With these six stickers, I only need two more, numbers 87 (Francisco Liriano) and 182 (Johan Santana). If you have them, I'd be extremely grateful if you would send them my way.
I really like the 2012 set design. It's simple and clean. And it looks like a road driving off into the distance!
The BayStars issue their own annual set that's available only through the fan club. Titled B-Spirit, the designs are fun and if it was easier and less expensive to get the cards I'd probably want a full set. I don't think this set has been cataloged yet, but the complete checklist is available via the download link on the back.
Speaking of the back, they have the same galaxy/star background as the front, with a head shot and some biographical information. There's also information on the fan club. The QR code will lead you to the download page for the cards. You have to be a member to download the cards (and thus see the large versions) but thumbnails for the entire checklist can be viewed by category (pitchers, catchers, infielders, outfielders, and other). Cards are numbered by the player's jersey number.
Japanese people love sports. From middle school, all students enroll in a club and generally devote a lot of time to it - it's a really serious thing. Many kids choose sports clubs, and a few sports are very popular here. Of course baseball and soccer are the top two, but gymnastics, badminton, volleyball, and swimming are all sports that my students participate in.
BBM released a 27-card box set featuring nine different swimmers late last year. Each swimmer has three cards in the set.
The first nine cards are action shots:
I've included the back of Satomi Suzuki's card so you can get an idea. I'm not sure which card isn't in the scans above!
The second set consists of at-the-pool-but-not-swimming photos:
Again you can see the design for the backs of this part of the set.
Finally, the last nine cards are casual shots. I guess Haruka Ueda never leaves the pool, because she just has another poolside photo.
And, of course, here is the sample back for the street clothes cards.
The set was packaged with one special card per box. This could have been a special insert or an autographed card. The set heads to my Women In Sports collection.
I recently posted about my trip to the Tokyo area card show "Festa" - a bit of a disappointment for what I know of as Tokyo's only baseball card show - and mentioned that I had a couple other things to show. One of those was my first box purchase in Japan. Normally, I don't bust boxes (it's too expensive) and I wouldn't go with stickers either, but this box was only 500 yen (about $5) for a 50-count box of 2012 Topps Stickers. Okay, so they're a year old, but they're still fun. I still need stickers for my 2011 set (NOTE: I do not have any for trade!) and I need a few from this year (list at the bottom).
I get the feeling Topps intended to put a full set in each box, or pretty close. I ended up with almost the full set. I am missing 8 (one full pack). Let's look at some of the cards.
The Orioles are the first team in the set, and Nick Markakis is from my "hometown" (at least, as far as my high school/college years are concerned). It's highly possible I've met him in person, since it's not exactly a big town and he could have stopped in one of the places I worked at during that time. But that was before he became a star.
When I started this blog in 2011, I started paying more attention to baseball, and quickly got an appreciation for Verlander. I like the Tigers - they are one of my teams - so it's not just a "superstar pitcher bandwagon" thing. Or is it?
Every time:
Heh. I still love that.
Chipper!
Do you get the reference? (I'm never going to Hooters for my birthday. That's just too embarassing.)
He's still playing? The design is simple but nice. However, I think Topps should go with a full-bleed or designed border that blends in with the page somehow. For example, the swooping road continues on the page in the sticker book, etc...
My man! He's a pretty solid second baseman if you ask me. I first saw him play last April on one of the Astros' farm teams, and he shot up to the majors pretty quickly.
I bet he's thinking right now "Hah, I got away with it!" And then, one year later...
In addition to player stickers, there are team logo stickers, two per card. Some of the pairings seem to be rivals, but not always.
Each team has either a mascot or legend. The mascot cards are quite strange. Why? Well, look at the name. The Orioles mascot is titled "MASCOT"...
The Red Sox mascot is titled "WALLY THE GREEN MONSTER™"...
The Blue Jays mascot is titled "BLUE JAYS® MASCOT" (with the superscript ®)
The Royals mascot is titled "KANSAS CITY ROYALS®" (with an inline ®). The variety is mindboggling. Don't all the mascots have names? Why weren't they used? And why wasn't a consistent format used if the mascot names couldn't be used? Argh! So that's why I like...
The legends. And I'm glad Clemente doesn't have an ® or ™ after his name.
The last few cards in the set are some of the gimmick SP ideas used in prior years' Topps flagship products. Here, a pie in the face.
And the Gatorade dump.
And another Gatorade dump.
Perhaps the bunny ears is my favorite. Actually, a few fun casual shots around the field are great. Remember the Christie Brinkley insert set from Pinnacle back in the 1990s? Or the Iooss Collection from Upper Deck? These artsy or casual shots generally from on the field were great additions as inserts then, and I'd certainly go after them today.
Don't confuse that with a whole set of studio shots with nothing to set a tone or tell a story (or even remind of a story or nickname). Ah, Panini or Topps, you should hire me on as a photographer for some variety in your sets.
Anyway, as I mentioned above, I need 8 cards/stickers. They are:
37, 40, 52, 58, 87, 136/159 (dual-sticker card), 182, 194.
Remember, these are 2012 stickers. Give me some help! I'll trade multiple stickers for just one or two off my list. And remember that I live in Japan - you can ship to my US address but with my current schedule and international costs I'll be using PWEs and it might take me a week or two to get to the post office here (I found one that's a lot closer so it's not as tough to get there). If you're interested in some Japanese cards I can send some those your way too!
