One Card: Epoch One

Hey, US card collectors. Do you remember when cards were just cards? Through the 1980s? Japanese cards were just cards, too - just have a look at Calbee's offerings through 1990 and beyond.

Do you remember in 1989 when holograms started being put in packs? Japan started including holograms too (1989 Calbee, 1991 BBM).

Do you remember in 1992 when parallels first seriously hit MLB packs? Japan started including parallels too (1995 BBM).

Do you remember in 1993 when the first super-premium sets (Fleer Flair, Topps Finest) were issued in the States? Japan's first mainstream premium set hit shelves in 1995 (1995 BBM Diamond Heroes).

Do you remember in the mid-1990s when Upper Deck put the first jersey cards in baseball packs? Japan started issuing relic cards too (1997 BBM Diamond Heroes).

Do you remember around 2001 when relic sets (Absolute Memorabilia) changed the focus toward hits? In 2002, BBM dropped Diamond Heroes to introduce Touch the Game, a relic-based super-premium issue.

Do you see that many releases in the past few years have been high-cost ultra-premium boxes with few cards (Topps Tribute, Museum Collection)? Japan has that too: Epoch now, and Frontier in the past, and BBM has issued a few high-priced sets as well (2018 BBM Glory, for example).

On Demand cards have become relatively common in the US, with Topps' online offerings, especially Topps Now. Well, Epoch has Epoch One.

I've ordered a few cards from Epoch One just to forward on to NPB Card Guy, but I do have a card for my collection. And while I believe this card was distributed in a manner different from the usual online ordering system, it does tie in to that set.

Ami Inamura is perhaps the baseball poster child... or baseball model... or something like that... of the past several years, appearing in JWBL (women's baseball) and NPB (men's baseball) sets several times as she makes appearances at events and throwing out first pitches. Of course, I had to have this card for my collection as well.

What's next for MLB? And how long will it take for NPB card manufacturers to copy it?

2018 BBM Nippon Ham Homerun Series

In 2018, Nippon Ham brought back their card-plus-meat combination with three products. In addition to Homerun Sausage, they included rare cheesecake flavored cheese pieces, and mini salami pieces.

I never found 2017 Homerun Sausage products in stores, though I did get one at the stadium when I got to a game in Sapporo that year. However, I spent my summer in Sapporo last year, and my local supermarket had the sausage and salami products. I didn't see the cheesecake, but I didn't really know to look for it at the time.

Each expensive pack comes with a mediocre-at-best piece of meat (or cheese) and one card. If you saw the 2017 cards, 2018 is very similar:

 The card designs are okay on the front, but not enough to get me to chase a set. I like the random product advertisement on the back, though! And as you can see, Nippon Ham actually goes by "Nipponham" when referencing the company.

A full set is numbered 1-147, though two cards (#39 and #63) weren't included due to players being traded. It appears that most players have multiple cards.

Rare cards titled "We Love Hokkaido" are numbered R01 to R26. Again, card R23 was not issued due to a player being traded. Another rare set, #R27-R44, is called Hokkaido Be Ambitious. I don't know how rare either set is.

As a comparison, the 2017 set was #1-146 (two card numbers not issued), We Love Hokkaido #R01-R28, Hokkaido Be Ambitious #R41-R60, with a Legend Series #R29-R40.

The 2016 set was also #1-146, with two missing cards, and We Love Hokkaido #R01-R25. Legend Series #R-26 to R-45.

Nippon Ham's website states that Home Run Series products were sold in Hokkaido in 2018. So it appears that they are purely a regional issue. Given that the cards only include Fighters players, it makes sense. They also announced 2018 cards were sold starting on March 20th. So any 2019 set will probably be released around Opening Day. Furthermore, the FAQ page states that Homerun Series products could be found at the Kamagaya Stadium shop near Tokyo.

Randomly inserted along with cards were points or prize cards. Above is a point card.

With a "Hit" prize card, the winner received large-size "bromide" cards. With a "Home Run" prize card, the winner received a framed collection of seven cards.

Differing amounts of points gave different prizes:

• 50 points gave a charm in the shape of a uniform
• 100 points would give you an official collector's binder

For those who couldn't collect 50 points, there was a lottery drawing:

• 10 points: 5 people won a group of Nippon Ham food products
• 30 points: 1 person won an autographed collector's binder
• 30 points: 2 people won an autographed photo frame
• 40 points: 10 people won an original alarm clock

I'm always happy to come across oddball issues!

New Release: 2018 Epoch Dragons Rookies & Stars

The Dragons Rookies & Stars set was released on May 19th, with five cards per 400 yen pack, and the usual 20 packs per box and 12 boxes per case.

The base set clocks in at 90 cards, but they're numbered 1-70. Twenty players have photo variations, though they aren't short-printed and are being considered part of a full set.

 I think Epoch was going with a sort of art theme - maybe a framed painting with bronze plaques above and below the image? Anyway, regular cards use white card numbers on the back.

This is an image variation, and you can see the light blue card number on the back. And for you bat flip fans, Merry Christmas.

There are two limited insert sets to be found in packs if you're lucky. Lightning Flash comes in Silver #/75, and Gold #/50. Super-rare Force of the Dragon is found in base #/10 and parallel #/5 versions.

A total of 32 players have autographs in the set. Twenty-seven of those have regular horizontal autographed cards with silver backgrounds. Eight players have gold vertical parallel versions. Rookie Signature horizontal cards can be found for six players, with three players having vertical parallels. Print runs vary wildly - one player has only three regular autographs, while others have up to 74.

New Release: 2018 BBM Lions

Another day, another team set. The Lions version came out at the end of May, with the usual 81-card base set, inserts, and hits.

The regular base cards use a hand-written font, a trend for BBM for the year. Cards L01-L68 feature regular players plus a dual-mascot card at the end. There is no checklist card.

The subset cards have no obvious meaning. Catch The Moment is six cards, possibly for clutch hitters. Kazuo Matsui's statistics from his days with the Lions are on the back - the 2004-2017 seasons were spent in the US and then with the Golden Eagles. He's had a pretty solid NPB career, actually, with a career average of .344. The last line of his statistics is his 2018 line, with only 9 appearances and 15 at-bats boasting a .333 average. However, since this card was printed, he's appeared in 2 more games, gained four more at bats, and lost a hit. His NPB page says he has only four hits this season. Poor guy.

The fastest players must be in the three-card Accelerator subset.

The final four cards are in the Reign Men subset, featuring award winners.

The regular inserts come in the usual three tiers of parallels: Gold #/90, Holofoil #/75, and Gold Holofoil #/50. There are 18 inserts total, split among four sets.

Rocket Arms: 3 cards, pitchers.

Sparkling: 3 cards, no idea (defensive stars?)

Big Bang: 3 cards, power hitters

Pride of Lions: 9 cards, starters

Moving on to the premium inserts and hits...

 Phantom is #/25, and features 12 cards for the Lions.

 Every player has a regular autograph card, #/60 or less.

 There are two Combo Authentic Autographed Cards, #/5 each.

 Silver Autographs are #/9, and Gold Autograph parallels are 1/1s. There are nine cards in each set.

 Six players have Rookie Autographs, #/10 each.

And three Lions appear in the cross-brand Picturesque autograph set.

I'm not aware of any promo cards for the Lions set.

Premium insert and autograph images are promotional images from BBM.

New Release: 2018 BBM Carp

Released in mid-May, at the same time as the Giants set, actually, the Carp team set is very similar. Like the Giants set, there are 81 base cards and a bunch of insert cards. And like the Giants set, there are several memorabilia cards. Unlike the Giants, however, the Carp set comes with autographs.

The first 69 cards in the 81-card base set are regular player cards. Actually, the last card features the team's mascot, Slyly. Several cards come in two parallels: Silver Signature #/100, and Gold Signature #/50.

Top Prospects is pretty self-explanatory. Three young promising players appear in this subset.

Another unambiguous subset is Pitching Staff. The team's top four starters have their prior-year's appearances itemized on the back.

Franchise Players are the five best hitters on the team. Interesting statistics can be found on the back - this is a list of the players who have worn jersey number 6. I'm not sure how complete the list is, but it does feature at least the major players. (There are no records for 1951, 1952 and 1974, and it's at least somewhat possible though unlikely that a player wore a jersey number for at least one or two games somewhere between listed players.)

The Carp set doesn't have a checklist card. Moving on to inserts, there are several small sets totaling the standard 18 cards. Three tiers of parallels can be found for each insert set: gold #/100, silver hologram foil #/75, gold hologram foil #/50.

Clear the Bases: four cards, featuring the team's best sluggers.

Confidential: three cards, no reason why the players were chosen on the card, but these are all relief pitchers.

Defence Master: two cards of the team's best fielders. British spelling!

Hard Hitters: three cards, the team's best hitters... again? These players are different from the Clear the Bases set, with players who get hits, instead of home runs.

High Energy: six cards of the team's starting pitchers.

 Royal Purple is one of the super-limited inserts, with all cards serial-numbered to 50 copies. There are 12 cards in the Carp set.

 Phantom is the other limited set, with 18 cards, #/25 each.

 As I mentioned, there are memorabilia cards. Five different jersey cards are available, each featuring just one player. Regular swatches are #/250, foil signature #/100, patch #/20, and foil signature patch #/10.

 The single player autographs are #/70 or less. Most players have on-card signatures, but seven have sticker autographs.

 Two combo autograph cards are #/3 each.

 Rookie Autographs can be found for six players, #/10 each.

 Silver Signature cards were made for 18 players, #/10 or less. Nine of those players have 1/1 Gold Signature versions. These are actual autographs (not foil or printed), though they are sticker autographs.

Picturesque is the cross-brand autograph series, and three Carp players have cards #/10 each.

Finally, BBM released a nine-card promo set to shops and for stadium events. Two different insert promos were included, one for stores and one for stadiums.

Limited inserts, memorabilia, and autographed cards in this post are promotional images from BBM.