JBCG: 2015 Frontier Yokohama DeNA BayStars Heroes and Rookies

Frontier has seriously cut back its releases this year, though they did issue a Heroes and Rookies set for the always-collectible BayStars. (Seriously, why are they so popular with collectors?) The base cards are pretty simple, but I do like the design. The backs use a black and white verion of the front photo and include some basic statistics. This set isn't about the base cards, though.

In addition to the full 15-card base set, each box contained one or two autographs.

There are two Rookie signature cards (the gold image seen above) and three Dual Rookie signature cards, which use a horizontal format similar to the Teammates Signatures card. These are considered part of the base set but are, of course, short printed. There are 106 regular cards and 30 red ink parallels.

Additionally, special autograph cards are all serial numbered and have red ink parallels; some cards also have inscription parallels.

• Authentic Signatures (14 cards) 182 regular, 68 red, 53 inscriptions on 6 cards
• Teammates Signatures (2 cards) 11 regular, 4 red
• 2014 League Leaders (1 card) 13 cards, 2 red
• Triple Exposure Signatures (1 card) 6 cards, 2 red
• Quad Signatures (1 card) only 1 red version despite the preview image

Original information stated there would be 15 Authentic Signatures cards and two Triple Exposure Signatures cards, but perhaps one of the signers didn't return their stickers or they were unusable. In all, I count 874 signatures, which puts the total set print run less than that, but at least 437.

New Release: 2015 Frontier Orix Buffaloes Heroes & Rookies

The 2015 Buffaloes team set from Frontier uses the same design as the Lions set I posted about yesterday, with only a color change to distinguish it. The regular set comes one per box, with 18 cards in the checklist.

Like yesterday's Lions set, the Buffaloes set includes various autograph sets with one card included per box. The sets are similar to the Lions sets as well:

• Rookies: 6 cards, most print runs of 32 (one card with 20 copies)
• Authentic Signature: 17 cards, print runs of 5-30 copies each
• Authentic Signature (red ink): 2 card partial parallel, 5 copies each
• Teammates Combos: 2 cards. The card shown above is 5 copies, the other is numbered to 3.
• League Leader Signatures (Title Holders): 2 cards, 3 copies each
• Triple Exposure Signatures: 2 cards, 3 copies each

With the exception of two players in the Authentic Signature set, there are no red parallels in the Buffaloes set. By my count, less than 500 total sets were released.

New Release: 2015 Frontier Seibu Lions Heroes & Rookies

 Frontier has issued only a couple sets so far this year, with the Lions being the first to hit shelves. This year's design is very simple, and as you can see the photo usage is pretty uninspired as well. The name of the team sets has changed to Heroes and Rookies, which to me says that this year's rookie crop must be uninspiring. Of course, most people who buy sealed boxes of this product are chasing after the big hits.

Each box includes the full 18-card regular base card set and one autographed card. The image below outlines all of the hits that can be found in the product (image is enlargeable):

Autographs break down as follows:

• Rookies: 6 cards in the design of the base set. This is not a parallel.
• Authentic Signatures: 20 cards
• Teammates Signatures: three cards
• 2014 Home Run Champions: one card
• Triple Exposure Signatures: two cards

Almost all cards come in standard black (print runs of 23 or less) and parallel red (print runs of 8 or less) versions. Adding up all the cards gives a total set print run of less than 700.

Review: 2015 Yomiuri Giants Game Used Bat Edition

Frontier's first offering of 2015 is another super-limited box set that focuses on the hits. This time, it's bats.

 The base set has only 14 cards, with two different designs. The first half of the set uses an orange running track-shaped border around the photo with all the text at the bottom. The shape is carried over to the back; note that all 14 cards have the same back design.

The second half of the set uses a white, black and orange abstract background, and Frontier calls this a subset. Also of note on the card backs is a picture of the player's bat that was used for the relic cards.

You should not be surprised that bat relics are the big draw here, and there are several. Here is a promotional image showing premium cards in the set:

Two special cards come in addition to the 14 regular cards in the set. Each premium set has a seven-card checklist. They break down as follows:

• foil signature card (parallel of "subset" from base set)
• silver: 4-48 copies per
• gold: 2-24 copies per
• red: 40-50 copies per
• bat relic cards
• Level 1 (horizontal, fire cloud design): regular bat relics
• G: 60 or 120 copies per
• GIANTS: 3 or 5 copies per
• square window: 3-10 copies per
• Level 2 (vertical, base subset card design)
• circle: 24 or 28 copies per
• bat knob: 1 copy per
• Level 3 (horizontal, fire volcano design): bat barrel version
• most players have two cards, while one has three

Based on the print runs, I come up with a total of 1339 sets, which is pretty low. Full sets with two "hits" had an original retail price of 10,800 yen.

Review: 2014 Frontier Chiba Lotte Marines Mizuno

Spend enough time in Japan (a day, if you're observant enough) and you'll random Xs. What does that mean? It's a cross-promotion. So at the gift shop, you might find Hello Kitty dressed up as One Piece characters. Check the package, and you should see "Hello Kitty x One Piece" somewhere.

Frontier issued two team box sets late last year showing collaborations between Mizuno and the Hiroshima Carp and the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Like the Carp set, a fancy black crown design at the bottom of the front has the player's jersey number, position, and name. The team and Mizuno logos appear on the photo on both the front and back. The back photo has a small box around a particular piece of Mizuno sporting goods the player is wearing or using.

There are 15 cards in the base set, and some players can have multiple cards if they provided multiple pieces of equipment. Each box came with two special cards, which could be from any of the options below. Boxes included either one relic and one autograph, or two relics.

• Rookie autograph (one card with base design, #16): black ink 29 copies, red ink 10 copies
• Authentic Signatures
• two types; yellow background (6 players) and grey background (7 players)
• each type has black ink signatures (30-35 copies) and red ink signatures (10-15 copies)
• Game Used Equipment
• Level 1 (undershirt): 4 players, 125 copies each
• Level 2 (signed undershirt): 4 players, 3-5 copies each
• Level 2 (signed spikes): 3 players, 2 copies each
• Bats: 2 players, 35 copies each
• Signed Bats: 2 players, 5 copies each

I bought a full Carp base set because I like the concept of highlighting something different (the equipment in this case). Also, the design of the regular cards isn't ugly. I have not yet picked up a Marines set, though I might eventually. Unfortunately, this is one in a long line of "high end" products which is flooding the market with hits. Hopefully things don't get too out of hand like has happened in the US.

(Not Exactly) New Release: 2014 Frontier Hiroshima Carp Season Summary

For the second year in the row, Frontier issued a Season Summary set. Last year, there were multiple teams with box sets, but this year it seems that only the Carp wanted one.

The base card fronts have large white borders at the top and bottom with large black text. Additional small circles along one edge has the Carp team logo, player's jersey number, and position. The backs use use the same photo, though it looks like the background has been blurred (at least where another player - or umpire - is in the shot). Additionally, the photo has been cropped slightly differently to give more of the background. Basic biographical details and a season line of statistics are found at the bottom; cards are numbered in an upper corner.

The design isn't bad, though a large portion of the front has text. If these cards were large-sized (A4 or 8x10, or poster size) the design would work that much better. It does feel like a form of an advertisement, almost.

There are 24 cards in the base set, and each box comes with one full set plus one autographed card. The breakdown of the autograph sets is as follows:

• Rookie Parallel Signatures: 5 cards
• Red All The Way Signatures: 18 cards
• Home Uniform Signatures: 10 cards
• 2014 All Star Player Signatures: 6 cards
• Carp Legendary Signatures: 4 cards
• Ace of Carp Signatures: 2 cards (not shown above)

Boxes retailed for around $80 each.

New Release: 2014 Frontier Hiroshima Toyo Carp Mizuno

The name Mizuno is familiar to anyone remotely into sports. The Japanese company surely has a strong presence in its home country's sporting goods market, and can be found on many baseball players.

I'm not sure how the arrangement was made, but Mizuno's name has appeared on a team-based trading card set issued recently.

The small base set of 15 cards features a single player on each, in an action photo of some sort. There's a fancy black crown design at the bottom with the player's name, jersey number, and position, along with the set name along the bottom. One of the top corners has both the Carp and Mizuno logos.

The backs have the player's name in Japanese characters; the card number is in the top-right corner. Beneath that is basic stats. The photo from the front is cropped and has a red box highlighting a piece of Mizuno equipment. In the case of Takahashi's card above, the bat is noted. Statistics about the equipment is actually found at the bottom of the photo, above the copyright details.

One thousand total sets were produced; each box contains 17 cards. Only seven players appear on the 15 base cards; each player has two cards (Maeda gets three). One full set is in each box, along with either two jersey cards, or one jersey card and an autograph.

 There are three "levels" of jersey cards that can be found in the boxes. "Level 1" is just a basic jersey swatch, though the piece itself is quite large. These seem to have a print run around 255-265 copies each. I understand that only four players have jersey cards: Dohbayashi, Kuri, Maeda, and Soyogi.

 Level 1 has a patch version, numbered to around 48 copies each. These are generally pieces of very large patches, similar to the patch you see in the Level 3 card below. I'm not sure where this NPB patch came from, as it looks like it might be better as Level 2. But it seems that many Level 1 patches use smaller logos.

Level 2 patches all appear to be vertically aligned. These are pretty low-numbered, and use name letter patches or the script word "Hiroshima" from the jersey sleeve.

Level 3 jersey cards have autographs as well, and I think are numbered to around 6 copies each. These are all patch cards, again using the large team logo patches, though I saw at least one example where the "Hiroshima" sleeve patch was used here.

 As for autographs, there are eight players who signed for the set; rookie Aren Kuri has only autographs in the product. The autograph series is actually quite complicated, and appears to have two variations with three colors of signatures. The black autograph above is Authentic Signatures, while the blue version is Authentic Signatures Red, named by the background. It seems that both versions come with blue and black signatures. I can't find a full list, but it appears that quantities range from 20-45 copies each.

 Red versions are parallels, found for both Authentic Signatures and Authentic Signatures Red. I found an image of the back of the Maeda signature, to show the serial numbering.

At first this set didn't really interest me. There are just so many team sets this year. I don't generally care much for team sets, but the focus on equipment is giving me more interest. I might end up with a set in the next couple of weeks.

New Release: 2014 Yokohama DeNA BayStars Signature Edition

Frontier has issued a few Signature Edition sets in the past couple of months, using the same basic design from one set to the other, much like they did with the Rookies and Young Stars/Stars and Legends series. The BayStars version brings a welcome change to that trend.

The design is much brighter with a touch of traditional/retro design, though the coloring and shadows show that these were designed on a computer. The multi-colored borders may be a bit larger than some would prefer, but given the black and grays of the prior issues, this set feels much sharper. It actually feels like a real design that could be used for a flagship set. The fronts are all English, with the set name at the top, which includes the year and team name. Two flags near the bottom have the player's jersey number and position, with the team logo in the center; the player's name is in the bottom border.

Backs have a yellow border that isn't overwhelming (this isn't 1991 Fleer, after all), and a repeat of the photo from the front. I'd prefer a second image here, or some other design usage. The jersey number and player's name in Japanese characters begins the text box, followed by some biographical information and a short career summary. The card number is in the lower-left on the copyright line.

There are 20 base cards in a complete set, and each box contains all 20 base cards. The issue, of course, is about the autographs. One box also contains two autographs; there are 29 different cards in the release, which come from one of three sets.

Print runs from the sets varies wildly by player. And while all the sets appear to have parallel versions with red and blue ink signatures, not all players have both parallels in any set. It's very difficult to read the autograph checklist due to its size, but it appears that there are around 626 base sets in all - a very limited release.

 All 20 subjects appear in the Authentic Signatures set.

Heart of the BayStars has five different cards.

Finally, the dual autographed Rookie Combo Sigs make up the final four-card autograph set.

New Release: 2014 Orix Buffaloes Signature Edition

A second Signature Edition series was released by Frontier this year; the Lions set came first, and now the Buffaloes have their own set. It was announced recently that the BayStars will get a set next month too.

There are 20 cards in the Buffaloes base set; all are pictured below.

The same photo is used twice on the front (once is monotone in the background) and once on the back. The background is actually very distracting. The cards all have facsimile autographs. The base set is not the draw in this release, of course - these cards are just filler to be packaged with the two random autographs included.

 All 20 cards have authentic signature parallels.

Authentic Signatures is a second autograph set with 16 subjects.

 There are seven players in the Sign of the Winner autograph set. There's also a single Historic Moment Signature card for Kaneko's 1000th career strikeout.

 Additionally, five prospects have cards in the Top Prospect Signatures set.

I am unaware of any parallel versions, though all autographed cards are serial numbered. The checklist is above, in Japanese, including print runs (enlargeable). Each box includes one complete base set plus two autographs for about $120-130.