On the inside cover (these magazine pages turn right to left like the American style) is a nice ad for Mint Mall. I haven't bought anything through them as my collection focus has been mainly on the vintage stuff. Mint Mall has made a big push to advertising to the American market and they have an add in the latest Beckett Baseball. When I have time I plan on spending a little more time browsing their selection. It does look like their website is connected to the 12 or so brick-and-mortar stores they have around Japan. It didn't look like there was an English-language tab on the website so some amount of knowledge of the Japanese language might be necessary to navigate your way around.
Try as I have, there is no presence of the Japan Sports Card Association on the web even though the price guide in the back of each issues is a touted as the "Official Price Guide". There is a small snippet in the back of the magazine with more information about their mission statement of promoting interest in the hobby and establishing of prices.....they even have an physical address in Tokyo, but no online information. I do see they are also listed as "Advisors" to the editorial staff....so they are a big deal it seems. Anyone been to their office or have any further info?
One thing I love about Japanese card manufacturers these days is the variety of sports cards they are producing. When is the last time a recent set of bowling cards has come out in the United States? I have a feeling if Panini or Topps released a set of these there might be a renewed interest in bowling in the U.S....especially with high school boys. Check out some of the YouTube videos on P League bowling. It seems to somewhat follow UFC fights in the fact that they have these occasional big events under the P League moniker.
How the price guide works is once a year (each magazine is released every other month for a total of 6 a year) the entire checklist of cards for a certain sport will appear while the other sports will only get a checklist of the current year's release (2016 in this case) as well as any new sets from all sports that appeared since the last issue. A lot of times the sets highlighted throughout the magazine are then checklisted in the New Card List. This January 2017 issue has the entire Pro Wrestling checklist and price guide as well as 2016 sets from sumo, baseball, curling, soccer, etc... I believe they usually repeat year after year, but I am not sure about that. Here is what the guide has for complete checklists for the previous 4 issues, this issue and March 2017's issue.
May 2016 - BBM Baseball Cards
July 2016 - Soccer and J-Cards (not sure what this one is)
Sept 2016 - Calbee Baseball Cards
Nov 2016 - Calbee Soccer Cards
Jan 2017 - Pro Wrestling (this issue)
March 2017 -Sumo and Other Cards
Every issue comes with 6 cards sealed in a paper enveloped within the magazine. To maybe some people's dismay, I don't open the envelopes. I know, I know, but I love unopened material and I love keeping these in their original state. Randomly inserted in these packets is a facimile purple autograph card Ami Inamura's #390 card. Dave has a pictures of a few of the cards plus the facimile autograph card here on his review. Each SCM issue has 6 cards with one of the cards being randomly "autographed".
To wrap it up, each issue lists the shops across Japan, broken down by region. I would love to be able to translate them into English sometime, but not sure I'll be able to find the time in the immediate future. Several of the other Japanese baseball bloggers have been to several of them and it always looks like sure a fun time. Hopefully I can visit a few during my trip in March.
I actually have a box of the P League cards on the way. I saw it on the BBM Facebook page, and the source where I get most of my Joshi cards had them available.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Good luck with the box break. This is the All Star set and they've been doing regular sets for 5-6 years at least. I think they call it Fairies on the Lane....its interesting, anime and idols meet bowling. Post your results when you open your box!
ReplyDeleteI did a breakdown of the "vintage" card checklists in SCM a while back. The rotation you've listed has been in effect for a number of years. The September issue that lists Calbee baseball cards also lists most of the other non-BBM baseball issues as well.
ReplyDeleteI think any of the five Ami Inamura cards could have the facsimile autograph. I think that's what that "X with four dots" symbol on the listing means. BBM loves parallels so I'm not sure if there are multiple parallel versions available for the SCM inserts or not.
I remember seeing that. Thanks for the link! It is interesting to note that the prices for the SCM cards (even this issue) total about what the magazine sells for....you basically can't lose money on the deal if you get a buyer willing to pay those prices.
DeleteThat "first pitch" set looks awesome! I have a few of those P League bowler card sets... and they aren't too shabby either.
ReplyDeleteBBM has done quite a few first pitch cards. There are even a few sumo wrestlers that have First Pitch. P League bowling is very entertaining to watch for sure.
DeleteHarold Morley joined Global Rally Car Sales presenting his Porsche 996 GT3 for sale. Reconsales built and is currently on display Tuthill Porsche near Banbury in the UK. Its one fine piece of machinery. Harold Morley
ReplyDelete