1997 Japanese BBM Historic Set Sample Cards

The first modern BBM (Baseball Magazine) pack-issued card sets were issued in 1997.  For the longest time, I had always thought the 1997 Modern set was released before the 1997 Historic set.  However, reading Sumo World Magazine from this time, it became evident that the 1997 Historic set was actually released first, followed several months later by the 1997 Modern.  What is the difference between the sets you may ask?  The 1997 Historic featured drawings and artwork of the very first rikishi before photography was invented.  Basically from the origins of sumo to the mid-1800s.  To help promote the 1997 Historic set, these 3-card promotional sets were given away to show potential buyers what the cards looked like as well as a little sales card that highlighted the composition of the set.  These very rarely pop up for auction so grab them if you can.  Have an awesome weekend and stay safe with all the craziness out there.  Sayonara!

Unopened Box Bepop

Fuji and I have a little dual-post action going on this Saturday where each of us is posting our Top-10 favorite unopened boxes we have in our collections.  Check out his here.  It was tough narrowing it down to ten, but I was able to break them down into different categories to help me decide.  From #10 to #1, here is what I came up with:

#10 (Also known as my favorite Vintage Japanese Sport Box) - 1991 BBM Baseball

This was the first large-scale baseball set that BBM issued which also happened to contain a bunch of Hideo Nomo 2nd-Year cards and baseball legends Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima as coaches.  My box is a bit beat up, but still a beauty and hard to believe it was 29 years ago!  30 packs per box with 10 cards per pack.  

#9 (Also known as my favorite Collector's Choice Box) - 2013 BBM P. League Bowling

I used one of my 10 boxes as kind of a miscellaneous box, or Collector's Choice Box.  Pretty girls that are bowling seems pretty quirky, but if you go watch videos of them in action they are very talented.  The P. League has somewhat of a reality show feel, but fun to watch and the ladies do not disappoint.  The autographs of these ladies are extremely well done as well.  54-card set per box with 2 special insert cards to boot!

 

 

#8 (Also known as my favorite Vintage Japanese Non-Sport Box) - 1950s Weapons "Gold" Menko



In the mid-1950s, the world saw a proliferation of nuclear weapons as well as rockets, jets and bombers filling the skies.  This set captures the imagination of the artists through weapons and destruction  What makes this set very interesting beyond the artwork, is the liberal use of gold ink on the packaging and cards.  A great example of Japanese artistry.  These boxes are considered "unopened and sealed" when the twine is present with the box.  50 packs per box with 6-7 menko per pack.

 



 

#7 (Also known as my favorite Foreign "Non-Japanese/U.S." Box) - 2019 Panini European Kimmidoll





I went through Spain and Portugal earlier last year right during the Kimmidoll craze.  Panini issued these cards only in this part of the world for a span of 3-6 months.  After I saw them, I ended up buying two unopened boxes online as well as an album.  Now you can't find them anywhere it seems.  These postcard-sized cards are strangely appealing to me and the artwork is amazing and refreshingly Japanese.  There are 18 packs per box with 6 cards per pack.

 

 



#6 (Also known as my favorite Modern Japanese Non-Sport Box) - 1986 Amada Famicon Mini Cards



I was and still am a huge NES fan.  The hours/days/weeks I spent engrossed in these games always brings a smile and air of nostalgia to me.  Amada kept the mini card craze strung along until the mid 1980s and issued these cards which captured screenshots of actual in-game play.  These boxes have 30 packs with 2-3 mini cards per pack.  I can still hear the Super Mario Brothers music playing in my head right now.... 

 

 

 

#5 (Also known as my favorite Oddball Box) - 1997 Takara Basscole Fishing Lures



 Most of you are scratching your head on this one.  Me too.  Why do I have this box?  Read about it here in full detail.  But basically Brad Pitt's movie, A River Runs Through It" sparked a bass fishing frenzy in Japan which also happend to coincide with the boom in trading card production.  What are these cards?  Trading cards of bass fishing lures.  No, no the actually people bass fishing, just the lures.  A must in my collection for sure.  30 Packs per Box and 10 Cards per Pack.

 

 

#4 (Also known as my favorite Modern Japanese Sport Box) - 2016-2017 BBM Basketball

I have a PC of Yuta Tabuse...or at least a really good handful of them in my collection...and decided I wanted to collect these boxes.  At the time, the new B.League partnered with BBM to produce these trading cards.  That was back in the 2016-2017 timeframe and they have since been making these for 4 years.  This was the very first series issued back in late 2016.  20 Packs per Box and 5 Cards per Pack 

 

 

 

# 3 (Also known as my favorite U.S. Non-Sport Box) - 2018 Topps Stranger Things Series 1



I love the show Stranger Things and when Topps announced they were releasing a trading card set based on the series, I knew I had grab a few boxes.  I can't remember the exact story or controversy, but I believe the odds for special cards there was stated on the retail? packs wasn't accurate and this evolved into a lot of complaints and poor reviews of this first product.  Alas, this box stays on my shelf with unknown content....mysterious!  24 Packs per Box, 7 Cards per Pack

 

 

 

#2 (Also known as my favorite Modern Sumo Box) - 2016 BBM Sumo



I chose this year of BBM sumo cards because this was the year I connected with a great group of collectors on Facebook devoted to strictly BBM sumo cards.  It has been a great opportunity to share my passion with like-minded collectors and fans.  A sharp-looking set with great box art.  24 Packs per Box with 5 Cards per Pack. 

 

 

 

#1 (Also known as my favorite Vintage Sumo Box) - 1958 Dash 7-8 Menko



 This box is what got me into sumo card collecting in the first place. The very first sumo box I owned!  While vacationing in the southern islands of Japan, I found this box in a small antique shop in the resort town we were staying at.  I knew I had to have it!  This 1958 Dash 7-8 (Catalogue #M581) has resided in my collection as the first-ever sumo card box that I have owned and so it captures a special place in my heart and the #1 spot on my list of unopened card boxes.  I haven't counted the packs, but there are at least 100 packs with the special uncut gold prize card sheets on top. 

 

 

Well, there you have it.  Thanks for stopping by and please make sure you check out Fuji's unopened box bebop as well.  Cheers and Sayonara!

Free Pack Giveaway - From the Deepest, Darkest Depths of the Japanese Internet...

....I've landed some Bass Fishing Lure Cards.  Yes, you've read that correctly.  Cards depicting bass fishing lures.  These aren't knock offs either....they are made by Takara which is a legitimate company.  This set is title "BassColle '97" or Bass Collection 1997.  How, you may ask, does one end up buying bass fishing lure cards?  When I browse the internet over in Japan it is a lot like Wikipedia.  For example, it is like when you start by reading about the history of Greenland, but you are soon learning about the mating habits of ostriches....all by the virtue of everything being linked.  When I stumbled upon these I knew I had to have them and landed a full sealed box and an opened box with just three of the packs missing.  Some of you know my affinity for unopened boxes so the sealed box is going to stay in my collection.  By now most of you are dying to know what these cards look like so I opened a pack from the open box with the contents show below.

 

This one is staying in my collection　^ 

 Ready for opening ^

These are pretty cool with a picture of the lure in a simulation of its natural environment on the front and on the back it talks about at what running depth the lure is used at as well as the name and some history of the lure and how to use it at the bottom.  Pretty neat.....

I started sleuthing around to figure out what is up with Japanese Bass Fishing Lures.  It soon became apparent that Japanese fishing tackle is hot stuff.  According to the Japan Lure Shop, "Japanese fishing tackles are high quality [and] your fishing becomes happier."  Bass Pro Shops has a nice article titled "The Japanese Bass Lure Invasion."  The gist of the article is that the Japanese kick bass when it is comes to designing and manufacturing bass lures.  After the short, but informative read, I was hooked and wanted start collecting bass lures....but several clicks later I decided that I would be poor in a matter of minutes as some of the really awesome lures get spendy really quick.

Why 1997 and why only one year...and why is company like Takara printing these cards?  We have Brad Pitt to thank for that....Say what ?!!  According to young cub reporter Steve Glain from the Wall Street Journal, the movie A River Runs Through It (a flyfishing hit), spread a huge Bass Fishing Boom around Japan in 1997, called a Bass Boom (I'm not making this stuff up) and Takara was likely there to capitalize on the boom....it really was All About the Bass in 1997 (cue music).  There is even a magazine called Basser to get your monthly fix when not out fishing.  I'm not lying...here is the cover from October 2011.  The magazine is still in print so the boom lives on.

So there you have it....through the power of clicking and the Japanese internet we are now all a little smarter on the Bass Boom immortalized by the Takara BassColle '97 set.

[Pack Give Away]

I have 7 wonderful kick-bass packs to give away.  I'll even pay for shipping and as an added bonus, I'll throw in 4 packs from the 2017 Japanese B.League Bassketball set (see what I did there?): two 1st-Half packs and two 2nd-Half packs.  Just comment below on the craziest, oddest, or funniest set you've ever purchased.  I'll chose a winner bassed on the best story and soon you will be well on your way to receiving some Japanese happiness.

1997 BBM Sumo Wrestling Set

  It is hard to complain about the 1997 BBM Modern set since it answered the call for a mainstream, well-distributed sumo wrestling set...surprisingly 6 years after BBM started releasing the baseball counterpart sets.  Up until 1997, there had been yearly releases of playing card sets that featured 52 of the most popular rikishi of the time, but only with a photo and name; hardly what one would call a true trading card set and one that was available only to the fans that visited one of the 6 main tournaments throughout the year.  In 1997, all that changed with the Modern set which was released during the end of that year.  This 203-card set was a great first attempt at establishing what has now been 20 years of mainstream BBM sumo sets.  This set does try to cram anyone and everyone who is part of the sumo association into this set and is broken up into 10 subsets as follows:

#1-66 - Active Wrestlers
#67-116 - Toshiyori (Sumo Elders)
#117-130 - Gyoji (Referees)
#131-142 - Yobidashi (Announcer/"Handyman")
#143-151 - 1997 Winners
#152-161 - Yokozuna in the Showa Era
#162-171 - Top 10 All-Time Winning Wrestlers
#172-176 - Sumo Museum Collection
#177-180 - Checklists
#S1-S5 & P1-P18 Insert Cards

#1-#66 Active Wrestlers

The cards in this subset are stylistically ordinary on the front with a full bleed action photo for most of the wrestlers.  There is a vertical or horizontal box that has the name (Both Japanese and Romaji), rank (Yokozuna & Ozeki only), and stable information.  The BBM '97 symbol is in the upper, right corner for all these cards.  The back has a full body picture of the rikishi in their kesho mawashi as well as all the important biographical information you would expect on a trading card (height, weight, birthplace, career stats, etc) along with the card number in the upper, right corner.  One nice thing here is the presence of furigana, or the writing of hiragana above the Kanji (Chinese characters) so you know how to pronounce the name of the wrestler in true Japanese.  Sometimes the English on the front can be slightly off.

#67-#116 Toshiyori (Sumo Elders)

This subset features the elders of the sumo association, all of whom are retired wrestlers.  The front shows a full-bleed photo of the toshiyori in their active wrestling years along.  There is a box on the front that has both the toshiyori and wrestling names in Japanese and Romaji.  The back has a small insert that has a headshot photo of the toshiyori today as well as biographical information at that top.  The bottom has a "Did You Know?" section that has several interesting facts about the wrestler

 #117-#130 - Gyoji (Referees)

This subset has all the referees.  The front is a full-bleed photo of the gyoji during a match and has his name in both Japanese and Ramaji as well as which heya/stable he is affiliated with.  As with the toshiyori, the back has a insert phot with a headshot photo and all the biographical information.  Cards #117-#122 have a "Profile （よこがお）" at the bottom with interesting information about the referees in paragraph form.  Cards #123-130 have a "Data Clip (一口メモ)" with short bulletized facts about the what it takes to be a referee and the requirements.  There are 20 of these data clips that start with card #123 span to #130.  There is an uncorrected error (no reference that I know of mentions this error) with card #122.  It has written Data Clip when it is actually a Profile.

 

#131-#142 - Yobidashi (Announcer/"Handyman")

These are full-bleed photos of the Announcers during a match.  His name in both Japanese and Romaji is printed in a vertical box on the front as well as which heya/stable he is affiliated with.  The pack has the usual insert photograph with all the biographical information on the back of the card.  The bottom features a "Knowledge Dictionary" and highlights interesting facts about Yobidashi.  Cards #136-#141 actually have the top division bazuke rankings for the first three tournaments of 1997.

 #143-#151 - 1997 Winners

 This subset shows the tournament winners (Makunouchi and Juryo) for the first three tournaments of 1997.  It also has the the special prize winners in Makunouchi.  The back has highlights of the tournament as well as a action photo during the match.  The wrestlers winning record is printed below the name as well as which tournament he won.

#152-#161 - Yokozuna in the Showa Era - Series 1

This 10-card subset features all the yokozuna who were active during the Showa Era (1926-1989).  This set is carried over into other years since there were more than 10 yokozuna during this time.

#162-#171 - #Top 10 All-Time Winning Wrestlers

As written this sub set features the top 10 wrestlers who have won the most matches in Makunouchi from Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (who just recently passed away) with 1045 wins to Sekiwake Kurama with 765 wins.  The front has a full-bleed phot and the back has the usual features with career highlights at the bottom called "This and That Record (記録あれこれ)"  

#172-#176 - Sumo Museum Collection

This 5-card subset show various historical artifacts found in the sumo museum with an explanation and the wrestler or gyoji it is associated with.  On the back is a historical photo as well with a picture of the object.

#177-#180 - Checklists

 The last 4 cards are the checklists from all 203 cards in the set.

#S1-#S5 Insert Cards

The first insert set features the 5 top rikishi that were active when this set was printed.  The cards are pretty cool as they have a mawashi-type paper on the front with a gold foil star imprint on the bottom left.  The back shows a scene from the official announcement when a wrestler is notified when he gets promoted.  Promotion to Ozeki for Wakanohana in this case (#S-5). These cards are extremely hard to find and I think the seed rate was one of the 23 different insert cards per box or so.

# P1-#P18 Insert Cards

 There really are two sets here #P1-#P9 and #P10-#P18.  Each of these sets shows a 9-card action or photo sequence of the Yokozuna's ring entrance ceremony.  On the back is a "puzzle" which shows the tegate (hand print) of the wrestler once you complete the set.  The first subset is Yokozuna Takanohana and the second is of Yokozuna Akaebono.  As you can see from the example below, I do not have all the cards yet to complete the tegate for Takanohana.

I hope you enjoyed this quick run down of this set.  More sets to follow.