Thanks Daniel @ It's Like Having My Own Card Shop! - Paul O'Neill Relic w/"Star" Power

Back at the end of last year, Daniel over at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop ran a giveaway for commenting on his post letting him know what three of your hobby related goals are for 2021.  Daniel's blog is one of the best out there and you can't argue with 222 followers.  Low and behold, Daniel randomly selected my name and generously sent my a 2001 Upper Deck Gold Glove Slugger's Choice Game-Used Batting Glove of Paul O'Neill!  What a cool card, and reading up on Paul I discovered he is from Columbus Ohio...I have a handful of relatives there so that in of itself makes this card that much more special.

Daniel didn't stop there and also sent along two unopened packs of Star cards.  I'm not going to lie, I have a hard time opening vintage packs and this time won't be any different....so will leave them sealed, but will show them off here.  First up is a pack of the 1989 Star Kevin Mitchell/Will Clark set.  Most of you reading post also collected in the late 1980s and Will and Kevin were household names on the powerhouse Giants team.  1989 happened to be the year they went to the World Series, but lost to the Athletics in a 4-game sweep.  The Battle of the Bay also had some drama as right before Game 3 kicked off, there was a powerful earthquake that hit...I remember watching it live on TV and the ensuing coverage of collapsed roadways. 

As an additional bonus is this pack of the 1991 Star Tim Hardaway set.  I didn't follow basketball too much in the early 1990s, but Tim is a name that everyone knew as well.  These bad boys are also staying sealed.

Thanks again Daniel for the goodies and Happy New Year!

2020-2021 BBM Japanese Basketball B.League Cards Arrive - 15 January!

It has been a long time since I have done one of these announcement posts for the upcoming Japanese B.League BBM Basketball card releases.  The past few years there has been some mid-season boxed set that always peaks my interest, but this year due to COVID both BBM and B.League opted to forgo any such sets.  So last January was the last time we saw any new B.League basketball card product.  Well, the new season is upon us with the first games kicking off several months ago which also means a new card set is forthcoming as well.  BBM's fifth annual release is slated to drop in stores in mid-January 2021.  Normally how BBM does it is they release two separate series a month apart.  Series 1, called "1st Half", comes out in January and Series 2, called "2nd Half", comes out in February.  I don't expect them to do anything differently this year and I will be jumping on board since I have been buying the boxes since the 2016-2017 season.  Interestingly they have slashed the box prices by ￥2000 from ￥8000 down to ￥6000.  However, they have also reduced the number of packs in the box from 20 to 15.  With 5 cards per pack, you are looking at only 75 cards per box.  The base set is 132 cards so it will easily take you 3-4 boxes to complete a set by hand.  Here is a preview image of the set design.  Not a very exciting design at all and an odd picture choice as well of Yuki Togashi, unfortunately.

Thanks @ A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts! - Free Isiah Thomas Card

 A little over a week ago, Jon over at A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts ran a Free Stuff Friday: Anniversary Edition.  This was to celebrate his 5th Blogaversary.  I have not participated in his Free Stuff Fridays before, but saw an awesome 87-88 Fleer Isiah Thomas card that I could not pass up.  Late 1980s basketball cards definitely appeal to me and this was an excellent hook up.  Last week I just finished watching "The Last Dance" and the rivalry that Isiah and Jordan had was intense....two large egos, both skilled, and both destined for the Hall of Fame....I knew I needed this card.  It looks awesome in hand and I can't thank you enough Jon!  Good luck on the next 5 years with your blog!

2019 Year in Review

Here we are again....it seemed just like yesterday that I was writing this blog's 2018 year in review and now in a blink of an eye 2019 is almost over.  It was quite a year with some international travel, a big move, and a new job.  Here is hoping 2020 bring as much excitement as 2019 did.  Let's see how I did with my 2019 collecting goals.  Over the past two years, here is how I faired:

2017 Overall Grade = B

2018 Overall Grade = A-

 

This year I set out to accomplish 12 collecting and hobby goals.  I knew it was ambitious, but I thought most of them could be easily achievable....I wanted my trophies and to get my "A" grade.

 

Goal #1: Finish Editing and Print the 5th Edition of my Sumo Menko and Card Checklist Book -  Grade "D"

 

- I really thought I was going to be able to knock this goal out of the park, but the workload of my job prevented me from putting forth a valiant effort here.  Plus it seemed like every time I turned the corner I was getting new sets to catalog and the backlog of unchecklisted sets grew.  I did make a dent in editing, but I still have a large dent that I need to conquer before it is ready for print.  This goal will carry over to next year for sure.  Not a complete failure since I did get some stuff done, but below average for sure. 

 

 

Goal #2: Update this Blog's Content and Publish 75 Posts - Grade "D"

 

- This goal kicked me in the butt as well.  I was on the correct glide path to make 75 posts, but could never get in a rhythm the second half of the year.  It'll be pure luck if I can land 61 posts for 2019.  I had planned on publishing 6 times a month, but that quickly got derailed once we moved.  Plus, I never got around to editing the material in this blog to spice it up and make it more user friendly.  I did add some additional sections to the blog and felt like I kept it somewhat clean so, again, not a complete failure, but below average for what I had planned.

 

 

 

Goal #3: Add 5 New Cars to my 1973 Calbee Set - Grade "A"

 

- I made a "serious" dent in this set this year and was able to add 5 cards to the most expensive sumo set out there.  This set will cost the average collector at least $3000 to complete and cards rarely come up for under $100 per card.  I am now sitting at 13 cards...a whopping 36% complete.  The more expensive cards are the second half of the set...cards #19-#36.  Scored an "A" here...I'll drink to that!

 

 

 

Goal #4: Expand the Checklists for Sumo Wrestling Telephone Cards - Grade "C"

 

- I was able to make a small dent in this and was even able to card out a section in my book for this new CT series of cards.  However, prices continued to detract me from being a serious telephone card collector.  At an average of $15 per card, these cards couldn't tempt me to pull the trigger all that often.  Although unique, I doubt I will be able to expand the checklists much over the next few years even though this is an underappreciated genre of card collecting.  Considering how huge the telephone card craze was in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s, these cards still carry cost premiums that don't make sense for my pocketbook.

 

  

Goal #5: Expand the Event-Signed BBM Sumo Card Checklist - Grade "A"

 

- I'm not going to lie, I "cheated" here.  A fellow sumo card collector, Paul, has done almost all the legwork.  Once we figured out where these cards were getting printed, signed, and distributed, Paul was a hound dog in trying to compile the checklist.  As I mentioned before, I can't believe that BBM can produce these really awesome event cards, yet use sticker autos for their main BBM releases.  These gold ink versions with embossed seals are really sharp.  Paul will get all the credit in my book for compiling the checklist, but we now have captured the information for posterity!

 

Goal #6: Earn 1000 points on the Trading Card Database - Add BBM Sumo Wrestling Checklists - Grade "D"

 

- Gah, I thought this one would be easy, but it was hard to find the time to scan and get things organized.  I'm at 674 points...not much progress was made this year....but I did make some progress so not a complete failure.  I feel like this could be a worthy goal in 2020, but we'll see.  I do have some ideas to boost my numbers as I'd really like to get to the 1000 point mark and attain Level 7 which I think would open the door for me on expanding checklists.

 

 



 Goal #7: Start a YouTube Channel with BBM Card Box Breaks - Grade "A+"

 

- I really had fun with this one and I hope to get back into the swing of making videos.  Before we moved back to the United States, I was able to publish several of these videos a month.  Now I haven't touched the recording equipment in months although I do have the setup all ready to go in my house.  Maybe I'll make a video or two over the holiday break.  Checkout my SumoMenkoMan channel.  Hopefully I can restart adding new content sooner than later.

 

 

Goal #8: Add 5 New Sumo World Magazines to my Collection - Grade "A+"

 

- Boom, nailed this one.  I am down to needing only 28 more magazines to have the complete run from 1973-1999.  Plus I was able to add more post-2000 magazines although I am not focusing on those and only picking them up if they happen to be a good price.  These are pieces of sumo history that shouldn't be forgotten....and they are definitely fun to read....although really hard to come by on the secondary market!

 

 

 

 

Goal #9: Finish my Yamakatsu Bruce Lee Series 1 Set, and Add 5 More Cards to Series 2 & 3 Sets - Grade "A+"

 

- I did it!  I finally finished my 48-card Series 1 set and am down to the final 9 cards for Series 2 and 32 cards for Series 3.  I was able to pick up handfuls here and there so felt really good about this goal.  I didn't think I was actually going to knock this one out, but splurged a little and slightly overpaid for the last two cards.  Oh well, it is complete and now I can sit back and enjoy it while I whittle away at Series 2.  Bruce Lee is no joke and you never finish collecting until Chuck Norris tells you to stop. 

 

 

Goal 10: Maintain Google/Yahoo/Bing Search Engine Rankings for Sumo Card(s) Menko - Grade "B+"

 

- This one was a really fun on to go back and see how the search engines adjusted to my blog and blog traffic.  Last year's rankings are in brackets [ ].  Stayed #1 on Yahoo and improved on Bing, but lost ground on Google. 

 

Sumo Card: Bing #2 [#7], Google #6 [#9], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Cards: Bing #2 [#2], Google #4 [#2], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Menko: Bing #1 [#2], Google #1 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Wrestling Card: Bing #1 [ #2], Google #3 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Wrestling Cards: Bing #1 [#1], Google #2 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

 

 

 

 

Goal 11: Add Additional Cards to my Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Player Collections - Grade "A"

 

- Thanks to Fuji and eBay, I was able to beef up my two player collections, although these days it is hard to find any new Laird cards except for Japanese ones, but the Tabuse cards are still pretty plentiful.  Laird did rather well with his new team, Chiba Lotte Marines, and led his team in homers.  Tabuse is still with the Tochigi Brex and leading the East Division.  The season is halfway over and the next season of BBM B.League cards will soon arrive at my doorstep.  I think if I would have added a small handful more of these, I would have reached the A+ pinnacle.  Whoop!

 

 

 





 Goal 12: Add 10 additional Cards to my Airport Trading Card Collection - Grade "A+"

 

- Last year around this time there were about 125 known cards in the master set of Airport Trading Cards.  As of right now, there are 153 known cards and I am now down to needing only 14 more.  Every year the checklist expands, but I manage to hold my own.....some of the older cards are almost impossible to find no doubt.  I'm not sure I will ever be able to collect them all, but who knows!

 

There you have it.  With some solid "A" grades and some significant "D" grades I feel like I earned an overall Grade of "B" in 2019!  Not bad.  Had I knocked out some of my higher goals this would have pushed up into the B+ range...maybe even A-.  Oh well, there is always next year for sure.

 

2019 Overall Grade = B











2018 Japanese BBM Akatsuki Five Basketball Cards

This past weekend, FIBA drew the brackets for the 2019 Basketball World Cup and Japan landed a tough bracket E with the United States, Czech Republic, and Turkey.  For some reason that I haven't been able to determine, the World Cup was delayed from 2018 to 2019, but it is still being held in China.  Last year, BBM issued the Rising Sun set to highlight the men's and women's National Team called the "Akatsuki Five".  This is a 28-card base set with one special insert card per box.  All boxes have the same 28 base cards broken out among 14 women and 14 men, but have a random special insert card included which is either an autograph or memorabilia card.  Overall, a simple and decent set.  Here are the scans as well as a video I did for my YouTube channel.

 

 

2018 Year in Review

I imagine a lot of you will be posting this topic over the next few days so I am excited to read about how your collecting went.  I tend to be pretty focused with my collecting and set realistic goals to accomplish so I have some satisfaction at the end of the year.  This year was no different and I feel like I did pretty well.  Thanks for stopping by and keeping me motivated to continue this blog!

 

Here are the 10 goals that I set out for myself at the beginning of the year:

1. Discover and Catalog at least 5 "new" vintage sumo sets (pre-1997) - Grade A+
- Just when I think that there are no new vintage sets to collect, something always pops up.  I've discovered numerous fun sets this year including this tiny little 1940 pre-war beauty that I reported back on in November.

2. Add 2 more 1973 Calbee Sumo Cards to my collection - Grade A+
- This set is one that I am really going to have to get a going on with some gusto or I am going to "invest" upwards of $5000 on it before it is all said and done.  Why singles cards go for an average of $100 is beyond me.  I picked up 3 more this year, but I am still over 25 cards short of a complete set.  Here is a summary I did of this set back in 2016.

3.  Conduct some interviews of fellow collectors - A+
- I am glad I got this interview series off the ground with three interviews of Billy @ Cardboard History, Fuji @ The Chronicles of Fuji, and Tony from the Facebook Group "BBM Sumo Card Collectors."  I haven't done one in a while since I frankly ran out of people to interview.  Raz...you interested?  Give me a holler if anyone is up for it!

4.  Add at least 1 more Murai card to my collection - A+
- This set has proven to be hard as people warned me.  I picked up only 4 more from this T483 Murai World's Smokers set earlier this year as posted here and am up to 9 total in this set.  My goal is to complete this set in raw condition someday.

5. Continue to expand my German Card Collection - A+
- Living in Germany has been fun with respect to collecting German Cards.  I've walked away from many flea markets with some good stuff including these 1933 Salem Gold Film Stars detailed here.

6.  Add two more card catalog books to my library - C
- I thought this one would be one of the easier ones from me to complete.  I didn't pick up any physical books, but did get Engel's 2nd Vintage Edition of the Japanese Baseball Card Checklist & Price Guide in electronic form.

 7. Add to my Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Collection - A+
- I've been whittling away at my two player collections all year long and Fuji has helped immensely along the way with this awesome Laird stash & sweet Tabuse haul.

8. Expand the B.League Basketball Sets - A+
- I love the BBM B.League Basketball Sets and will continue to collect them.  I picked up both the 1st and 2nd Half boxes this year, although I don't officially have complete sets in singles form...yet.

9. Update the BB-Series of Sumo Menko and Bromides - B+
- One of my most ambitious goals this year was to "fix" and update the BB-series of sumo cards and bromides in my book.  There were so many produced during the 1930s-1950s that is was daunting to just get to the spot where I am now....I reorganized all the sets and assigned catalogue numbers to them.  Now all I need to do is get them in electronic form in my book.  I see the goal line in sight, but unfortunately will not cross it this year, but the majority of the battle is over with.

10. Finish the 1974 Yamakatsu's Mini Card Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon (Series 1) Set and add to The Way of the Dragon (Series 2) and Green Hornet (Series 3) Sets - B-
- Gah, I'm still two short on the Series 1 set, about 10 short on the Series 2 set and about 35 short on Series 3.  I did have a nice haul reported back in June.  This set is getting harder as the years go by and maybe in 2019 I'll finally finish Series 1!

With no failing classes and some solid effort and help from friends, I am giving myself an:

2018 Overall Grade = A-
(for reference) 2017 Overall Grade = B
 

 

I'm looking forward to 2019 and I really appreciate all the support you have given this blog over the past year!  Thanks for stopping by!

2018-2019 BBM Japanese Basketball B.League Cards Arrive - 29 January!

I have to admit that this year's 1st half B.League Cards look a bit chucky although the subsets are where the true pizzazz comes in to play.  This 2018-2019 B.League 1st Half set will contain 90 base cards, and BBM's plan again this year is to get 180 players represented from both the B1 and B2 divisions across both the 1st and 2nd Half sets so it will be interesting to see how it gets divided out.  New to this year, however, are three new subsets titled: The Contenders, Black Label, and Franchise with one player per B1 Division team (I'm assuming) representing each of these subsets for a total of 144 cards.  In the previous years there was only 1 subset, but BBM really stepped it up this year.  Here are some scans courtesy of BBM's website.