Fuji's Mountain of Goodies

Fuji is one of the most generous guys in the sports-card blogiverse.  Recently he sent out a bunch of PWEs to fellow collectors and I was the lucky recipient of one that was filled with Nolan Ryan cards.  As a kid, I grew up revering Nolan and had a decent sized collection of his (pre-internet days) and still do.....I continue to dabble in his cards and try to pick up the modern inserts for cheap when I run across them.  Fuji didn't disappoint and hooked me up with some awesome modern cards (including a Saturn V card....legit!) as well as early 1990s Upper Deck that I never turn down.  Nolan was a beast on the mound....here are some excerpts that pulled from the back of these cards:

 

He is the oldest pitcher to throw a no hitter:  43 in 1990 for his 6th and 44 in 1991 for his 7th!

He started pitching in the Majors before Man landed on the moon.

He struck out 19 batters in a 7-inning high school game.

He struck out 272 batters in his first minor-league season with the Mets in 1966.

He won 43 games combined in 1973 and 1974!

He struck out 383 batters in 1973!

He got his 300th win on 31 June 1990....almost 30 years ago to the day!

His 5714 strikeouts has doubled all but nine other pitcher's strikeout totals!!!!

 

Fuji, thanks for the package and expanding my Nolan collection!

 

 

 

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em - Japanese 1956 Mitsuwa Sumo Wrestling - Yokozuna Tochinishiki

I don't promote smoking and occasionally like a good cigar, but the 1950s were a flamboyant era when smoking was all the rage and fashion.  Did you know that in the 1950s almost half of the Japanese population smoked or consumed tobacco?  In fact, in 1956 the per-capita consumption was over 1400 cigarettes!  That equates to every Japanese man, woman, and child each smoking over 1400 cigarettes in 1956 alone.  Crazy....but I digress.  Sumo wrestlers were not immune to the influence of smoking as captured on one of the only known sumo cards that shows a wrestler smoking.  Here is Yokozuna Tochinishiki having a nice drag in his yukata...given that his chomage is done up, this picture was taken right before or after a match or before a special event. What are your thoughts with tobacco products being "consumed" on trading cards?

These are a few of my dangerous things....Japanese Toxic Creatures

The late 1970s and early 1980s in Japan were the wild west of trading cards much like the early 1990s was in the United States.  They made trading cards (called mini cards) of a wide variety of subjects and some real head scratchers for sure.  One of these sets by Amada was called "Toxic/Poisonous Creatures".  Once I discovered this set out there, I knew I had to have it.  Comprised of 40 cards as well as winner cards to claim a whole box of additional bonus cards (see picture below), this set captures the creatures from around the world that could more or less kill you.  What kid would not want a set consisting of poisonous sea creatures, snakes, spiders, scorpions, and killer insects?  It reminds me a lot of the educational cards that National Geographic would release to shape influential young minds.  What are your thoughts on collecting these type of odd-ball sets?