2000 Future Bee Power League UL box break (pack 3)

Masao Kida had a less than stellar 2000.

Daisuke Miura. He wins some, he loses some. 135-133 over the last 17 seasons.

Koichi Oshima was, in fact, an infielder, so don't let the photo mislead you. His being labeled as simply "INF" makes me think of a Jose Oquendo-type player who just filled whatever spot was lacking in the lineup. Not a monster with the bat, nor on the bases, but consistent enough to snag a spot in the lineup for the better part of 11 years with the Buffaloes and BlueWave.

Koichiro Yoshinaga is considered one of, if not the best catcher of the 1990s in the Pacific League.

One must imagine that Shinichi Murata made a pretty good pitching target for him to have managed to stck around most of a season while only hitting .204. Yomirui must seriously have been hurting for a decent catcher.




Insert leader card is one Takuro Ishii who led the Central League in steals.

2000 Epoch Pro Baseball box break (pack 18)

     Again, more doubles than new cards, but at least one of the new cards was from the Leading Players insert set. Jason Jacome was a promising pitching prospect in the Mets organization and looked great in his first few seasons in the minors and even into his first stint with the parent club. Not sure what happened in 1995, but it was all downhill from there for his MLB career. He pitched poorly in subsequent promotions to the bigs, was dealt to the Royals, where he also pitched poorly in the majors. So KC dealt him to Cleveland where he pitched poorly so he headed to Japan and signed with the Yakult Swallows. He still had an ERA of 4.50 in that 1999 season, but somehow managed to assemble a 12-6 W/L record, leading the team in wins, which is presumably why he is in this set. In 2000, his ERA dropped by more than a full point, but Jacome wouldn't return for the 2001 season.

     After returning to America, he'd bounce around the minors, both at AAA in the Cardinals, Giants and Diamondbacks system, before heading to the Mexican and independent leagues to keep the dream alive for that possible return to the majors. He was actually out of baseball for a few years before returning to play for the new Tuscon Toros of the Golden League in 2009.



Doubles: A. Higashide, Y. Noguchi, T. Nishimura, T. Noguchi, T. Yamasaki, 086PZ (Ishii puzzle)