2002 Mizuno All Star Super Dream Cup Premium Cards

     I happened across this set of playing cards scouring Yahoo! Auctions Japan for Tuffy Rhodes cards, and managed to snag it for the minimum bid of ¥2000 (~$18USD).   From what I can gather, this set was a promotional give away with the purchase of Mizuno golf clubs in Japan sometime in 2002.  Presumably all of the players represented are well known Mizuno customers from a variety of sports.  Each athlete has two cards, with the Diamonds and Clubs featuring the same people, and the Hearts and Spades featuring the same people.  As it is a deck of playing cards, all of the backs are the same, as seen below beside the Joker.

The checklist is as follows:

AS Akiko Fukushima
KS Rivaldo
QS Ayako Okamoto
JS Taichi Teshima
10S Kimiyasu Kudo
9S Takenori Hiraishi
8S Hiroaki Morishima
7S Shinjiro Hiyama
6S Shuzo Matsuoka
5S Tuffy Rhodes
4S Tsuyoshi Yoneyama
3S Koji Akiyama
2S Satoru Komiyama

AH Akiko Fukushima
KH Rivaldo
QH Ayako Okamoto
JH Taichi Teshima
10H Kimiyasu Kudo
9H Takenori Hiraishi
8H Hiroaki Morishima
7H Shinjiro Hiyama
6H Shuzo Matsuoka
5H Tuffy Rhodes
4H Tsuyoshi Yoneyama
3H Koji Akiyama
2H Satoru Komiyama

AC Ichiro Suzuki
KC Hideki Matsui
QC Nobuhito Sato
JC Koji Murofushi
10C Yoshinobu Takahashi
9C Kasumi Fujii
8C Toshihisa Nishi
7C Atsushi Yanagisawa
6C Shingo Takatsu
5C Katsunori Kuwabara
4C Hideharu Miyahira
3C Toru Suzuki
2C Mikino Kubo

AD Ichiro Suzuki
KD Hideki Matsui
QD Nobuhito Sato
JD Koji Murofushi
10D Yoshinobu Takahashi
9D Kasumi Fujii
8D Toshihisa Nishi
7D Atsushi Yanagisawa
6D Shingo Takatsu
5D Katsunori Kuwabara
4D Hideharu Miyahira
3D Toru Suzuki
2D Mikino Kubo

JOKER Mizuno Logo
JOKER Mizuno Logo

The complete checklist with images is here: 2002 Mizuno All Star Super Dream Cup Premium Cards

Player Collection Bobble Heads

     I was excited when some of the players I collect started having bobble heads issued, and couldn't wait to add them to my collection.  I try to stay under $25 if at all possible, and have been fairly successful with that approach, but at least one will likely remain out of reach.  Dave Henderson was issued a bobble head by the Yakima Bears in 2009.  No clue why they did it, as Hendu never played for Yakima, and they were not an Oakland or Seattle affiliate, but when they surface, they usually sell for over $250.  It is, however, one of the better likenesses I've seen on a bobble head.

     Prior to becoming a coach for the Giants, Roberto Kelly managed their Single-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League from 2005-2007.  He led the Greenjackets to 1st place finishes in 2006 and 2007, and won SAL Manager of the Year honors in 2006.  Kelly's very first bobble head was given away by the Augusta Greenjackets on July 30, 2016.

     Dave Winfield is now represented in bobble head form by 4 of the 6 teams for which he played over his 20+ years in the Majors.  The Padres have now issued three bobble heads for Big Dave.  The one shown here was given away at Petco Park on June 15th, 2003.  There is also a more rare version featuring Dave in a brown jersey.  It tends to be much pricier than the more common white jersey version.  Winfield got one more bobble head from the Padres, a mini, that was limited to 2000 and given away at the 2016 All-Star Fan Fest.  It looks to be 4-5" tall.  I'll probably pick one up after the prices settle down a bit.

      The Yankees bobble head was not a stadium give away (the Yankees still don't seem to care much for Winfield, even all these years later), but rather is an exclusive from Man of Action Figures, a Miami, Florida based action figure store.  They have a large presence online and on eBay.  I am grateful for them as they produced Winfield's only Yankees figure of the man since his retirement.  According to the eBay listing, it is limited to 288 pieces, but can be had for a very reasonable $14.99 + $13.99 shipping (which might seem steep, but it arrived quickly and fully intact).  The Yankees bobble actually reminds me more of Walt "No Neck" Williams than Dave Winfield.

     Toronto honored Winfield with a Blue Jay bobble head on April 7th, 2002.

     Two bobble heads have been issued by the Minnesota Twins for the home town favorite.  The one with the green base was issued on July 22, 2001, in honor of Winfield's Hall of Fame induction.  Given the serial numbers on the laminated card that came with the statue, I suspect upwards of 10,000 of these were given out at the stadium.  The second, with the red base, was given out to Twins season ticket holders for the 2002 season, and is supposedly limited to about 2500 pieces.  As he played for the Angels for a season and a half, I'm hoping to one day see an Angels bobble head issued for Winfield, but I'm not holding my breath for anything from Cleveland.

     Tuffy Rhodes received three bobble heads, all in fairly quick succession, during his time playing with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes.  I previously posted about the double bobble with Nakamura.  Each of the individual bobble heads was supposed to come with a Buffaloes lanyard (typically for carrying your game tickets), but all I received was the figures.  I haven't been able to track the exact release information, but I suspect these were released (from left to right) in 2001, 2002 and 2003.  I have seen a small figure of Tuffy in his Orix uniform, but I think it is just a statue and not a bobble head.

     I have yet to post anything about my collections of players who share my last name (or derivations thereof), but thus far it seems only one of them has a bobble head to his name.  That would be Josh Pressley.  He was a decent hitting first baseman who bounced around a lot from 1998-2006 before finally hitting the independent circuit where he would spend the rest of his career.  His one statue comes from the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League, where he played for 5 seasons.

Bam-Bam & Tuffy Mailday: This Card Is Cool Edition

     I'd been out of town all week for work and was anticipating some exciting mail when I got home.  In what has become one of my favorite online trading experiences, with RyanG of This Card Is Cool, I send him semi-random junk for his type-card collection, and he sends me stacks of pure Japanese awesomeness!  He included a brief note:

     Very eager: check!  Update want lists: check!

     It is increasingly difficult to find new cards to add to my Sir Hensley Meulens collection.  Before these new additions, my Meulens want list was down to just seven cards (of which, one may not exist).  Now it is down to five (or maybe four for existential reasons).

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Silver Signature #42 /100

  

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Red Signature #42 /30

  

     Feels kind of awesome to own a Hensley Meulens card numbered to just 30.  If I can track down the gold signature (numbered to 50), I'll have the whole rainbow for this set.  Then it's just back to waiting for an affordable copy of his autographed card (numbered to 48) to show up to have the clean sweep of all of Sir Bam-Bam's Japanese cards.

    Ryan also sent some major additions to my Tuffy Rhodes collection, which has been a touch stagnant in the past year.  Well this is quite the revival.

2002 Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes Team Issue
     I had discovered something like a half dozen team issued cards of Tuffy with the Buffaloes, but this beauty was not one of them.  I love how these keep turning up and I super love that Ryan found one for me!  2002 is a guess on my part, but all of the 2003 cards I have seen actually say 2003 on them.  Could be 2000 or 2001, but I'm sticking with 2002 until proven wrong.

  

2003 DyDo Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes Team Issue w/Norihiro Nakamura
    Yet another team/sponsor issued card of which I was completely unaware.  Tuffy shares the card with fellow B's slugger Norihiro Nakamura.  It would appear this was given out during a two game series vs. Hanshin on 22-23 March 2003.

  

2008 Lotte Bikkuriman Pro Baseball Seals #17

  

    I've been trying to pick up this little foil beauty since it was issued.  Each year, Lotte issues their Bikkuriman Seals (stickers) with little chocolate wafers.  Usually they are anime-type characters, but a few times they issued baseball sets.  I think 2008 was actually the last time they issued a baseball-themed set featuring actual players. These are 2" x 2" squares.  I find it curious that while Japan, like most of the rest of the civilized world, uses the metric system, cards and stickers are still created using firmly standard measurements.

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Title Holder Pink TH8 #/100

 

     Looks more purple in the scan, but the decorative trim is actually pink.  In the typical modern parallel overkill, there are four versions of this card, an unnumbered version with ugly gold(?) trim and parallels with trim in pink (/100), green (/50) and blue (/30).  I still need the green and blue.

2015 BBM 25th Anniversary #087

  

     It is something of a mixed blessing to collect such a big star in Japan.  On the one hand, it means he keeps getting new cards almost every year (but in no where near the quantities of, say, Dave Winfield), but it also means a lot of his cards can be pricy and out of reach for someone as cheap as me.  BBM is very big on anniversaries, and they seem to issue a set for every single anniversary that rolls around, be it league anniversaries, team anniversaries, event anniversaries or even its own company anniversaries.  This set commemorate's BBM's 25th anniversary issuing baseball cards.  Similar to the early Stadium Club sets from Topps, each card features the players' first BBM card on the reverse.

    Now on to the two new highlights of my entire Tuffy Rhodes collection:

2008 BBM Orix Buffaloes Memorabilia #BsM4 /300

  

2009 BBM Touch The Game Memorabilia #M02 /200

      Yes, indeed, these are my first two actual Tuffy memorabilia cards featuring actual pieces of bat in the actual card!  No non-game used shenanigans here, I can practically smell the home runs hit with these tiny chips of wood.  It's not that Tuffy's game used cards are really all that expensive, but I can just never find a single seller on Yahoo! Auctions Japan that is selling more than one at a time.  Pile on Kuboten fees, and I'd be paying an extra $12-15 per card on top of the actual sale price.  I just can't justify $25-50 for a single card.  But thanks to Ryan, I didn't have to.   Many, many thanks, Ryan!  These cards are not just cool, these cards are awesome!

1991(?) Houston Astros Team Issue Photo Cards

    Yet another case of not knowing something existed until it turned up on eBay, these photos were given out by the Houston Astros in response to fan mail, usually fan mail asking for autographs, but not having actually provided anything to be signed.  I recently picked this up along with the original team envelope containing "Thank you for your interest in our team" letter, a pocket schedule and these two photos.  As far as I know, Houston still gives out these types of photo cards for fan pack requests.

    The black & white photos are blank backed and measure 3 5/16" x 4 7/8".  Based on this particular arrangement of player name and fielding position, along with the assortment of players I've seen in this design on eBay, the Astros issued these from about 1987 to 1993.  Below are the other players I have seen recently in this same design:

Larry Andersen
Eric Anthony
Jeff Bagwell
Kevin Bass
Andujar Cedeno
Benny Disteafano
Doug Drabek
Steve Finley (different photo, with normal undershirt instead of turtleneck)
Luis Gonzalez
Pete Harnisch
Billy Hatcher
Chuck Jackson
Darryl Kile
Mark Portugal
Dave Smith
Harry Spilman
Gene Tenace (Coach)
Eric Yelding

    All of the above I lump together because all the players are wearing the same style jersey.  I've also seen a Julio Linares (coach) card in the same card style, but wearing the newer uniform the Astros introduced in 1994.

Tiny, Tuffy and Taiwanese Cards: Part II

        Thanks to the greatness that is the Internet, NPB Card Guy went on vacation to Japan and I got souvenirs!  He'd asked me before he left if there was any thing special (aside from the elusive 1994 Chiba Lotte Marines menko set) he could look track down for me, so I just said anything from my Tuffy Rhodes want list.  Well, somewhere in the dozen or so card shops he hit while in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, he and Ryan (from This Card is Cool and Chaos and Kanji) tracked down 13 hits from my list!  Thanks guys!

WANTED: Tuff(y) Stuff or My Tuffy Rhodes Want List

タフィ・ローズ

     I've begun updating this list to include images of as many cards as I can find in hopes that it might help out anyone with access to the Japanese cards, but perhaps not an encyclopedic knowledge of what they all look like.  Many thanks to those that have helped make this list smaller (or longer as the case may be).

Team-Issued Stadium Give-Away Sets in Japan

     As I've mentioned frequently here, a major source of frustration for the player collector (and probably for the type-card collector as well) is the lack of documentation for certain areas of the hobby.  An excellent example of this problem are the team-issued cards given away at the ballparks in Japan.  Most teams have been issuing cards, often multiple sets a year, for decades now, but these represented a major gap in contemporary price guides and checklist catalogs.  Gary Engel has included a few in his books, but mainly just Orix BlueWave sets due to the inclusion of Ichiro. When I asked him about it he explained that his interests tended more toward the vintage areas of the Japanese hobby, and that with all the still-undocumented vintage issues he still had to cover, and not having the resources of the likes of Sports Collectors Digest in its prime, he didn't have the time to spare to modern team-issued sets.  Given how much effort it has taken me to simply compile and translate checklists for mainstream sets each year, I understand his point completely.

The Buffaloes Bombers

Fresh off a sold-out engagement in Japan...

 the Dynamic Duo...

the Masters of the Long Ball...

For one night only!

Norihiro Nakamura and Tuffy Rhodes!

1994 Chicago Cubs Old Style team issue photo card - Karl Rhodes

 
      Arriving from Seattle today is this blank-backed, 3.5"x5.5" black & white photo card, featuring the Cubs greatest opening day lead-off hitter of all time, Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes.  This was in a lot of four, including Shawon Dunston, Jose Bautista and Willie Banks, so I'm dating this "set" to 1994, the only year those four were Cubs at the same time.

      Often called just "photo cards", these types of cards have been issued for over 70 years, usually by the teams themselves, frequently displaying a sponsor's logo.   These cards were long a staple of fan packs (those goody bags sent to fans who wrote to the team begging for handouts), and in the last 30-40 years have been issued in tandem with autograph signings at the ball park or other fan events.

    The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards does a pretty good job of documenting these types of sets before 1980, mostly thanks to the persistence of Bob Lemke, but they don't seem to have much interest in tracking the more modern issues.  In some cases, the designs can be identical from year to year.  As a result, it can be very difficult to pin down to exactly when they were issued unless one is able to find several that are easily identifiable as being from the same year.  Then the players in question have to be compared to team rosters to see which years they shared a roster.

     These are difficult to track down, especially without already having been signed.  I passed up a chance at a signed copy for $20 last year.  While I was fortunate enough to find this lot of four cards on eBay, I was even more fortunate that it didn't include Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg or Sammy Sosa, otherwise it probably would have ended well out of my price range.  Here are the other three cards:

*** Checklist Update ***

     Having seen more of these pop up on eBay, I thought I should go ahead and start compiling a checklist for this particular issue.  The year of issue is now completely in question as the recent discoveries don't all tie into the 1994 team.  I'm just going to call these 1994(?) Chicago Cubs Old Style Photo Cards (in alphabetical order):

Willie Banks
Jim Bullinger
Frank Castillo
Shawon Dunston
Jim Frey
Danny Jackson
Wayne Messmer
Mike Morgan
Karl Rhodes
Tom Trebelhorn
Turk Wendell
Curtis Wilkerson
Billy Williams
Mitch Williams
Don Zimmer


1992?
Shawon Dunston

Mike Harkey
Les Lancaster
Vance Law
Greg Maddux
DeWayne Staats

Billy Williams

----------  UPDATE  -----------

After seeing a few more of these, I now think these are two different sets.  The Old Style logo is different on the Dunston, which matches several others I've seen.  I've broken the known cards in to the two separate types.  There is also a third version with a 1990 Chicago All-Star Game logo. I'll list those below.

1990(91?) All-Star Game logo
Joe Girardi
Mark Grace

----------  UPDATE  29 June 2020 -----------

Thanks to a tip from a fellow collector, I can now confirm cards of Shawon Dunston and Mike Morgan in the 1994 set.  When searching eBay's completed items I also found an autographed Billy Williams in that set, as well.

Venezuelan Baseball (non)Stickers

   Since the early 1970s, Venezuela has been the venue of many sets of cards and/or stickers that go all but unnoticed to the wider collecting world.  As a result, sets like this can be very frustrating to player collectors, as they can be very poorly documented.  Case in point:

1991-92

     Thankfully, my Karl/Tuffy Rhodes saved search on eBay caught this one, or I wouldn't have known there was a set of Venezuelan stickers for the 1991-92 winter league season.  I definitely wouldn't have known to look for a Karl Rhodes card in the set as neither Beckett, nor the Standard Catalog include them.  But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it now sits safely in my Tuffy collection between his 1991 Upper Deck Rookie Threats card and his 1992 Stadium Club card.  A little digging turned up the checklist, which tops out at 244 stickers.  Topping the list of well known players are, Galarraga, Vizquel and Franco, but also Eric Karros and another"Big in Japan" name, Roberto Petagine.  Distributed by Genesis S.A.
  
     Until this card showed up on eBay, I had no idea this set existed.  Between Beckett and Sports Collectors Digest's Standard Catalog, sets of Venezuelan "stickers" (some are actual cards with information on the backs, some completely blank, but none with any sort of adhesive backing, I guess Venezuelans go for the DIY approach) have been documented for these years:

1972

     The Standard Catalog lists these as "Venezuelan Baseball Stamps".  They feature the same photography as Topps 1972 cards, only somewhat less focused and more grainy.  Almost like someone took photos of the Topps cards and then used those photos as the basis for these stickers.  As a result this was a completely MLB-oriented set.  Beckett lists the set as "Venezuelan Topps Stamps".  The Nolan Ryan sticker stands out as the most valued.  Distributed by Digallo C.A.

Beckett lists these as "1972-73 Venezuelan Winter League Stickers" and SCD as "1972 Venezuelan League Stickers".  These covered the teams and players of Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional.  Obviously styled  after the 1972 Topps set, though perhaps a bit less flashy.  The Standard Catalog lists 249 stickers in the set, Beckett only includes 96.  Distributed by Digallo C.A.














 1973

     Same set naming as the prior year and an original design.  The Standard Catalog puts this set at 275 stickers, but, as of the 2006 edition, lists a few as "Unknown".  Beckett lists only 210.  The most notable inclusion is that of a very young Jim Rice, two years before his Topps rookie.  Distributed by Digallo C.A.

1974

     Borrowing the (in my opinion) ugly burlap design from the 1968 Topps set, again, Beckett and SCD follow the naming of the previous two years, covering the 1974-75 winter season.  While Beckett acknowledges the set contains 275 cards, they only bother to include 206 in their listings.  The Standard Catalog includes the complete set.  No notable rookies, though there is a Dave Parker following his 1974 rookie year.  Distributed by Digallo C.A.

1976

     After skipping a season, Venezuelan collectors were treated to this familiar looking set, styled after the 1975 Topps entry.  This series, covering the 1976-77 season, was expanded out to 330 stickers (Beckett lists 330 and the album).  Stickers above 217 are mostly comprised of team action shots, group photos, logos and puzzles.  Distributed by Divepress C.A.

1977

     1977 was a little different.  This time around, in a larger 402 piece set, Major League and winter league players were combined into a single set.  The Major League players were presented in the design of the 1977 Topps set, while the winter leaguers were presented in a unique design.  Beckett makes a bit of a mess with this set,  listing it as "1977 Venezuelan Topps Stickers", even though only about 50 of the cards reflect the Topps design, and only includes 326 stickers, but also listing it again as "1977-78 Venezuelan League Stickers", with 402.  The Standard Catalog lists them as "1977 Venezuelan Baseball Stickers".  Distributed by Divepress C.A.





1980-81

     After 1977, no sets show up until the 1980-81 Venezuelan League Stickers set.  SCD doesn't cover this one, but Beckett lists 288 stickers, sorted by team.  Says Beckett, "Andres Galarraga first ever card is in this set."  Distributed by Digallo C.A.

The next three sets haven't been catalogued by either of the big two books.

1981-82 (-83)

     This is actually sort of a two part set.  Stickers 1-288 comprise the 1981-82 set, fortunately for me, including Hendu in the Pre-Smile phase of his career.  For the 1982-83 winter season, the set was expanded with several cards being issued per team with letters suffixed to the card numbers.  Distributed by Digallo C.A.

1987-88

     After a gap of a few years, the stickers returned in 1987, bringing this brightly colored set of some 240 stickers.  A few of the big names here include Omar Vizquel, Andres Galarraga, David Justice, Cecil Fielder, David Wells, Julio Franco and one Gregory Maddux.  Distributed by Digallo C.A.

1988-89


     Big names again include Andres Galarraga, Omar Vizquel, Julio Franco and Joe Girardi (ok, so he wasn't exactly a "big name" as a player).  This set shrank a bit more to 216 stickers.   Distributed by Digallo C.A.  As far as I can determine, there were no sets for the 1989-90 or 1990-91 seasons.









     Starting in 1993, Line Up issued several sets of actual baseball cards, in actual packs, covering the winter leagues, both for contemporary players as well as historical sets documenting the past 50 or so years of professional baseball in Venezuela.  Panini issued a few sets, some specifically for the Venezuelan market, and some that just happened to be distributed there, along with the US.  As recent as 2010, a set of stickers featuring caricatures of popular Major Leaguers in their Venezuelan team uniforms was issued.

      All of these images (except for the Rhodes) come from listings by venezuelancards on eBay.  I've ordered a few cards from him for my Tuffy Rhodes and Dave Henderson collections in the last couple of years.  At first glance, some of the prices can seem steep, but he has pretty much cornered the market on selling these rare Venezuelan jewels to the U.S.  I've sent him a few questions about the nature and origins of these sets and hope to post any details he provides.  The checklists for all of the above sets are now available via the Inventory Manager over at SportsCardForum.com.

---UPDATE---

     I got some responses from Gilberto, the gentleman who sells as venezuelancards.  The stickers were usually issued in packs or envelopes of 4 at a time, and most of the time, the manufacturers did not release any sort of formal album, collectors were expected to create their own.  Also, there were multiple companies that produced the cards over the years.  I'll go back and amend the set listings to include the distributors mentioned in the eBay listings.