Did you know that Japan has a holiday called Sports Day? This year, the holiday falls on October 13. It commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo and is used to promote sports and active lifestyles.
With that in mind, this week’s featured product is 2000 BBM Japan Baseball. BBM stands for Baseball Magazine and is a Japanese baseball card set. The checklist is massive, featuring 632 cards. There are also six inserts sets.
Who are we looking for here? Well, the checklist does include some Japanese legends who went on to play in the majors. Names like Koji Uehara, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Matsui, and Ichiro Suzuki are all included here.
2000 BBM Japan Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 30
Price paid: $40
Buy BBM Japan Baseball boxes on eBay
Pack 1 highlights:
Being a Japanese League set, there are going to be plenty of unfamiliar names in this one.
Pack 2:
Akinori Iwamura
Iwamura played four seasons in MLB, hitting .267.
Pack 3:
Mikinori Hachiuma RC and Takatomi Sogawa RC
Pack 4:
Koji Uehara, Hiroki Suzuki RC and Kenta Kurihara RC
Pack 5:
Ryu Mayama RC and Koichi Sekikawa Best 9 of ’99
Pack 6:
Rafael Betancourt, Brian Warren Leaders, Shigeo Nagashima Comeback and Hiroshima Toyo Carp Checklist (CL)
Does this mascot look a lot like the Phillies Phanatic to anyone else?
Pack 7:
Kimiyasu Kudoh Leaders, Leo Gomez and Masaru Yoshizaki RC
After seven years in the majors, Gomez played another six seasons in Japan, hitting .293 with 153 home runs.
Pack 8:
Itsuki Shohda RC, Katsumi Yamashita RC and Akira Etoh New Face
Pack 9:
Melvin Nieves, Hisanori Takahashi RC, George Arias and Koji Akiyama Gold Glove
These Gold Glove inserts remind me of 1998 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion parallels with the gold specks.
Pack 10:
Kazunori Tanaka RC and Koichi Ogata Gold Glove
Pack 11:
Akinori Ohtsuka, Ikuro Katsuragi RC and Makoto Yoshino RC
Ohtsuka pitched four seasons of relief in the majors, posting an extremely impressive 2.44 ERA over 236 appearances.
Pack 12:
Ryoji Arai RC and Hayato Aoki RC
Pack 13:
Ichiro and Torey Lovullo
Lovullo, of course, is the current manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Pack 14:
Kenji Johjima, Munenori Kawasaki RC and Daisuke Matsuzaka Leaders
Pack 15:
Hideki Matsui, Takashi Saitoh and Daisuke Matsuzaka
Now, this is the kind of pack we’ve been looking for. Three players who came over and played in the majors.
Pack 16:
Kimiyasu Kudoh Leaders and Shigeo Nagashima Comeback
Pack 17:
Koji Uehara Leaders and Shigeo Nagashima Comeback
Uehara didn’t debut in the majors until he was 34 years old. He pitched to a 2.66 ERA across nine major-league seasons. He was actually a starter for his first seven seasons playing in Japan’s Central League.
Pack 18:
Kimiyasu Kudoh Leaders, Shigeo Nagashima Comeback, Chris Cumberland and Matthew Randel
Pack 19:
Atsushi Kizuka RC
Pack 20:
Hisashi Iwakuma RC and Koji Uehara Leaders
Iwakuma pitched six seasons in the majors, finishing third in Cy Young voting in 2013. He went 14-6 with a 2.66 ERA that year.
Pack 21:
Kazuhisa Ishii, Seibu Lions CL and Makoto Kenako Best 9 of ’99
Pack 22:
Kazuo Matsui Leaders, So Taguchi, Matsui again and Atsuya Furuta Best 9 of ’99
Pack 23:
Lou Merloni, Tony Fernandez and Hitoki Iwase Leaders
Fernandez played just one season in Japan. He hit .327 in 2000 before returning to play another season in the majors, then retired.
Pack 24:
Koji Uehara Leaders and Ryoji Arai RC
Pack 25:
Koji Uehara Leaders, Mikinori Hachiuma RC and Jason Jacome
Pack 26:
Bobby Rose Leaders, Yakut Swallows CL and Sadaharu Oh
Oh is consider the Babe Ruth of Japanese baseball. He played 22 seasons in the Central League, hitting 868 home runs.
Pack 27:
Kazuo Matsui Leaders, Koji Uehara Leaders, Hiroshima Toyo Carp CL and Jeff Ball
Pack 28:
Chiba Lotte Marines CL, Tony Fernandez, Hitoki Iwase Leaders and Yakult Swallows CL
Pack 29:
Yokohama Baystars CL, Shannon Withem, Roberto Petagine Leaders and Daisuke Matsuzaka Leaders
Pack 30:
Tony Tarasco and Satoru Komiyama New Face
Lastly, the Ichiro card back. I find it funny that “Did you know?” is about the only thing in English on this card back.
This was a lot of fun! I had never opened a Japanese product before. I do wish I pulled some inserts of the more well-known names but was happy to pull base cards of legends like Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and, of course, Sadaharu Oh.
I stumbled upon this box at the National a couple years back, and did not hesitate to pick one up. Hopefully I can find some more from some of the other BBM releases.
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.