A Mix of BBM Baseball Cards

Along with the Reds, NASCAR, and sumo cards covered in the previous post, There was also a huge stack of BBM cards from Japan that Ryan sent over. These would be my first Japanese baseball cards. I knew cards were issued over there but I'm not familiar enough with the Japanese leagues to warrant getting any. Plus they're not exactly in great demand in southwest Ohio. 

These team checklist cards are really fun. They're definitely not like the team checklist cards found in Topps. When was the last time you saw a team card with the team stretching or jogging on the card? Here we've got team cards from the Yomiuri Giants, Orix Buffaloes, and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. The Giants I guess could be considered the Yankees of the Nippon League, having won over 20 titles since the league was founded in 1950.

Mascot cards can be found in Japanese cards as well. Here's a card of Tsubakuro, the mascot of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Most of the cards Ryan included were from the 2017 BBM 1st series. I really like the simple borderless design and the inclusion of the uniform numbers with the player's name on the front of the card.

There were also a handful of cards from the 2016 BBM 2nd series. 

I found it pretty interesting too to come across cards of American players. Let's see how these guys fared in the majors

Matt West - appeared in all of 5 MLB games between 2014 and 2015 with the Rangers and Dodgers.

Jason Standridge - played 7 MLB seasons from 2001-2007. He saw the bulk of his MLB appearances working out of the bullpen with the Reds from 2005-2006 where he appeared in 53 games with a 4.35 ERA. He also played for the Devil Rays, Royals, and Rangers.

Brad Eldred - only appeared in 90 games with spotty appearances from 2005-2012. He would resurface in the majors every 2-3 years during that span and appeared for the Pirates, Rockies, and Tigers. No, he's not related to former Brewers pitcher Cal Eldred either.

Ryan Brasier - Brasier resurfaced with Red Sox last season and won himself a World Series ring. Over 34 games with the Sox (and just barely over that many innings pitched), he had a 1.60 ERA. All of this coming five years after his last appearance, a brief 7-game stint with the Angels in 2013.

David Buchanan - Appeared in 35 games with the Phillies as a starter over parts of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. His total stats? An 8-17 record with a 5.01 ERA in 192.1 innings.

Off all the cards that were sent over, both Japanese and American, these are my favorites by far. These are from the 2017 BBM Time Travel 1975 set and they are a thing of beauty. It's old school card stock with old school photos from 1975. The design is really, really cool too. Did I mention the backs?

The back have full career stats from the debut season all the way through the 1975 season.

That covers all the loose cards from Ryan. There are still two packs of the 2017 BBM baseball cards I need to tear into.