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BBM transformed the Japanese
baseball card industry in 1991 with their first set of 399
cards. Modeled after modern American cards, the set
included most of the active players as well as cards of
league leaders and a special subset of all-time great
players. Like American cards, BBM cards came in packs of
ten and in factory sets. BBM also were designated a number
of factory sets for the American market, making the set
fairly common in the United States. This first set includes
the Hideo Nomo and Kazuhiro Sasaki rookie cards. Starting
in 1991, BBM also annually issues boxed All-Star and Japan
Series sets.
In 1992 and 1993, BBM
continued to produce both foil packs and factory sets, but
they ended production of factory sets in 1994. the
same year, they started placing insert cards in random
packs. In 1996, BBM began producing a premium set called
Diamond Heroes. These cards are printed on thick stock and
tend to have a flasher design. Diamond Heroes sets contain
roughly half the cards than the regular BBM sets and sell
for roughly twice the price.
Over the years, BBM added more
annual sets. By 2010, they usually produced a
pre-season set, a regular set, a premium set, individual
sets for each team, all star and Japan Series sets, a
nostalgic set as well as additional special issue sets.
BBM cards are widely collected in both Japan and the United
States. The company is responsible for transforming card
collecting in Japan into a large business.
BBM
Cards
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Kazuhiro Sasaki
1991 BBM |
Ichiro 1993
BBM |
x
Nakamura 1996
BBM |
Daisuke Matsuzaka
2001 BBM |
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Tsuyoshi Shinjyo
1996 Diamond Hero |
Tsuyoshi Shinjyo
2000 Diamond Hero |
Ichiro 1998
BBM Insert |
Victor Starffin
2000 BBM Cenrury's
Best |
Following BBM’s example,
several other companies have produced “modern” baseball card
sets. In 1993 and 1994, Tomy issued major sets available
only in foil packs. Neither set, however, was popular with
collectors and the company stopped producing card sets. In
1999, two new companies, Broccoli and Future Bee, began
producing cards of individual teams. These sets, laced with
insert cards and parallel sets, were very popular with
collectors. Upper Deck tried to enter the Japanese
market in 2000 and produced a total of four sets.
During this modern period, game cards returned to fashion.
Large sets have been produced by Konami, Future Bee, Field
of Nine and Power League.
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Taguchi 1993
Tomy ID |
Hideki Matsui
1994 Tomy ID |
Kazuhisa Ishii
2001 Future Bee |
Kazuo Matsui
1999 Broccoli |
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Kazuo Matsui
2000 Upper Deck |
Akinori Otsuka
2000 Field of Nine |
Kazuo Matsui
2000 Future Bee Power League |
Miguel Cabrera
2006 Konami |
A variety of small sets were
also created. Three from the early 1990s are
particularly interesting. The first are the 1991 Q Cards.
These cards are the size of telephone cards and are printed
on plastic. They are relatively scarce. The best looking
sets of the 1990s are the 1993 and 1994 Kanebo Gold Cards.
These two small sets (64 and 32 cards) were printed on heavy
stock, contain raised vivid pictures, and gold foil
decoration. They were issued in packs containing one card
and a piece of gum. One of the most innovative sets of the
1990s is the Hideki Matsui Home Run Cards. One card is
issued for every homerun hit by Matsui. Cards were
available only through the television station showing the
Yomiuri Giants games.
1990s
Issues
Cards
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Hiromitsu Ochiai
1991 Q Card |
Takahiro Ikeyama
11994 Kanebo Gold |
Hideki Matsui
Home Run Card |
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