I'm probably one of the biggest dorks about Tokyo Big 6 baseball; I've been going to games since I moved here in 2007, and have been at enough of them in the last two years that I've been promoted from "oh, a gaijin" to "oh, THAT gaijin" among the Jingu regulars and even some of the players.
The "Handkerchief Generation" has spurred a lot of Tokyo Big 6 merchandising, including DVDs and calendars, and since spring 2008, a special card set box for each semester. I realize BBM would probably love nothing more than to make a "Yuki Saitoh" box instead of a "Tokyo Big 6" box. Too bad. This set is required to represent all 6 teams in the Tokyo Big 6 league equally, even if Tokyo University has only won 2 games (and lost 50) since the inception of the set.
You can see a few card samples on the official BBM page -- pictured there are the cards for Daisuke Takeuchi (K), Yuki Saitoh (W), Yusuke Nomura (M), Soichiro Tanaka (R), Kisho Kagami (H), and Shuhei Iwasaki (T).
For the record, their advertising at the top mentions that OMG YOU CAN GET YUKI SAITOH'S LAST COLLEGE CARD, and also says how Saitoh, Ohishi, and Fukui are expected to go as high draft picks (gee no mention of any non-Waseda candidates). And hey, you can also get the first ever card for Keio's Daisuke Takeuchi, who threw a no-hitter against Tokyo! And whee there are insert cards! Oh boy!
No offense, BBM, but I'd be happier if you went back to 9 players per team instead of 5, rather than putting in insert cards. Even if it means you may have to feature some Todai guys who batted .050 or have a 15.00 ERA.
Card list (the number is the card number in the set, plus school year and position, and * denotes team captain)
Keio:
1. Daisuke Takeuchi (2, P)
2. Koji Fukutani (2, P)
3. Masahiro Nagasaki (4, C)
4. *Tatsushi Yumoto (4, IF)
5. Hayata Itoh (3, OF)
6. Keio Team
Waseda:
7. Tatsuya Ohishi (4, P)
8. *Yuki Saitoh (4, P)
9. Yuya Fukui (4, P)
10. Yuya Watanabe (3, IF)
11. Shohei Habu (3, OF)
12. Waseda Team
Meiji:
13. Kazuki Nishijima (4, P)
14. Yusuke Nomura (3, P)
15. Fumiya Araki (4, IF/OF)
16. Kento Yajima (4, OF)
17. Masataka Nakamura (3, OF)
18. Meiji Team
Rikkio
19. Kenya Okabe (2, P)
20. Keisuke Okazaki (3, IF)
21. Koichiro Matsumoto (2, IF)
22. *Soichiro Tanaka (4, OF)
23. Hayato Saitoh (2, OF)
24. Rikkio Team
(There are two boys named Hayato Saitoh on the Rikkio team; this one is 西藤勇人, not 斎藤隼)
Hosei
25. Kisho Kagami (4, P)
26. Kazuki Mishima (2, P)
27. Yoh Sasaki (4, IF)
28. Hiroshi Taki (2, IF)
29. Kanji Kawai (1, IF)
30. Hosei Team
Tokyo
31. *Yoshihiro Maeda (4, P)
32. Junichi Katori (2, P)
33. Shuhei Iwasaki (3, IF)
34. Shota Utsumi (3, IF)
35. Yohei Tachi (2, IF)
36. Tokyo Team
Insert Cards (These are basically the Best 9, plus Kazuki Mishima for being ERA title holder. Yuya Watanabe was batting champion but he was also on the Best 9. I have already argued quite extensively on why Daisuke Takeuchi was clearly deserving of being the Best 9 pitcher.)
Insert cards:
SP01: Daisuke Takeuchi (K)
SP02: Masahiro Nagasaki (K)
SP03: Yoh Sasaki (H)
SP04: Yuya Watanabe (W)
SP05: Takayuki Matsuo (K)
SP06: Koichiro Matsumoto (R)
SP07: Hayata Itoh (K)
SP08: Soichiro Tanaka (R)
SP09: Kento Yajima (M)
SP10: Kazuki Mishima (H)
And I offer a few photos:
Box, front.
Box, back.
Box, inside, and Daisuke Takeuchi card on the top of the stack since it's #1. You may notice Hitoshi Fuchigami standing behind him in the card, which is funny because Fuchigami doesn't have his own card in this set, but he said "See, I'm still in the set... kinda..."
My favorite card of the set is probably freshman Kanji Kawai's, and not just because Kawai is my favorite rookie. I was at that game where that shot was taken, and have a shot of the same AB, I think, only from the other side.
My insert card is Koichiro Matsumoto. I wouldn't mind trading it...
I'm debating the idea of trying to get all of my cards signed except Waseda (since those guys might as well have a barbed-wire fence around them), but I'm not sure if it's worth bothering so many guys. I guess I have 6 weeks to get up the nerve to do it :)
1 comment:
What would really have been cool is if you were in the background of the Kawai card, snapping your picture...
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