Baseball has been performed in Japan for over 150 years and professionally for the previous 90. There are recognized to be baseball playing cards depicting the game in Japan as early as 1900 though little is understood about most of the pre-World Struggle II playing cards just because few of them survived the battle. The post-war period featured an explosion in baseball card manufacturing that has continued to today.
Doing a seek for “Japanese Baseball Playing cards” on Ebay will provide you with an enormous variety of outcomes and it may be sort of overwhelming attempting to make some sense of what you’re taking a look at. What number of card firms are there? What number of totally different units are there? Are Yomiuri and Hanshin locations in Japan? This publish will try and reply a few of these questions by giving an outline of the present state of the Japanese card market.
Baseball In Japan
Let’s begin by giving somewhat little bit of background details about skilled baseball in Japan. Typically when folks speak about baseball in Japan, they’re speaking about Nippon Skilled Baseball (NPB), the Japanese equal of MLB. NPB consists of 12 groups in all which are break up into two separate six group leagues – the Central League and the Pacific League. The Central League groups are the Yomiuri Giants, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. The Pacific League groups are the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, the Chiba Lotte Marines, the Saitama Seibu Lions, the Orix Buffaloes and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. The group names could appear somewhat complicated however the factor to recollect is that each one the group names include the identify of the corporate that owns the group (Yomiuri, Yakult, DeNA, Chunchi, and so on) and several other of the group names additionally function both the town, prefecture (kind of the equal of a state) or area (assume one thing just like the “mid-Atlantic” however with a proper definition) that the group performs in (Chiba, Tokyo, Saitama, Tohoku, and so on)..
Every group has a “70 man” roster which often has fewer than 70 gamers on it. 28 of these gamers are on the highest group’s roster (also called ichi-gun which accurately means “first troop”) Of the 28, solely 25 are energetic for any explicit recreation. The remaining gamers are on the farm group (also called ni-gun or “second troop”). Every group has just one farm group.
Most groups even have a handful of gamers who aren’t on the “70 man” roster. These gamers are referred to as “growth” or “ikusei” gamers. You may establish these gamers by the truth that they’ve three digit uniform numbers. These gamers are allowed to play in farm group video games however have to be signed to the “70 man” roster to play on the prime degree. A pair groups have sufficient growth gamers to area an unofficial third group (“san-gun”) which can play company or impartial league groups. Yearly there are a handful of gamers who “graduate” from being growth gamers – essentially the most well-known one might be Kodai Senga.
Every fall NPB holds a draft for eligible gamers graduating from highschool or school. Gamers from the company and impartial leagues will also be drafted in the event that they haven’t beforehand been drafted in NPB. There are two components of the draft – a “common” section for gamers who will find yourself on their group’s “70 man” roster and an “ikusei” draft for growth gamers.
Some Japanese Baseball Card Conventions
Earlier than we get too far down the street, we should always point out a pair conventions of Japanese baseball playing cards.
There may be often the identical variety of “common” participant playing cards for every group in every flagship set (one main exception is BBM’s Fusion set). So if a set has 216 playing cards with no subsets, you’ll know that every group has 18 playing cards within the set. If the subset shouldn’t be for the earlier yr’s statistical leaders or award winners or the All Star lineup, it’ll even be evenly divided between the 12 groups. Identical for insert playing cards. It’s sort of a pleasant change of tempo from MLB units with 30 Yankees and 5 Royals.
For baseball card functions, the gamers who’re taken in a given yr’s draft are known as rookies the next yr. For instance all of the gamers who’ve the “rookie” icon on their 2024 baseball playing cards had been taken within the 2023 draft. That is NOT the identical as how NPB treats rookie standing which is whether or not a participant has exceeded a certain quantity of taking part in time. Because of this the rookie playing cards for each 2023 “Rookie Of The 12 months” award winners had been in 2021 (since each gamers had been drafted in 2020).
This can be very uncommon for there to be baseball playing cards of faculty gamers and unprecedented there to be any for highschool gamers. Any card you see of a highschool participant (or, extra probably, a star participant from their highschool days) on Ebay is probably going a “collector’s subject” and never an official card. There are playing cards for company league and impartial league gamers so it IS attainable to seek out “pre-rookie” playing cards for sure gamers, but it surely’s not widespread.
As a result of NPB groups deal with their farm groups as an extension of the highest groups, there aren’t any separate “minor league” group units for the NPB farm groups or the equal of the Topps Professional Debut set.
One main means that NPB card units differ from MLB units is that this can be very uncommon for a participant to be depicted on a group apart from the one he’s on when the set goes to press. It helps that gamers transfer a lot much less often in NPB than they do in MLB however I’ve seen Japanese card firms pull playing cards from manufacturing when a participant has been traded.
Japanese Baseball Card Makers
There are at the moment 4 firms with a license to supply NPB baseball playing cards. We’re going to run them down so as of how lengthy they’ve been making playing cards.
One fast observe earlier than we get began. I’m going to say the units that every producer usually releases every year however take that with a grain of salt. Generally the businesses will abruptly change what their releases are. BBM, for instance, revealed boxed units for the All Star video games and the Nippon Sequence yearly for over 20 years earlier than all of the sudden stopping in 2013.
Calbee
Calbee is a Japanese snack firm that has been distributing baseball playing cards with baggage of potato chips since 1973. There was quite a lot of selection within the measurement of Calbee’s units within the early years (and even what constituted a “set”) however issues settled down considerably within the late 90’s the place Calbee would subject their “flagship” set in two or three sequence every year.
Calbee’s units are usually pretty small, and appear to be shrinking lately. Their units have been within the neighborhood of 160 playing cards up to now three years. Consequently, their units function many of the prime gamers in NPB however not as most of the lesser gamers. Whether or not or not the set contains many rookie gamers could be very hit and miss as properly.
Calbee doesn’t provide any autograph or memorabilia playing cards with their units. “Hits” are the “Star” insert playing cards, particularly the parallel variations that function gold facsimile signatures. It’s additionally attainable to drag a “Fortunate Card” which might be mailed to Calbee and exchanged for one thing. There have been instances when the prize has been a particular baseball card or playing cards however often it’s merely a card album.
It’s considerably costly to get unopened packing containers of Calbee playing cards shipped abroad for the straightforward motive that the packs of playing cards are nonetheless hooked up to baggage of potato chips! Whereas a typical field together with 24 baggage of chips that every have a pack of two playing cards doesn’t weigh an entire lot, it’s bigger than you’d assume. And it’s very questionable if the expense is value getting solely 48 playing cards.
BBM
BBM stands for “Baseball Journal”. BBM’s dad or mum firm is Baseball Journal Sha which has been publishing sports activities magazines and books for the reason that 1940’s however they didn’t begin publishing baseball playing cards till 1991. They had been the primary Japanese baseball playing cards that resembled American playing cards, with packs containing ten playing cards and issuing a manufacturing unit set for his or her flagship set. There are fewer playing cards to a pack nowadays they usually haven’t issued a manufacturing unit set for his or her flagship set since 1993 however they’re unquestionably the most important card firm in Japan.
BBM points a myriad of units every year however I’m solely going to spotlight a small subset of them. Their draft decide set – Rookie Version – often comes out in late-February and options all of the gamers taken within the earlier fall’s draft, each the common and “ikusei” phases. That is usually the place a Japanese participant could have his first ever baseball card. The scale of the bottom set is pushed by the variety of gamers drafted however is often round 130. Hits on this set are largely facsimile signature parallels, a few of that are numbered. There are autographed playing cards out there though I feel they’re largely redemption playing cards which can be tough to alternate from abroad.
BBM points their flagship set in three components – 1st Model comes out in April, 2nd Model comes out in August and Fusion comes out in November. It’s not fairly like Topps’ Sequence One, Two and Replace. The design of the “common” participant playing cards is totally different between 1st and 2nd Model (though 2nd Model has a “1st Model Replace” subset utilizing the identical design as the first Model playing cards) whereas the Fusion set makes use of one more card design and is sort of a assessment of the common season (though it additionally has a “1st Model Replace” subset). The entire measurement of the bottom set for the flagship set is round 600 playing cards though many gamers have a number of playing cards. Due to that although, BBM’s flagship units often embrace not simply the highest stars however many of the common gamers for every group. The first Model set will even include playing cards for all of the rookies (i.e. the earlier yr’s draft picks) from all of the group’s “70 man” rosters (so not one of the ikusei gamers). Hits for all three units embrace the ever present number of facsimile signature parallels (together with numbered ones) in addition to a good variety of autographed playing cards and a handful of memorabilia playing cards.
BBM additionally points a “complete” group set for every of the 12 groups. What I imply by that could be a set that can include a card for each participant on the group’s “70 man” roster or basically everybody within the group besides the event gamers. The bottom units for these units include 81 playing cards – usually there’s 60-ish “common” playing cards for the group’s supervisor and the gamers after which 12-15 subset playing cards to fill out the set. The units are usually issued between March and July. Hits for the group units are largely some particular serially numbered insert playing cards together with autograph and/or memorabilia playing cards probably – it depends upon the group. For instance, the Yomiuri Giants don’t enable their gamers to do autographs in card units so the Giants group units don’t have autographs.
BBM points a “excessive finish” set referred to as “Genesis” each September. The bottom set for this set incorporates 120 playing cards however nobody is on this set for the bottom set. That is the set that BBM has essentially the most autograph and memorabilia playing cards related to. In addition to the autograph and memorabilia playing cards, Genesis additionally has a plethora of numbered parallel playing cards.
Epoch
Epoch is a Japanese toy firm that was based within the 1950’s however didn’t do their first card set till 2000. That could be stretching issues a bit because it was truly a set of stickers that may very well be pasted into albums. It will be one other 9 years earlier than they issued their subsequent set which was finished together with what was then referred to as the All Japan Baseball Basis and is now the Nationwide Baseball Promotion Affiliation or OB Membership. For the following few years, Epoch would launch a handful of units, often in partnership with the OB Membership and that includes retired (OB) gamers.
Beginning in 2015, Epoch began issuing units with energetic gamers and in 2018 they received critical about competing with BBM, debuting a flagship set together with “complete” group units for a subset of the groups. They’ve tweaked their choices considerably since then although. And as was the case with BBM, I”m solely going to spotlight a few their units right here.
Their flagship set is known as NPB and is usually launched in Might or June. The set had included 432 energetic gamers yearly between 2018 and 2023, typically accompanied by 12 playing cards of retired gamers which can or could not have been short-printed. The set has shrunk in measurement over the previous two years, nevertheless, with the 2024 set dropping to 336 playing cards of energetic gamers plus the 12 retired gamers and the 2025 version additional shrinking to 240 playing cards. Like BBM’s flagship units, Epoch’s set is giant sufficient to incorporate each the star gamers and the extra common ones. The NPB set will even embrace playing cards of all of the non-ikusei rookies. Hits from the set embrace numbered parallels and inserts together with autographed playing cards.
Epoch issued “complete” group units in 2018 and 2019 however in 2020 they shifted to group units that solely had 30 or 40 gamers in them. Initially their group units had been dubbed “Rookies & Stars” however since 2022 they’ve been referred to as “Premier Version”. Epoch solely does these units for a subset of the groups, though they look like including extra groups every year. The units will include many of the starters for the group (together with the celebrities clearly) together with (once more) the group’s rookie class which can embrace “ikusei” gamers relying on the group. The hits within the packing containers embrace quite a lot of serially numbered parallels and inserts together with autograph playing cards.
Topps
Whereas Topps has been publishing baseball playing cards within the US for over 70 years, they’re comparatively new to the NPB market. They introduced their NPB license in the beginning of October of 2021 and put their first set out two months later. As a result of they’re so new it’s tough to say for certain what their normal units are.
They’ve issued a 216 card flagship set every year that makes use of the same (however not essentially an identical) design as their MLB flagship set. The set has extra rookie playing cards than Calbee usually does however has by no means contained the yr’s complete rookie class. Hits have usually been a plethora of various parallels however they’ve not too long ago began including autographs. For some time, the autographed playing cards weren’t for present NPB gamers however as a substitute for each present and retired Japanese MLB gamers comparable to Ichiro, Hideki Matsui and Shohei Ohtani (though the gamers are depicted of their NPB uniforms). They’ve began including present NPB gamers extra not too long ago.
Topps has additionally issued a Chrome set every year. The primary two iterations of this set had been basically a “Chrome” parallel of the flagship set though since then the set’s been totally different – a brand new guidelines containing some totally different gamers and all new images. Hits once more are parallels and autograph playing cards.
Topps additionally issued NPB variations of their Bowman set in 2022 and 2023; their 206 set in 2023 and 2024; their Stadium Membership set in 2024 and 2025; and their Most interesting set in 2025. They’ve issued 4 units a yr since 2022 with solely two of their preliminary yr.
Thus far, Topps has issued all of their NPB units by way of packs.
Each Epoch and Topps provide on demand playing cards for NPB. Epoch’s are referred to as Epoch One whereas Topps makes use of the Topps Now moniker for his or her Japanese playing cards as properly. This can be very tough to get these from abroad as neither firm will ship these playing cards outdoors the nation.
What I’ve listed right here aren’t all of the units that these producers put out however they’re many of the perennial ones and doubtless essentially the most simple units. There are playing cards apart from those from these firms however they’re much harder to seek out from abroad. Most if not the entire groups subject playing cards by way of their fan golf equipment and sometimes give playing cards away with meals on the ballpark. Like within the US, there could also be playing cards given away with meals merchandise at shops and typically these playing cards are finished together with BBM or Epoch.
There’s additionally often some collectible card recreation (CCG) set out there though the producer appears to vary each few years. Bushiroad issued a CCG referred to as DreamOrder in 2024 and 2025 however I’m undecided in the event that they’re persevering with this yr. Bandai is outwardly issuing a CCG quickly referred to as “Fanstars League”. Bandai had beforehand issued a CCG referred to as “Homeowners League” within the 2010’s and each Takara and Konami have issued ones up to now.
Editor’s Be aware: SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee will host a digital Zoom assembly at 8:30 p.m. Japanese on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 with Tatsuo Shinke, who will focus on the present state of baseball card amassing and the quickly creating sports activities card market in Japan. Mr. Shinke is the CEO of Mint Sports activities Playing cards and Video games, Japan’s largest chain of sports activities card retailers. He has beforehand labored for Higher Deck and Japan’s largest sports activities card producer, Baseball Journal (BBM).
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