Remembering Shinjomania

When Japanese players first started coming to the MLB - I'm not talking about Masanori Murakami, but the 90s/00s wave that started with Hideo Nomo - there was this sense of "hidden gold", and that any one of these guys who had been recent stars in Japan might come over and make your team into an instant contender. Of course, Ichiro Suzuki came over in 2001 and did exactly that with the Seattle Mariners. Who else was out there? I remember the hype and bracing for a wave of Japanese success stories in MLB.

We definitely had some. Hideki Matsui. Kazuhiro Sasaki. Dice-K. Yu Darvish. We're still getting them (I truly wish Shohei Ohtani the best, especially since I started collecting his cards this year). I just wish one of the leading lights had been Tsuyoshi Shinjo. Oh man were we excited when the San Francisco Giants signed him for the 2002 season. He'd just come off a really strong first year with the New York Mets, and with Ichiro scorching up the American League, it was possible - maybe? - that Shinjo might end up being, if not his National League equivalent, at least the guy who might send SF to their first World Series in 13 years, maybe?

Hey, as it turns out, the Giants did go to the World Series that year, famously losing out to the Angels in 7 games. It's just that Shinjo barely played any part in it. I remember him meekly coming up to pinch-hit in the 9th inning of Game 7 and being really bummed. He struck out. He'd had a pretty rough year, hitting .238 with an OBP of .294. A little pop - 9 homers in 362 at bats - but not enough. We basically gave him back to the Mets the following year, and Shinjo was out of baseball the year after that (actually, that's not true - he went back to Japan and put up decent numbers for the Nippon Ham Fighters for 3 more years). 

I'm glad about that last bit. Shinjo may not have been the savior we'd hoped he'd be, but he was the first Japan-born player to ever play in a World Series. He put up some quality at-bats in 2002, if you ignore all the ones in which he didn't. And Shinjomania was very much a thing during the Spring of 2002 in the San Francisco Bay Area. In honor of that, I've collected a few of the man's cards.

Big Winnings From The Lost Collector

The Lost Collector was one of the first card blogs I poured myself into as I really started getting re-invigorated with this card-collectin' mania a bit over a year ago. Then, earlier this year when I started my own blog, he (AJ) was one of the first folks I traded cards with. Here we are 7 months later, folks, and we're still swapping pieces of cardboard. I received a nice treasure trove from the man just last week, and I'd like to tell you a little bit about it.

AJ by now knows the sorts of card ephemera I'm into (although that continues to evolve, and I try to make regular updates to my want list to reflect that). One thing I've gotten into, which was duly recognized, is prospect cards. I really enjoy minor league issues like the 1990 Pro Cards set that Charles Nagy was featured on here; I also like the shiny new Bowman cards featuring guys we barely know; I'm even excited about the 2020 Topps Heritage Minors that just came out, and which I ordered a few cards from just last night. 

Anyway, I don't really care who the guy is or if he even made it to the bigs, though I suppose I'd prefer that he did, given the choice. But here are a few among many that arrived in my package from the Lost Collector.

This trade also netted me something I really, really needed but didn't know I wanted until I got it: a 2011 card for Jose Guillen, who played a few uninspiring weeks for the 2010 World Champion Giants, and was such a clubhouse cancer and a wreck of a player that despite a distinguished, power-hitting major league career to that point, was left off of the postseason roster. 

There was also this autographed 2012 Topps/Bowman Platinum card (#36/50!) for backup catcher Andrew Susac. Bummer to be a catcher on the Giants the same year Buster Posey was winning the MVP...

There were all manner of winnings and special moments in the Lost Collector's package to me. Important cards. Unimportant cards that I needed anyway. McCovey cards that I didn't even scan. 5 Vlad Guerrero cards, four of which I didn't have. Treasure trove.

I've scanned a few more of them here so that you might have a gander.

11 Random New Arrivals

It's getting to the point now where if a new card arrives at the house, I feel I've got to somehow scan it and talk about it here on the Card Hemorrhage blog, before filing it into its proper place in a box or a binder. That can't be healthy, can it? Validate from within? 

Anyway, here's a random assortment of things that I've picked up in various places the past ten days or so. I've got a real soft spot for these 2020 Onyx prospect cards, and if I can grab a guy like Richard Gallardo who just might be the next Nolan Ryan, and grab him for cheap, then why not, right? I've not heard of Mr. Gallardo, but he's in the Cubs organization, and did not get the call to the big club in 2020, which meant, due to our current global pandemic, he either had to sit the season out entirely or was dispatched to the Cubs' "alternate site", wherever that was. Let's see him in the bigs in 2021, throwing strikes to everyone except the San Francisco Giants.

Jim at Cards As I See Them blog had a mega Free Card Friday the other day, and somehow I got in fast enough to claim a few ringers. Walker Buehler? Why Walker Buehler? Man, I don't know. I like the guy. He's going to do great things for a while in our sport. Anyway, this 2019 Topps Heritage New Age Performers card is fantastic; I've got 2 more Beuhler cards to show you as well.

Also claimed this 1969 Topps Giants card of a Giants backup catcher named Bob Barton from the same Jim/Cards as I See Them Free Card Friday:

...and these two poorly-scanned, crooked 1972 Clay Carrolls to get me that much closer to completing the '72 Topps set (note: I'm not close at all):

...and this 1957 (!) piece of vintage glory. In this case, it's not me scanning the card poorly - the card itself is actually off-center.

I found another Joey Bart card I didn't have for my player collection, too. This one's a mini from the 2020 Topps 206 collection, with now-major league catcher Bart donning the "tools of ignorance" for the 2019 Richmond Flying Squirrels:

Finally, I just got wise to those 1974 Topps "Hank Aaron Special" cards, and I love 'em. There were six of them, and I bought two of them on eBay this past week. Cards on cards! I'll try and grab the other four in the near future and give 'em a poor scan on the blog once I do.

The Big Red Machine's Big Bopper

I always liked George Foster. Even when he was a ex-San Francisco Giant who was smashing 52 home runs for the Reds in '77, many of them against us, he always exuded class and a real competitive fire. I mean, look at this rookie card here. Would you bet against him becoming a star? (this is actually a 2001 Topps Archive card that kicks Mike Davison off of the '71 Giants Rookies card - a card I thought I had and which it turns out I don't - and isolates Foster instead). I picked up this card recently and thought that maybe I might need to assemble a George Foster mini-collection. He's one of those players who was an MVP, but whose cards are quite affordable and easy to come by, as he didn't quite hit Hall of Fame status, attributed to really good but not otherworldly stats in the 1980s, especially as a New York Met.

The guy was really something for the Reds, though, and was the cleanup anchor for one of the greatest hitting lineups of all time. Here are a few of his cards that I was able to grab ahold of. My favorites are the Topps 1972 playoff card, "Foster's run decides it" - this sent the Reds into the 1972 World Series that they would lose to the Oakland A's - and the 2004 Upper Deck "Timeless Teams" card, second from the last in this row:

Two 1970 Topps Team Sets Looking Good

I don't have much of a hankering to collect the entire 1970 Topps baseball set, but I've been working on getting two team sets completed, one of which I just received the final card for yesterday. That would be the 1970 Seattle Pilots, who had pictures of themselves snapped for their big upcoming 2nd season in Seattle, only weeks before moving before the season to Milwaukee and becoming the Milwaukee Brewers. 

I've slowly picked off each of the Pilots via trades and single-card orders on eBay and Sportlots. This week, the final 3 that I didn't have arrived - Ted Kubiak, manager Dave Bristol, and the 1970 Seattle Pilots team card. I have to say it's a satisfying feeling. I've been able to assemble 1969 and 1970 Pilots sets, along with all sorts of long-tail Pilots ephemera including this set and some strange cards. About the only Pilots card thing I don't have is the 2018 Topps Heritage Seattle Pilots autograph set. Not a single card. They're, uh, pricey. Going on my want list now. Anyway, here were the final 3 cards I needed to complete 1970:

The other 1970 set I'm still working on is - surprise - the 1970 San Francisco Giants. Made a little progress this week with some heavy-hitting Juan Marichal cards and a few other gems. Willie Mays will be the big get in this one, but I was able to land both McCovey cards already.

Maybe I'm Collecting 1965 Topps Now

I'd barely gotten my plans to collect 1971 Topps, 1972 Topps and 1976 SSPC sets off the ground when I, um, added yet another set that I think I'm going to have to try and complete someday. 1965 Topps just look great to me - the pennant, the washed-out photos (reminiscent of an Instagram filter today - call it "Civil Rights Era"), the general before-I-was-born look and feel of it all.

I'm under no illusion that this will come easy, which is why, besides my 1965 Frank Robinson card, I'm starting with amassing commons, the guys that only freaks like me and you have heard of. Of the 598 cards, I've only got - well - 18 of 'em so far, so check back in a half-decade and I'll let you know how much closer I've come.

Commons in relatively decent shape can still be had for under $1, and sometimes even better when bought in batches on eBay, as I recently did for a few Twins and Pirates guys. This Joe Morgan rookie card and this Sandy Koufax card - well, those might take a little longer. In the meantime, because I think they're so good-lookin', I scanned everything I own from this set besides the Frank Robinson card. Take a gander.

Some 2020 Allen & Ginter Inserts

Once I realized how much I was enjoying the new 2020 Allen & Ginter set that I wrote about last week - I mean, the cards I like from the set - I thought it might be a good idea and place an order for other ones I might enjoy from the set. Especially inserts and harder-to-procure items. So that's what I did. Maybe you want to take a look at them? Here are a few guys I collect, guys who got their own "Longball Lore" card:

And here are a few other fellas whose baseball careers or je ne sais quoi I'm also fond of, with cards that mark their debuts as major leaguers:

And here are two more inserts I grabbed, along with Monte Irvin, a guy I sorta collect.

Hope you've enjoyed this edition of Card Hemorrhage's baseball card scans, and that you'll tune in next edition when I do the exact same thing - but with different cards!