An Ocean Apart, Once Upon a Time

 A while ago (months ago at this point) I finished watching an anime, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (pronounced kind of like "ji-arcs").

It was released earlier in 2025 and is sort of a "what if" type alternate reality scenario in the Gundam franchise. Though primarily centered on its new characters with callbacks to longtime fan favorites along for the fun.

Going into the series I knew absolutely nothing about Gundam other than that it's about giant mechs fighting in space, how it's been around for decades, and that people are still extremely passionate about the model kits of the mechs.

That did nothing to dampen my enjoyment of the show. I'm positive that a lot of stuff went way over my head while the hardcore fans got some smiles. But even I could tell that the show was made with a lot of love and appreciation for the original show.

I looked a bit further and found that Gundam premiered with the first ever anime show back in 1979. It's grown into one of Bandai Namco's biggest names in the years since.

Admittedly when I saw the franchise was that old and that there were direct parallels between the newest (as of this post) show on the block and the first I was intrigued. Mostly because a connection to the past, even if I don't know exactly what it is, has a way of making something feel richer and cooler.

I'll also admit that when I saw it's been around since the 70's my mind went to my primarily source for 70's American pop culture, Night Owl Cards. NOC mentions life in the 70's and things that were around in the 70's pretty often using baseball cards as a vessel. In all my years reading that blog Gundam has never been brought up. Obviously.

In the 70's and most of the 80's the Pacific Ocean kept the US and Japan apart. The US importing Japanese anything was no where near as common or profitable as it is today. There was never any chance NOC or people around his age at the time were going to see Gundam unless they lived on the west coast or until anime started getting popular in the west in the 90's.

My mind went there because I knew this was the case, but it fits into this overall question I've been having if the physical barriers being patched up by the world wide web now has folks in the two countries sharing a lot of similar experiences than you'd think.

Recently there's been a lot of attention on Gen Z (think folks born after 1995 up until roughly 2010), since they're the newest crop of college grads. I'm a late millennial so I've seen them (or at least the early ones getting talked about now) in the US, I've worked with them and for a brief period of time I've been classmates with them. Since coming back to Japan my time has largely been spent with people like a decade younger than me who are smack dab in that Gen Z timeframe.

The overall vibe I'm getting is, regardless of which continent, a lot of these people are really nihilistic.

To be clear I'm not trying to deride them, I totally get it. This world is a shithole and it's hard to feel like it's getting better. Also these people are the offspring of Gen Xers who in both countries don't have the cheeriest outlooks (though their experiences are a little different).

Living expenses keep rising as wages stagnate and jobs are either hard to come by or don't pay nearly enough. Young people just do not have the financial flexibility to afford having a family or house, in many cases they've simply given up and live incredibly lonely lives.

These sound like things you'd hear on CBS but unfortunately it's common place in Japan too, probably in most of the rest of the world too.

A whole generation that's so disillusioned with the general state of the world that all they know is an inherent need to protect oneself and those in your immediate circle and ONLY them. Often by some variation of "securing the bag" and generating a fortune to retire on in as short amount of time as possible. No matter the means, stupidity or ethics behind it.

Oh also I know I've been throwing scans of Gundam characters into this post but rest assured that the show isn't like that. There are anime's that touch on loneliness and the modern 1st world country but this was purely an homage to old Gundam cards of the past.

Anyway let me just finish out this post that went way off the rails. I originally wanted to go more into comparing the lives of youths in the 70s in both cultures and countries but that required way more research that I realized I could never do it justice. So I hope the pretty cards and some incoherent rambling will suffice.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

Bat Blog Around: My Proudest Collecting Achievements

 If you're in this hobby long enough you've probably been able to do something.

Maybe it was a spur of the moment thing that came together in 5 minutes.
Maybe it was a long grind that took years to accomplish.
Something that when you sit down and think about it, makes you go "yeah, I did that".

So I wanted to try and put this BBA out there to give everyone a chance to talk about stuff they did in this hobby that made them very happy and gave them fulfillment.

Apologies if this topic's already been done and I just missed it.

I've got a top 3 and going in reverse order. For your own BBA's (should you choose to do this topic) feel free to change up how you'd like to present them.

Big thanks to Night Owl Cards and San Jose Fuji for trying to get the word out while Blogger's feeds decided to go AWOL.

#3. Built 8 Rainbows

My time as a Luis Torrens supercollector gave me a prime opportunity to build the 2013 Bowman Chrome rainbow and 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome rainbow of Torrens.

I also built the logoless rainbows offered by 2014 Leaf Metal Draft, 2014 Leaf Trinity, 2014 Panini Prizm Draft and 2014 Leaf Valiant.

I was so close to the master rainbow lol

The basic rainbow was done but never finished the master rainbow

On top of these 6 Torrens rainbows, my feel for prospects allowed me to swoop in on 2 more rainbows.

Thairo Estrada from 2014 Bowman Chrome Mini.

Everson Pereira from 2019 Panini Donruss Optic.

Also pretty sure I built one Anthony Davis rainbow back when I collected him but I can't remember. Consider that an unofficial #9 rainbow.

None of these rainbows are still with me but I felt very happy each and every time they were finished.

Every parallel that filled a gap was like a puzzle I was building where the pieces were scattered across the world and I had to assemble them myself like a scavenger hunt.

#2. Donated My Entire Luis Torrens Supercollection to Luis Torrens' Family

Reminiscing on the rainbows above did make me feel a bit nostalgic for a second but I didn't feel regretful for letting all those cards go.

All now under the ownership of the guy on these cards' family

Simply because I know they ended up in the best possible spot they otherwise could've, with the player's family.

I still remember exchanging DM's with Torrens' father and trying to simultaneously get updates on the packages arriving at the address I was given, while trying not to bother them too much considering they were likely busy with the unrest in Venezuela (to put it mildly).

It's funny, during the entire time I was collecting Torrens I was super worried about if Torrens had a safe American address to send this to if I ever wanted to, then after all this went down I learned that his wife is a real estate agent in Florida. I was worried about nothing.

The confirmation message from Torrens senior saying Torrens' aforementioned wife picked up the stuff from the post office was quite cathartic. Note: that pic above of the packages is what I took at the post office when I shipped them off. I don't know if the Torrens family took pics of the boxes on their end.

But all's well that ends well as they say.

And before we get to my proudest collecting achievement, here are three honorable mentions.

HM1: Got a Triple Autograph via TTM and IPs

These are tremendously hard to arrange. Luckily all three are prominent signers around the nostalgia circuit (mostly for people who want autographs of the 1978 Yankees).

HM2: Got a Dual Autograph via IPs

This dual wasn't as hard to get as the triple one but I still love this card dearly.

HM3: Completed the 2012 Sega Card Gen set and 2012 Sega Card Gen Rare Foil Yankees Team Set

The 408 card 2012 Sega Card Gen base set, which was the first and only set completion post I ever made on this blog, is no longer with me.

But boy was putting that together fun. I still have the foil Yankees above just because I still kept some stuff for myself.

Okay so with the honorable mentions done, let's get to my proudest collecting achievement.

#1. Built the 1909-11 T206 New York Highlanders Team Set*

*Reminder that my team set does not include every image variation, nor does it account for the card back brands

Probably just case of recency bias, compounded by how this is actually still in my possession but building the T206 New York Highlanders team set* got my collector blood pumping in a way I hadn't in years.

I've built Yankees team sets before but with all due respect to 1979 Topps, 2012 Sega Card Gen, 2012 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs and several prospect team sets, 1909-11 T206es just towers over every other Yankees team set by so so much.

What a weird and odd collecting journey I've taken. From hardcore prospecting to one of the most famous vintage sets in the collecting space.

Just endless accumulation where I'm kind of left with nothing by my own choice.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

So anyway I've gone on long enough about my "achievements", I'm hopeful this gives people an opportunity to pump out their chests and share their stories.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

I Forgot What This Felt Like

 So the other day I bought and opened 3 packs of 2026 Topps NPB Stadium Club at a local supermarket.

No particular reason why. I just thought it'd be a fun dumb way to relieve stress during my commute home. Also I could get more package fodder to send to NPB Card Guy and others.

The first two packs came and went with nothing of note.

Then out of pack 3 came this.

Watermarked because scummy people steal pics of collectibles and create fake listings online now

That's an autograph of Yakult Swallows ace Yasunobu Okugawa and is limited to 5 copies.

It's also the first sport card hit I've pulled in a long while, and it's an actual good player!

I was very unprepared for this moment, so much so that I felt time slow down for a moment, then go back to normal. Like that effect they do in the movies.

This was a different thrill because unlike past "hits" I've pulled, those were somewhat guaranteed in that I got one whole hobby box or something similar with had a certified autograph or relic inserted.

This wasn't guaranteed. I only picked up 3 random packs. I didn't even pick them, the cashier got them from the box behind the counter. Yet somehow I (or the cashier?) defied the odds.

I also got the regular base card too which helps serve a nice contrast.

If you're wondering about the rest of cards, they didn't interest me a lick and they're already sealed away in envelopes headed for other people.

Forgive me but I'm not Night Owl Cards, no cards are valuable to me (base/parallels/hits/etc...) because I don't value any of them unless I want them out of impulsive need in the moment. If they don't hit me they can hit the road instead.

Also if you were wondering if the autograph meant Topps/Fanatics put in extra effort in the back.

Nope.

If anything they somehow made something with 0 effort look like it had negative effort.

But then again negative effort is sort of a good way to sum up this post in general.

If you've noticed I took a month off from blogging because I really wanted my last post where I completed the 1909-11 T206 New York Highlanders team set (minus variations) to breathe and rack up a lot of views and comments.

In case you missed it here they all are again.

But while I was thinking of what could possibly follow that up, I used up a year's worth of luck to nab a surprise hit that's of an actual somebody that I don't have to bend over backwards and be like "oh well at least it's a low numbered autograph card".

Sure, I'll take that.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

I Dared to Dream, It Became a Reality

 A few years ago I predicted that if I ever were to finish the T206 New York Highlanders team set, it'd be done across several years when the mood struck me, or I'd finish it in one swoop as soon as possible.

Well it turns out that the latter ended up being the route I chose.

Because Clyde Engle here arrived and capped off my New York Highlanders T206 team set*.

*To set the record straight again, I'm not referring to a team set in the traditional sense where I'm going after one copy of everyone including image variations.

No, I'm keeping my sanity by only going after one copy per player listed as a Highlander in the team set. If a player has an image variation (or several of them), I'm just going to get one and that's their only slot. Also no this is not accounting for the backs, beggars can't be choosers.

Look at that.

What a byotiful sight.

What a gorgeous sight.

It's tremendous.

A project 12 years in the making finally done!

Yes I will keep pushing that picture in everyone's faces, because IT'S THE 1909-11 T206 NEW YORK HIGHLANDERS TEAM SET*! I BUILT THAT ACROSS A DECADE AND THEN SOME!

This final push was partly inspired by my collector friend here in Japan named Anco89 who completed his own 12 year project where he assembled the certified Major League autographs from 2014 Topps Archives.

I had my own project from 2014 that was left open for too long too. Time to get moving damnit. I don't even have a Charlie Sheen autograph to make this ungodly expensive. I just needed to allow the shipping lanes to work their "magic".

So with this chapter finally closed, what the future holds for me and my collecting journey remains to be seen. I'm sure it'll be mostly smatterings of impulse purchases that eventually get dumped onto the usual suspects. But at the very least I'm at the point where I'm comfortable if I never used eBay ever again. I don't have a reason to.

I might eat those words given how whenever I declare something on this blog the opposite usually happens, but what I am trying to convey is that I'm feel content at this specific moment and I hope I can remain so for a while.

This cycle of endless accumulation. It's the part I like least about this hobby. Even though I'm happy about this there's no getting around the fact that all I did was spend a ton of money on pieces of paper with dead guys printed on them.

But damned if these pieces of paper aren't cool as shit.

Clyde Engle Back

I'm kinda sorry to Engle for not even attempting to go into his story but the situation called for something much different. If nothing else he can take solace in how I always intended for him to the final card in my team set build.

I saw him and passed up on him so many times at card shows, even back when commons were cheaper. I regret passing up those prices but I did not regret my decision to save one of the most ho-hum commons in the set to be the very last card I needed. Made it all the sweeter when everyone else with actual significance (especially Willie Keeler and Joe Doyle) were out of the way.

人生って面白いよね。何があるか分からないもん。

これからもどんどん楽しく生きていこうぜ。

As always thanks to you all (the readers) for stopping by.

Thanks to all of my collecting friends who've motivated me to keep on through the years.

20/20

Take care.

(Note: this blog is not ending, I'm just done with the final pie-in-the-sky collecting idea I had and am making a big deal about it)

Oh also I set up a gallery page for this. Also made gallery for cosplay girls in pretty outfits too.

Enough Beating Around the Bush

 There are certain things that seem "wrong" to say.

Saying that one bought multiple T206es in one swoop is probably one of them.

Or at least that was always the case for me. It always felt like these old tobacco cards are so old that they seem beyond the concept of bundles or "lots" like they're a stack of 1970 Topps. Although who knows, with the hobby bubble being where it is maybe lots in general don't exist anymore.

Even in past posts where I showed off multiple T206es, they were separate purchases from different people. Never did I think just bundling cards this old and significant (citation needed) would be possible.

But when a seller just happens to have 3 T206es I needed at the cheapest possible options, it'd be dumb for me not to just swoop in. Because what's the alternative? I just buy those three at different times from the same person? Yeah no, these take nearly a month to get to me now. Might as well save on time and shipping fees.

Jack Knight

Charlie Hemphill

Kid Elberfeld

Enter Jack Knight, Charlie Hemphill and Kid Elberfeld.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot on Knight but Hemphill is interesting to me in the sense that his run during the years the T206es came out (1909-11) were basically in sync with the last three seasons of his career. He was supposedly a power threat in his day (keep in mind this is pre-integration dead-ball era baseball, his career .070 ISO basically says as much) but he also took his walks. During his Highlanders tenure his walk rate was above 10% every season and in his worst season hit for a 108 wRC+ (stats per Fangraphs).

Elberfeld being a longtime MLBer in his time left behind a lot of interesting tidbits and stories. Keeping a Highlanders specific point of view, Elberfeld was the second ever captain for the franchise and during his second life as a manager down in the minor leagues he mentored a future name in Yankees lore named Casey Stengel.

Jack Knight Back

Charlie Hemphill Back

Kid Elberfeld Back

19/20

Wake up, no more dreaming. Time to make it a reality.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.