Tuesday, January 20, 2009

2008 BBM Nippon Series Set


BBM brings an end to their 2008 cards with the annual Nippon Series box set. This 62 card set features cards of every member of the Giants and Lions who appeared in this past fall's Nippon Series, plus cards of both managers. In addition, there are cards for the Series MVP (Takayuki Kishi), the Fighting Spirit award winner (Alex Ramirez) and the Outstanding Player award winners (Hiroshi Hirao, Hiroyuki Nakajima, and Takahiro Suzuki) as well as a "Lions Champion" card (#S62, shown above).

One thing I've always liked about the Nippon Series sets is that the pictures on the cards are from the actual series. In the past this has lead to cool cards like those for Tuffy Rhodes in 2001 and Koji Akiyama in 1991, as well as some cards showing the fog during the Game 1 in 2005. This year, there's no real memorable cards in the set. (Not surprisingly, this event didn't get any coverage in the cards.) I mean, the photos are nice and all, but there's no real sense that they are from the Series rather than just any other game.

Here are the cards of Hiroyuki Nakajima of the Lions (#S17) and Takuya Kimura of the Giants (#S45):



Nice photos, but they could have been taken anytime.

I did like the photo on Takahiro Suzuki's Outstanding Player award card (#S61):

No comments: