2012 BBM Rookie Edition

BBM released their annual Rookie Edition set in late February.  Like the previous editions, this set showcases the players taken in last fall's draft.  The set contains 111 cards - 97 cards of the drafted players, a two card sort-of-checklist subset (showing each drafted player) and a 12 card subset of active players - I think the intent is that they be the top rookies from 2011 for each team as it includes both 2011 Rookies of the Year (Hirokazu Sawamura and Kazuhisa Makita) along with Yuki Saitoh (naturally).

The cards of the drafted players look pretty much like they always do.  The pictures are taken at the ceremonies that each team introduces their draft picks at, so they're kind of monotonous after a while - lots of "guts" poses, pitchers posing with baseballs, hitters posing with bats, etc.  Since the Dragons and Baystars were doing new uniforms this season they decided to have their draft picks wear suits - the other 10 teams have their players in their home uniforms.

Here's a couple examples:

#087

#045

#079

The two checklist cards show only the drafted players, not the active players.  Card #98 shows the Pacific League draftees.  Card #99 shows the Central League draftees.  Although the draft is officially known as the 2012 draft (and is reflected on the back of the player's cards as such), the checklist refers to them as 2011 draft picks.

#98

Here's the active player subset card for Sho Iwasaki:

#100

As always, you can see all the cards here.

This is the tenth edition of this set.  I still think they should show pictures of the players on their amateur and industrial league teams rather than from the introduction ceremony.