Thursday, June 20, 2013

Fun While It Lasted

There were rumors flying around earlier this week that Manny Ramirez was leaving the EDA Rhinos in Taiwan and coming to Japan, joining the Chiba Lotte Marines (who a few weeks ago were rumored to be trading for another Ramirez - Alex of the Baystars). Alas it appears that this not going to happen - Ramirez has left the Rhinos but he's returning to the States as he misses his family and he'd like another opportunity to play in the majors.  (H/T Yakyu Baka.)

If Manny had come to Japan, I was trying to figure out what card set he might appear in.  I think it would probably be too late for him to be in BBM's 2nd Version (early August release) but he could probably have made it into Calbee's Series Three set (usually out in mid September).  If the Marines made it to the Nippon Series, he'd be in that set also.  I kind of wondered if BBM would find an excuse to do a late season box set for the Marines as well.  If the Marines do pull off the rumored trade for Alex Ramirez, I'd expect the same card possibilities.

I did get an email from the guy I bought the 2012 Taiwan set from saying that the 2013 CPBL set including Ramirez would be out "in months".  I just don't know how many.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am having trouble finding out if Manny Ramirez had a card from that year...Any help would be appreciated. If you have one of Manny on the EDA Rhinos, I'd like to buy it off of you. Thanks.

NPB Card Guy said...

I checked with Jason who is the expert on Taiwanese baseball cards and he said that to the best of his knowledge, the only EDA Rhinos card of Manny Ramirez was either a giveaway or sold at the stadium. Here are images of the front and back of the card.

He did not appear in the official CPBL set for that year and Jason is not aware of any Rhinos team set from 2013.

I don't really know what to suggest to you for how to go about finding this card. You might want to contact guys in Taiwan who are selling baseball cards on Ebay and see if any of them can help you out.

Jason Presley said...

The only other "cards" I have found for Manny in Taiwan were these rail pass cards:

http://www.eda-rhinos.com.tw/NewsContent.aspx?NewsType=2&NewsId=153

It is fairly common in Taiwan and Japan for athletes or sports teams to be featured on rail passes and phone cards.