So I've found a new niche in Japanese baseball cards to collect. I am trying to find "Homerun Cards" featuring Sadaharu Oh.
Some context - Sadaharu Oh is arguably one of the greatest baseball players ever, earning the world record for most career homeruns - 868. There were hundreds of cards issued for Sadaharu Oh during his career. Calbee is one of the top Japanese baseball card manufacturers (and their cards were often packed with potato chips). Between 1973 and 1980 some of these cards were designated as "Homerun Cards", which were prize cards that could be returned to Calbee for a premium (often there was a choice of which prize you wanted).
These cards featured the regular fronts from the baseball set, but the backside was replaced with a "Homerun Card" designation. (This also makes these cards very difficult to identify, as most Calbee cards are best identified by what the back looks like). And while there were countless other players that had Homerun Cards, I'm focusing on collecting just the ones that feature Sadaharu Oh. While I haven't gotten 868 Homerun Cards, I've got a fair amount now:
Most of these have been redeemed (and then stamped and returned along with the chosen prize), and like most Japanese baseball cards, they aren't in great shape. But I find them fun to try to track down. Let me know if you come across any in your collection that you'd like to get rid of
