Ichiro's Japan rookie cards -- Hilo Stars?

[packs]

We've talked about it before. The cards aren't real. I'll summarize:

There are only 3 known players in this set: Ichiro, Jason Giambi, and Benny Agbayani.

Of these three players, two were completely anonymous in 1993. That would be Ichiro and Agbayani. Giambi had already appeared in two Topps sets before 1993, was a 2nd Round draft pick and had played on the Olympics team.

If there really was a 1993 Hawaiian League set and that set really did feature Jason Giambi, then Jason Giambi would have been the big chase and there would be way more of his cards than anyone else in the set.

But there aren't, because it wasn't released in 1993. It wasn't released at all. These cards were produced in 2001 or later and aren't a real set.

How I do I know that?

Because all three of the subjects didn't become hot collectibles until 2001. Giambi won the MVP in 2000, Ichiro came over in 2001, and Benny Agbayani just happened to play in the Hawaiian League at the same time and appeared in the 2000 Subway Series.