1993 Hawaiian Winter League Ichiro

[DaClyde]

Dredging this from the grave, I did just find this article from 1993:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/h...nte/124015678/

[Exhibitman]

Great research, Jason. It certainly lends credence to the 1993 date.

[mrmopar]

The article certainly makes a great case, but the rest of the story stinks of well timed "mystery" cards surfacing when it would be most beneficial to the seller. I remember selling 2 of the McGwire Glacier cards for a shop, as I was listing things on ebay for them as a side gig. This was in the late 90s (probably after the 70 season), as would make the most sense, and I have my doubts they were even made in the 80s! I think those were possibly made in the 90s (unless there is proof I am unaware of that they were an 80s issue). Nobody seemed to have known about them before then and all of the sudden they were out there and worth $400 (The price I think I got for each one I sold at the time).

The article doesn't prove anything other than a pre-sale was happening on sets, that apparently to this day still do not seem to exist in full 32 card form. That in itself is another reason to believe these Ichiro cards were not made, or at a very minimum, not issued or sold in 1993. It is entirely possible the guy made sets in 1993 and held onto them all for some reason, but that seems highly unlikely. How does not one single full set of these seem to exist?

A fun mystery we may never know the real answer for sure.

[DaClyde]

While the wording isn't clear, the article makes it sound like there were either 4 sets of 32 cards, one for each team, or a single 32-card set including all 4 teams. Either way, that puts the total either to 32 cards or 128 cards, of which only 3 or 4 have ever surfaced (supposedly there is also a Benny Agbayani in circulation), and naturally of the most popular players in 2001 (not 1993).

The timing sort of makes it even mor suspicious, as the season wasn't over, so Ichiro wasn't the league standout, yet, which gives even less reason for him to be so prominent in a 1993 set.

I do remember seeing the McGwire Anchorage Glacier Pilots cards in 1987. They were showing up at card shows, but they were definitely printed in 1987 (and subsequently in the lunch room at school), not 1982. The team even said as much when asked about them. But information just didn't circulate well back then. Unless it was printed in the hobby magazines repeatedly, most collectors would still miss that bit of information.