2002 Kanebo MLB Gum Cards (AKA 2002 Topps Japanese Edition)

[Ziveus101]

Here's another Japanese odd-ball set, from 10 years ago.

Before we begin, tell me what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this card from 2002.


I suppose some thoughts you guys might've had are "future HoFer," "bird killer," "awesome mullet," "wrong uniform," "nostalgia," "what terrible lighting," etc...
Most of you may have even wondered what this has to do with Japan.
Well just flip the card and



BEHOLD!
The back is written in Japanese.
Those of you who saw my pick-up threads probably saw this coming.

The card's from a japanese product called "MLB Gum" made by a company called Kanebo.
The product was a piece of gum that came with a creepy bobblehead wearing one of the 30 team's jerseys and with one 2002 Topps card written in Japanese.
The card themselves aren't too different from the regular US version except that the player's names aren't written in gold and there's only 55 cards in the whole base set. For a while there was even a promotion where you could win a special binder.


A panphlet that came with the original gum & the bobblehead


Some notably awesome cards

They stopped making these sets in 2003, which I think is around the time card companies slowly started removing gum from their products altogether.

For those who wanted to know who was in the 2002 set here's a checklist.
1. Pedro Martinez
2. Larry Walker
3. Jeff Bagwell
4. Derek Jeter
5. Alfonso Soriano
6. Vladimir Guerrero
7. Doug Mientkiewicz
8. Manny Ramirez
9. Magglio Ordonez
10. Carlos Delgado
11. Albert Pujols
12. Jimmy Rollins
13. Ivan Rodriguez
14. Shea Hillenbrand
15. Randy Johnson
16. Ichiro Suzuki
17. Masato Yoshii
18. Mike Lowell
19. Sammy Sosa
20. Jorge Posada
21. Curt Schilling
22. David Justice
23. Darin Erstad
24. Nomar Garciaparra
25. So Taguchi
26. Kazuhisa Ishii
27. Chris Singleton
28. Adam Dunn
29. Raul Ibanez
30. Lance Berkman
31. Shawn Green
32. Hideki Irabu
33. Mike Piazza
34. Derek Lowe
35. Tomokazu Ohka
36. Barry Bonds
37. Roberto Alomar
38. Tino Martinez
39. Freddy Garcia
40. Michael Tucker
41. Miguel Tejada
42. Kazuhiro Sasaki
43. Tim Salmon
44. Tsuyoshi Shinjo
45. Jason Giambi
46. Jason Schmidt
47. Alex Rodriguez
48. Raul Mondesi
49. Reggie Sanders
50. Shigetoshi Hasegawa
51. Brian Jordan
52. Hideo Nomo
53. Kenny Lofton
54. Cliff Floyd
55. Johnny Damon

Now before I go, tell me what's the first thing that comes to mind when you see this card from 2012?

[dashcol]

Interesting cards. I like a lot of these oddballs, but never have luck finding them. Would you be interested in moving any of these? I specifically would want the Jeter card.

[DJeter0107]

Wow. Right when I log on for some late-night perusing, I find the one thread i've been looking for for a long, long time now. I've seen more than a few of these on eBay in the past, and have picked up a fair amount of them (5 or so), with my favorites being Jeter, Griffey, and Ichiro. I ALWAYS wondered about them. They seemed so mysterious to me. ALL this information helps! I really appreciate it. Definitely made my day.

[HCLC]

I don't think that umpire is watching the ball

[DaBaddestHic]

I need the Delgado in this set!

I visited Japan a few summers ago and went to a baseball game while there. Me and my friend were pretty amused by the fact that the people going up and down the aisles selling beer and stuff were all girls. Quite different than what it is in the US. I don't remember seeing any cards like those for sale though haha.

[stera8]

i wonder if she has an innie or an outie belly button

[death2redemptions]

I'd do her