As I mentioned last week one of my new collecting hobbies is buying complete sets that I find for insanely cheap prices. This week's installment is the entire 216 card regular set of 2024 Topps Stadium Club NPB which I bought for 500 Yen ($3.40 US).
As with my 2024 Epoch set I bought this one from an obvious case-breaker who was ditching surplus regular cards that people who do that constantly create. This one came with the cards kind of interestingly wrapped. If you go to ATMs in Japan (not sure if its the same in North America) they have complimentary stacks of envelopes for people to put cash they withdraw into if they want one. I guess this guy just grabbed a whole stack of them to use as free-to-him packing material since that is what the cards came enclosed in!
Dave wrote a good review of this set when he got one a few months ago in which he expressed surprise at the fact that he actually really likes it. Flipping through the cards myself I have to say that I know exactly what he means. I haven't really liked what I've seen from Topps' NPB sets in the past, but this is a pretty nice one. Very good photography. These are the cards of my beloved Dragons (and you can click on Dave's review to see more examples of nice photos on cards).
Also, and this is kind of random, but one thing I hate about BBM and Epoch is that they both use the same card stock and printing process as each other to make their cards which means that flipping through a stack of BBM cards has the same tactile feel in your hands, and also the same look, as doing so with a stack of Epoch cards. I have no idea what it is called or what the technical aspects of it are, but Topps cards are obviously produced differently using slightly different material and the cards just feel different in your hands which I kind of like.
Anyway, for $3.40 this was a pretty good deal.
Also, on a side note, I attended my first ball game of 2025 at the Dome last night. I got to sit in the right field seats with my family and watch the Dragons come from behind to beat the Swallows 4-3 which was an immensely satisfying experience. The Dragons are coming off of three straight last place finishes which got so frustrating that I didn't go to a single game last season. They still have a losing record this year but their mediocrity is a bit less pronounced and they are actually only 2.5 games out of third place (which would get them into the playoffs for the first time in over a decade if they can pull that off). Its not much but its something!
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