tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post781297426950157915..comments2024-03-18T19:35:15.672-07:00Comments on Getting Back into Baseball Cards....in Japan: 1928 Shonen Club Babe Ruth: A Definitive Guide to what we Don't Know/ Get Wrong about itUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-72240566299624282772018-08-13T00:18:03.617-07:002018-08-13T00:18:03.617-07:00Thanks, good reading, will add your site to my blo...Thanks, good reading, will add your site to my blog roll!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-75265912949390145062018-07-26T16:16:44.983-07:002018-07-26T16:16:44.983-07:00this is a fantastic article, very much appreciated...this is a fantastic article, very much appreciated. I'm leveraging a few of your facts for a piece on my blog at All Vintage Cards http://www.allvintagecards.com I would love to add your site to our resources page, feel free to return the favor if you think we are worthy..thanks!All Vintage Cardshttp://www.allvintagecards.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-86779365964397164472016-08-30T20:32:04.334-07:002016-08-30T20:32:04.334-07:00I finally got PSA and SGC to properly label the ca...I finally got PSA and SGC to properly label the card as a 1929 Shonen Club. Robert Klevenshttp://www.prestigecollectiblesauction.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-12818942754558894802016-04-26T22:12:14.425-07:002016-04-26T22:12:14.425-07:00Yeah, we would have figured it out eventually anyw...Yeah, we would have figured it out eventually anyway! Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-54818871591516106582016-04-22T19:00:50.586-07:002016-04-22T19:00:50.586-07:00Awesome. We were on the right track though. Awesome. We were on the right track though. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-34508732097321552542016-04-20T20:43:57.360-07:002016-04-20T20:43:57.360-07:00Oh crap, not sure how I missed this earlier, but s...Oh crap, not sure how I missed this earlier, but somebody else actually did already do all the legwork and figure out which issue it definitely came with http://www.oldcardboard.com/enews/2007/enews44/enews44.htm <br /><br />Mystery solved!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-60102371910829919032016-04-20T20:09:07.785-07:002016-04-20T20:09:07.785-07:00Oh yeah, after reading your comment I looked up s...Oh yeah, after reading your comment I looked up some more of the other postcard sets and I think we can say with confidence that they did actually come with specific magazines rather than being a general promotion distributed over several months. I just updated the post with some info on a Navy set they issued which clearly identifies the issue of the magazine it came with.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-8144848022925241722016-04-20T19:24:56.975-07:002016-04-20T19:24:56.975-07:00From what I gathered is that the postcards came in...From what I gathered is that the postcards came in 40 card sets in special designed boxes. I have only see a dozen or so of the back like Babe Ruth. Question now remains is how were they distributed like you were saying. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-39576397477856608192016-04-19T15:59:48.936-07:002016-04-19T15:59:48.936-07:00Could be. Although, it would be interesting to ge...Could be. Although, it would be interesting to get a hold of one of the magazines and see if there are any clues in there. One of the postcard has an Olympic trophy on it....possibly from the 1928 Olympics further lending to the fact it is probably from the late 1920s. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-54401505349038432172016-04-18T19:49:29.708-07:002016-04-18T19:49:29.708-07:00Now that is an interesting oversight! I don`t hav...Now that is an interesting oversight! I don`t have a copy of Engel but really need to get one (I keep avoiding it since the cost of shipping a copy to Japan from the few Ebayers that have them is several times what the book itself costs)!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-7294806115333928342016-04-18T19:48:18.711-07:002016-04-18T19:48:18.711-07:00Yeah, that is what I am thinking too. There seem ...Yeah, that is what I am thinking too. There seem to have been several series issued around that time (judging from the backs) and these all seem to have come in their own specially designed envelopes. As I mention in the update I just added to the post, I think they were likely issued separately from the magazine and distributed by hand by store clerks to people buying the magazine, which might mean as you say that the promotions could have spanned several months and not been associated with a specific issue of the magazine. This would also explain why Japanese collector`s don`t have any idea about the specific year/issue the card came from and all refer to it as a `pre-war` card.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-39448021694161031582016-04-18T18:18:33.328-07:002016-04-18T18:18:33.328-07:00Oh wow, that is interesting. Are those the sets w...Oh wow, that is interesting. Are those the sets with Andre the Giant in them?<br /><br />Its good to hear that when PSA do find something truly new they go to the effort of taking their time and doing the research. With the Shonen Club Ruth it does appear in the standard catalog under that mistaken name, so I assume PSA and SCG got their information from that (I only singled out the grading services in the post because they were the easiest reference I had at hand). I`ll try contacting Robert Klevins and seeing what he says, actually I`ll send out some emails to a few experts and see what kind of responses I get, it might make for an interesting follow up post!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-17121886828099595842016-04-18T06:51:36.436-07:002016-04-18T06:51:36.436-07:00After doing a quick search on Yahoo Auctions, it d...After doing a quick search on Yahoo Auctions, it does appear there are ~6 or so other postcards with the same backs and various subjects on the front....all international themes (Olympics, Great Wall of China, underwater diving, British train). Could be that the Babe Ruth is from a series of these maybe issued over several months. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-33243302496345046942016-04-18T06:09:13.829-07:002016-04-18T06:09:13.829-07:00Yeah, I'm not sure there is a postcard categor...Yeah, I'm not sure there is a postcard category in his guide. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-41561546066218881292016-04-18T04:31:17.899-07:002016-04-18T04:31:17.899-07:00In PSA's defense, it doesn't look like thi...In PSA's defense, it doesn't look like this card is listed in Engel.NPB Card Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01178497208404127283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-1401087578046405542016-04-18T04:22:40.726-07:002016-04-18T04:22:40.726-07:00A few years ago I helped the Japanese Pro Wrestlin...A few years ago I helped the Japanese Pro Wrestling collectors get PSA to grade the 1974 and 1976 Yamakatsu New Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling sets. It took about 4-6 months from when we contacted them to when the first cards got graded and that was so I could walk them through all the research I had done including pictures, scans, and documentation. I don't own any graded cards nor do I collect graded cards, but I was impressed with their unwillingness to take things for face value. It was a fun adventure figuring it all out. In the end it's their reputation on the line and they still have numerous foreign issues that they can't grade because they have no info. I will say they have copies of Engel's price guide and use those for the Japanese baseball cards as a reference. What happened with this card is someone got it documented incorrectly somewhere at some point (either with the Standard Catalog or Beckett) and nobody has corrected it. I'll venture to say that if it doesn't get updated in any of the big guides or checklists, PSA/SCG will continue to label them wrong. By the way, thanks for a great post and I'm intrigued now with trying to help. If I find anything I'll be sure to let you know. Give Robert Klevins at Prestige Collectibles a call and see what he has to say. He might know the original back story on how it it catalogued the way it did. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-71888354706536495892016-04-14T18:42:42.628-07:002016-04-14T18:42:42.628-07:00Yeah, I think PSA and SCG just lifted the title an...Yeah, I think PSA and SCG just lifted the title and year from the standard catalog and that was it. I`m a little wary about grading services over stuff like this. I`m sure they are reasonably qualified to provide an opinion on the grade of a card like this (VG, NMT, etc) but if their "experts" don't even know what the card is called or how to read the text on the front, how can they even be sure any card that they receive is authentic?<br /><br />I haven't consulted Fitts or Engel or anyone (this post is basically just what I found from internet research), but perhaps I should. I tried to track down some copies of Shonen Club at a library I have access to, but their collection only went back to the 1940s. Its kind of an intriguing question to me now - which copy of Shonen Club did this card come from? I found a few issues of it from 1929 on Yahoo Auctions which included scans of the index pages but none had anything baseball-related (and I couldn't find the August 1929 issue, which I did see referenced as a possible source of it, though I'm not sure what that person was basing that claim on). <br /><br />I will try to update this post as I find out more!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-39225233518909193942016-04-14T05:39:03.317-07:002016-04-14T05:39:03.317-07:00I think PSA does basically zero research. They lo...I think PSA does basically zero research. They look to Beckett or the Standard Catalog, and if it doesn't fit either, they MIGHT take a glance at one of Gary Engels' guides before just making something up.<br /><br />It is nice to see some actual effort put into identifying the card properly. Did you happen to solicit input from Rob Fitts or Gary Engel, or the folks at Prestige?Jason Presleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13543465200431539036noreply@blogger.com