- Would love to know what the front of the card says. I have a hard enough time reading English lately, let alone Japanese.
- That being said, I think the red background really is a nice contrast to the Mariners blue.
- Believe it or not. This is the first card from the 2008 Topps base set to be posted on the blog.
- Market Watch: A whopping 32 copies of this card on COMC right now, priced from 65 cents to $5.25 (wishful thinking). I could see $1 for this card being very reasonable.
- Career game #40 is Ichiro's 6th straight multi hit game, a 3 for 5 performance in a 5-1 win over the White Sox. During the 6 multi hit game streak, Ichiro is 16 for 29 (.552) and has seen his season average climb from .338 to .371. Oh, and the win is the 8th straight for the M's who see their season record climb to 31-9.
- Robert
- More serial #'d madness for Ichiro. Would have been nice to pick up the card that was serial # 30, but beggars can't be choosers.
- Thanks to Al from the Hockey Kazi blog for becoming follower #20 on the blog. Only took a little over 2 years to get there. Still would like to do a giveaway if I can get some more followers here. Spread the word...
- Market Watch: Currently no copies of the 30 hits card for sale on COMC.
- Career game #39 was the 7th straight win for the Mariners, a 7-2 victory over the White Sox. Ichiro's hit streak would extend to 21 games, and this would be his 5th straight multi-hit game, a 2 for 4 performance with a double, a RBI and a walk. The 5 straight multi-hit games has raised his average from .338 to .365 and the team has gone 16-5 during his hit streak.
- Robert
- This could be a deadly combination, the love that I have for serial #'d cards combined with one of my Player Collections. 238 of these cards is obtainable, right?
- Bio on the back: Ichiro has made the All Star team and had over 200 hits in each of his first seven seasons in MLB. Incredible stuff.
- Market Watch: OK, some guy thinks he has the market cornered on this particular card on COMC. He has both copies for sale, at $9.25 each!! There are some crazy swings on this card in the COMC market.
- Career game #38: After a 5-1 eastern swing, Ichiro and the Mariners return home to face the White Sox. He goes 2 for 5 with a run and a RBI in the M's 4-3. The team win streak is now 6, and Ichiro's hit streak extends to 20 games. Ichiro is 36 for 99 during the streak with 6 doubles, 4 triples and 12 RBI so far.
- Robert
- Is that a right cross I'm seeing from Chase Utley? Of course it isn't, but it's an interesting looking photo as it appears that Ichiro is backing away from Utley.
- The back is kind of boring, just comparing the stats of the 2 players from the 2006 season. Of course by the time this was released 2007 was likely already done.
- This is also the first card from 2007 Topps that I've featured on this blog.
- Market watch: 7 copies of this card currently on COMC, anywhere from 88 cents to $1.25. The only copy I could find on ebay was the gold parallel, listed at $3.25.
- Career game #37. Ichiro finishes off the sweep in Toronto with a 3 for 4 day, 3 runs scored, a double and a triple. The 3 game sweep sees Ichiro hit .600 against the Jays, with an OPS of 1.647. He came to Canada with a .338 average, and left with a .362. Nice exchange rate!
- Robert
- Fantastic shot of Ichiro about to make contact with the baseball. Swings don't get much better than his.
- Bio on the back: "...the superstar outfielder also established a Mariners record with 12 triples in 2005." This kind of surprised me, as the M's have had quite a few speedy players in their 40+ year history.
- 5 copies of this card currently on COMC, ranging from 69 cents to 75 cents. The Gold Medallion version also had a copy for 69 cents. The key word in that 2nd sentence is "had".
- Career game #36 was a pretty good one for Ichiro. He went 4 for 6 with a 2B, 3B, a RBI and 3 runs scored as the Mariners beat their expansion cousins 11-7. He raised his batting average 11 points to .351 and his OPS went up 36 points to .846.
- Robert
- I like the green on the border. I think Topps had a green border a year or 2 previous that looked good as well.
- 3 years, 662 hits. I don't think we'll see anyone achieve that feat again, at least in my lifetime.
- 44 cents for the cheapest copy of this card on COMC is a pretty good deal for an Ichiro card.
- Game #35 in Toronto sees Ichiro go 2 for 5 to bring his average back to .340 Ichiro's hit streak is now 17 games and the M's have gone 12-5 during the streak. Oh, and they beat the Jays 7-2 in the first of a 3 game set.
- Robert
- Love the look of this card. The blue in the design works well with the blue on the Mariners uniforms.
- Bio on the back: "...drove in two runs and hit the event's first ever inside the park HR." I've never been much for watching all star games, but I think I'm going to have to find that piece of footage on you tube. Here you go Inside the park
- Shows how much I know. I thought the blue version was the base. Nope, that's the purple version. Blue and green are the parallels (green #'d to 99 copies).
- Game #34: He increases his hit streak to 16 games, but his average over the past 2 days has dropped 11 points from .349 to .338. Ichiro goes 1 for 5 and drives in a run as the M's win the series with a 5-2 victory over the Red Sox. Off to Toronto for the next 3 games...
- Robert
- Love the black bordered 2009 OPC's. Still have a bunch them listed on my trade list at TCDB.
- Bio on the back: "the only player in MLB history to record over 200 hits in each of his first 8 years in the big leagues". Incredible.
- Cheap. Only one of these listed on COMC right now, and at 99 cents I think that's pretty cheap.
- Game #33 sees Ichiro's average drop 7 points to .342. He goes 1 for 6 to improve his hit streak to 15 games as the M's double up the Red Sox 10-5. The Mariner's are now 24-9 in Ichiro's rookie season.
- Robert
- Take a guess at how many MLB hits are on this card. If you guessed 8253, you would be correct.
- Serial #'d 146/499. Right up my alley picking up a serial numbered card for cheap. I still have a few more to show in the coming weeks.
- This is the first card in 839 posts on this blog that has featured a card from 2008.
- Too bad that Manny's PED suspensions will likely deter HOF voters. It would be great to say someday that there are 3 HOF'ers on this card.
- Game #32: After a travel day, the Mariners hit the east coast against the Red Sox and get hammered 12-4. Ichiro extends his hitting streak to 14 games with a 2 for 5 performance. During the 14 games, Ichiro hasn't drawn a base on balls, and struck out just 5 times in 69 ABs.
- Robert
- OK, I hadn't heard of Isao Harimoto before looking at this card, but it appears that Harimoto is the only Japanese player to have reached 3000 hits in his Japanese career. Pretty outstanding seeing as the Japanese only play 80% of the games in a season that MLB plays.
- Love the photo on the card, it appears as if Ichiro is hitting another ball to left field.
- Currently, if you count his Japanese hits, Ichiro is ahead of Pete Rose all time by 111.
- Thought it was funny that Baseball Reference dot com lists Ichiro's positions as "Rightfielder and Relief Pitcher"
- Career game #31: Ichiro goes 1 for 4 to increase his hit streak to 13 games, but the Mariners lose to their expansion cousins 11-3. The Jays Darren Fletcher hits 2 HRs to power the Jays victory.
- Robert
- I prefer this to the blue (base) version I showed earlier today. It's a lot easier to see the lettering and it just looks better in my opinion.
- I imagine if the base version is just over $1, this would probably be around $2.50? Didn't see any copies on COMC or on ebay. I guess I don't have to worry too much about it since I already have it in hand.
- Game #30 is Ichiro's 2nd consecutive 2 hit game in Canada. This time he hits a double and a triple, scores twice and drives in 2 more in a 7-5 win. His hit streak is now 12 games.
- Robert
- Any Ichiro card is a good card to add to the collection, but it makes me wonder if that's a real signature on the front. I know it's not hard signed, but it does look like something that I could accomplish.
- Two copies of this card currently on COMC, $1.24 to $1.50 is the range. Not bad. I still need the Gold version which is at $9.50 right now.
- Game #29 for Ichiro is his first outside of the US as a MLB player. He goes 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored in an 8-3 loss to the Jays. The 2 hits increase his hitting streak to 11 games.
- Robert
- Two hundred and 62 hits. Imagine that number. Play 162 games, and in 100 games get at least 2 hits. That didn't happen as you know, but putting the number in that perspective makes you think about how great Ichiro's 2004 season was.
- One team had 3 players in the top 10 hit category, the Orioles. Tejada (203), Mora (187) and Lopez (183) cracked the list that also contained Damon, Jeter, Kotsay and Crawford.
- Career game #28 starts a really good run for Ichiro. He extended his hit streak to 10 games by going 3 for 5 with a double and 3 runs scored against the Red Sox. The M's won 10-3 increasing Jamie Moyer's record to 5-0
- Robert
- This is why I love older cards. This card features a hall of famer, a future hall of famer, and Melvin Mora. You just never know with baseball what can happen during a given season.
- The back of the card shows the top 10 hitters in the AL for 2003. There were 2 teams that had two players each in the top 10; the Tigers (IRod and Guillen) and the A's (Durazo and Kotsay).
- Career game #27; Ichiro runs his hit streak to 9 games with a triple and 2 runs scored in a 5-1 win over the Red Sox. Aaron Sele would get the win running his record to 5-0 on the 2nd of May.
- Robert
- What intrigued me about this card instantly was Ichiro's glove. Looks like something from the turn of the 20th century, doesn't it?
- Bio on the back: "in 2003, he led American League rightfielders in every defensive category, 12 assists (including 2 in one inning)." Pretty good stat to feature on a gold glove winner's card, right?
- Career game 26 sees Ichiro go 1 for 4 extending his hit streak to 8 games. Ichiro has one of 3 hits off of Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez as the Sox won 2-0.
- Robert
- Maybe the top 2 players of the decade? Ichiro and Pujols would get my vote.
- Love this photo with the shot of U.S. Cellular Field in the background. More photos like this would be welcome.
- Career game #25 would see Ichiro's latest hit streak go to 7 games with a 1 for 6 performance against the White Sox. Ichiro's hit came in the 9th inning off of Keith Foulke. The Sox would go on to lose the game in 14 innings, 2-1.
- Robert
- Seeing this card made me think "how many miles has Ichiro ran while running the bases during his career?" I'm sure that there's somebody out there that can figure this out.
- 2005 Topps=the Ichiro set. He is a part of 6 cards in the set. Crazy.
- Game #24 is a big one for Ichiro as he goes 3 for 6 with a run in an 8-5 win over the White Sox. Ichiro gains back 8 of the 10 batting average points he lost the previous game and is now hitting .345. Ichiro's hit streak is up to 6 games.
- Robert
- Great card depicting Ichiro breaking the 84 year old record that George Sisler held for most hits in a season. Love how the photo captures the fireworks going off in the background while the hits counter is rolling over to 258.
- 4 copies of this card are currently for sale on COMC. Cheapest is at 57 cents, most expensive is at $1.75. Can't say that I'd pay $1.75 for this card, and I might be stretching it to pay 57 cents as well.
- Game 23, sees the hit streak go to 5 with a 1 for 6 performance against the White Sox. The hit was a double off of starter James Baldwin in a 8-3 win to extend the M's record to 19-4. Ichiro's average dips 10 points to .337.
- Robert
- Photo is a little bit grainy, but still a pretty good shot of Ichiro relaxed in his windbreaker. The '04 Vintage set design is a bit bland in my opinion.
- There's a lot of empty space on the back as well; normally on most cards there would be some kind of blurb about Ichiro's greatness. Reminds me of the OPC releases in hockey over the past decade.
- Game 22 sees Ichiro's hit streak climb to 4 with a 1 for 5 performance with 2 runs scored. Seattle's win streak climbs to 7 with a 7-3 win over the Yankees, Edgar Martinez drives in 4 runs in the victory.
- Robert
- Boy I missed out on a lot during the mid 2000's. I remember Flair being a thicker stock card and full bleed photos, not a "normal" card with a border. Not saying this is bad, it's just different.
- I also remember Flair being a decent size set; the 2004 version is just 82 cards, almost like an A&G sized insert set. Kind of disappointing in that regard.
- Game 21: Hitting streak up to 3 games with a 2 for 5 performance against the Yanks, singling in an insurance run in the 7th to propel the M's to a 7-5 win. Ichiro's average climbs to .355, which is behind John Olerud at the time(!) who is hitting .360.
- Robert
