2017 SCC Baseball Card Pre-sell

The last release of KBO cards came about last year with the 2016-17 Super Star Baseball Cards Black Edition put out by SMG. Since that time, SMG has stopped producing cards and a new company SCC has stepped in to take its place. Their cards will be releasing next week on April 24th. At 1st glance, it looks like they are going back to something similar to the original Super Star Baseball card releases in terms of cards per pack, packs per box and base card set size. The question remains what you will actually pull and how difficult it will be. Here is a look at what the site selling the cards shows in terms of cards.

20 packs per box and 7 cards per pack

View of the Cards

The total number of cards is 419 including all of the autos and other special cards. The actual base set will stand at 224 cards. There are also 50 rare cards, 22 rookie cards, 10 jersey cards, 50 limited cards, and 63 autographed cards.

The cards are retailing at 3,000 won per pack or 60,000 won per box. However, they are selling at 54,000 won per box on the site that I buy from. It is up a bit more than last year and last year you were pretty much guaranteed 2 autos per box. While it was fun pulling a lot of autos, most of them were pretty worthless in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how things turn out this year.

I purchased 4 boxes and hopefully, I can put together the complete base set out of that and pull a few nice hits. Check back soon to see how things turn out!

2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Blaster Box Break

I got in some blaster boxes of Gypsy Queen the other day. I love the product and I am trying to fill out the complete set this year. My plan was to buy a second hobby box of this stuff but the "Ohtani Effect" is in full swing with everything this year and the hobby boxes are now going for about $180 which is way too much in my opinion. I purchased one for $110 a month ago and decided to just go with some $20 blasters this time around.

You are never really guaranteed anything with a retail blaster but you can pull a few hits from time to time. You can take a look at a couple of the boxes that I opened in the videos. The 1st video was pretty standard and about what I expect from a retail blaster box, but the 2nd video held some nice surprises with a great rookie auto.

If you are interested in making any trades, just let me know and also let me know if you have anything that I may be needing to complete my set. You can check out what I have on the spreadsheet in this link. Anything with a "Y" means I have the card, "D" means I have duplicates, and "N" means I still need it. There are also some that say "P", "NP", and "LS." It means that I have these but they are just a variation/parallel of the base and I could still use the normal base. I have also included a list of the Fortune Teller and Tarot inserts here.

Thanks for reading and watching!

2018 Topps Gypsy Queen - Hobby Box Break

I got a hobby box of 2018 Topps Gypsy Queen in the mail the other day. I had been looking forward to its release since back in January. The box that I got would rate somewhere in the middle in my opinion. It wasn't the best nor the worst in terms of the autos but there was one pull that kind of saved the box in my opinion which was a short print missing nameplate that is only found in 1:422 packs. You can take a look at what I pulled in the video upload.

So far Gypsy Queen is the only box that I have opened that I plan to pick up another box of. Mostly because I would like to complete the 300 card base set (not too concerned about the high number sp), the Fortune Teller subset and the Tarot of the Diamond subset. While another box won't guarantee that I will be able to complete the 300 card base set, it should get me relatively close and hopefully, I can make some trades to fill in any gaps. As for the 2 subsets, I will most likely be stuck with purchasing individual cards if I can't trade for the ones I will need. I also want another crack at an established player or big-name rookie auto and an Altuve or Correa box topper for the PC.

As of now, I don't have any base that I'm interested in trading away, but I should have some stuff when I buy another box. As for the logo swaps, missing nameplates, and such, I would probably trade most of it away since none of them are players I collect. If you saw anything you liked just let me know and maybe we can work a trade.

Thanks for watching and reading!

Park Jae Hong: Did He Eat the Bread?

While looking through cards the other day as a part of my spring cleaning, I came across this 2000 Teleca Korea/Japan Super Games card of Park Jae-hong. This lead me to do a little reading up on the retired player and the stuff that I read was pretty awesome. I will share a bit about him in this post and tell you the reason behind the rather strange question "Did he eat the bread?" that is a part of the post title. I promise that it's not just to get some clicks.

Park Jae-hong was born in and grew up in Gwangju, South Korea. Gwangju is the home of the KIA Tigers (formerly Haitai Tigers) so everyone naturally thought that he would be a Tiger after graduating from Gwangju Ilgo High School. In 1992, after high school graduation, he was drafted by the Haitai Tigers, but he refused to sign with them and went on to university at Yonsei University. After attending university, he again refused to play for Haitai and was signed and traded to the Hyundai Unicorns (later became the Nexen Heroes) in 1996. This lead to all of the locals of Gwangju labeling him as a traitor. He didn't let any of the negativity affect him and went on to win Rookie of the Year with Hyundai in 1996.

In 1996 he didn't just win Rookie of the Year, he owned it by becoming the first ever 30-30 player in KBO history with 30 HRs and 36 steals. He also won a Golden Glove that year in the outfield. Throughout his 17 year KBO career, Park went on to enter the 30-30 club two more times, once in 1998 and again in 2000. He also added 3 more Golden Gloves in 1997, 1998, and 2000. Park was also an eight time All-Star won the All-Star Game MVP award in 2002.

After playing with Hyundai for 7 seasons, he did eventually end up playing for the KIA Tigers in 2003 and 2004. This was also around the same time that his career was starting to dip. He still posted a great season with KIA in 2003 and still had some other excellent seasons after leaving KIA to join the SK Wyverns in 2005, but it was clear that Park had peaked early with the Unicorns. After joining the Wyverns in 2005, he went on to finish out his career with them in 2012 at the age of 39.

Now for the story of the bread. During the 2004 KBO Semi-playoffs, the KIA Tigers were eliminated by the Doosan Bears on October 9th. After the game there was an "incident" that happened in the KIA locker room and was reported on by OSEN news (original Korean article) and this is where the mystery of the bread eater began. After being eliminated by the Bears, KIA's players were gathered in the locker room looking and feeling devastated. Their heads were down and some of the players were shedding tears, but there was one player that was sitting there eating bread. Who was this player? Why was he eating bread at this time? These were 2 questions that were brought up and left unanswered in the original article. The only things that the article really stated was that in wasn't the appropriate time and place to be eating and that it was a veteran player with a high salary. This left a lot open to speculation and the Korean netizens joined in on the witch hunt for the player that was seen as being disrespectful and uncaring about what had just happened. This lead to Park being one of the accused and earned him the nickname "Bread Jae-hong" (빵재홍). Many years later in 2014, it turned out that all of the originally accused bread eaters had not eaten the bread and the real "criminal" was Ma Hae-young (마해영).

Either way it all lead to some funny stories and the following skit in 2013 on MBC Sports Plus during their sports show Baseball Tonight Ya with Park swinging a baguette and hitting what appears to be an oversize Home Run Ball snack.

KBO Future Stars? 2015 SBC Season 1 Rookies

In 2015 there were 20 cards produced in the KBO Super Star Baseball Card Season 1 release that featured rookies that were drafted in the 2014 and 2015 KBO drafts. These 20 cards were some of my favorite cards from the Season 1 release and the only time that Super Star Baseball included any cards in a set that were marked "rookie." I like the design as well as seeing several of the players shown in their high school uniforms. I would hope to see future KBO cards including "rookie" cards.

The players featured on these cards have had varying levels of experience in the KBO and futures league since being drafted. Most of the players have made at least 1 appearance in the KBO in at least 1 year since being drafted, but there are a few that have made no appearances in either league due to injuries or military service. There are also a high number of the players from these cards that are currently completing their military service with the Police or Sangmu (Army) teams in the futures league.

A few of the most recognizable players on these cards are Kim Ha-seong and Choi Won-tae (Nexen), Park Ji-kyu (LG), Kim Beom-su and Kim Min-woo (Hanhwa), and Ju Kwon and Hong Sung-mu (kt).

Also, sorry about the scan quality of the cards. I didn't have them centered well on the scanner.

Kim Yeong-han (SBC1501-141-RN) was drafted by Samsung in 2015. He has been spending his time developing in the Futures League since being drafted and hasn't made an appearance in any games in the top league yet. In 2017 he played in 36 games with the Lions Futures team where he recorded a 0.309 average through 94 at-bats.

Choi Min-ku (SBC1501-142-RN) was drafted in 2015 by the Lions and he saw playing time in both the KBO league and Futures league during his 1st year. In 2016 he spent the entire year in the Futures league and in 2017 he didn't make an appearance in either league.

Choi Won-tae (SBC1501-143-RN) spent 2015 in the Futures league after being drafted by the Nexen Heroes. In 2016 he split his time between the Futures league and the KBO. In 2017 he had his 1st full season in the KBO and appeared in 25 games with 149 1/3 innings pitched. He posted a record of 11-7 with an ERA of 4.46.

Kim Ha-seong (SBC1501-144-RN) was drafted by the Heroes in 2014. In 2014 he spent time in the Futures league and the KBO. In 2015 he took over the spot of Kang Jung-ho who had gone to the MLB. Over 4 seasons in the KBO, he has recorded and average of 0.288 with 64 HR and 278 RBI.

Lee Ho-joong (SBC1501-145-RN) was drafted by the NC Dinos in 2014 but he hasn't made any appearances in the Futures or the KBO league after being drafted due to a back injury just before 2015 spring training. He is currently completing his military service.

Ryu Jin-wook (SBC1501-146-RN) was drafted by NC in 2015 and he hasn't made any appearances with the Dinos in either league yet. He is currently completing his military service.

Kim Jae-sung (SBC1501-147-RN) was drafted by the LG Twins in 2015 and he played in 9 games with the top team that year. In 2016 he began his military service and has been playing with the Police team in the Futures league.

Park Ji-kyu (SBC1501-148-RN) was drafted by the Twins in 2015 and appeared in 102 games with 171 at-bats in his 1st year in the KBO. In 2016 he began his military service with the Sangmu (Army) team in the Futures league.

Lee Hyun-seok (SBC1501-149-RN)  made 14 appearances over 2 seasons (2015-16) with the SK Wyverns after being drafted. He spent the rest of his playing time with the Wyverns futures league team. In 2017 he joined the Police team in the Futures league to begin completing his military service.

Jo Han-wook (SBC1501-150-RN) was drafted by the Wyverns in 2015 and made it into 2 games with SK in 2016. He faced 12 batters, gave up 1 hit, 4 walks, and recorded 2 strikeouts. He has spent the rest of his time after being drafted playing for the SK and Police Futures league teams. He joined the Police team in 2017.

Nam Kyung-ho (SBC1501-151-RN) entered the KBO in 2015 after being drafted by the Doosan Bears. He appeared in 5 games and pitched 9 innings for the Bears in 2015, but hasn't made an appearance with the top team since then. He has remained as a developing player with the Futures league team.

Kim Min-hyeok (SBC1501-152-RN) was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2015 draft and spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons with the Bears Futures league team. He also spent most of his 2017 season in the futures league, but he did make it into 18 games with the top team. In those games he recorded an average of 0.190 through 21 at-bats.

Kang Dong-kwan (SBC1501-153-RN) was drafted by the Lotte Giants in 2015 and made his 1st KBO appearance in 2016. He has made 3 appearances in the KBO league and the rest of the time he has been developing in the futures league with the Giants.

Son Jun-young (SBC1501-154-RN) was drafted in 2015 by the Giants, but he hasn't made any appearances in the KBO. In 2015 he appeared in 2 games in the futures league and he appeared in 5 more in 2017.

Lee Min-woo (SBC1501-155-RN) was drafted by KIA in 2015 and got his 1st taste of the KBO in 2017. He appeared in 4 games with the Tigers and managed an ERA of 2.84 with 12 2/3 innings pitched. In 2015 and 2016 he made no appearances in either league as he was recovering from Tommy John's surgery and completing his military service as a social worker.

Hwang Dae-in (SBC1501-156-RN) was drafted in 2015 and made his 1st appearance in the KBO that same year. In the KBO he has appeared in 26 games with the Tigers while posting an average of 0.294 and 3 HR. In 2017 he joined the Sangmu (Army) team in the futures league to fulfill his military service.

Kim Beom-su (SBC1501-157-RN) was drafted by the Hanhwa Eagles in 2015. He has spent time in the KBO each year since being drafted. He has appeared in a total of 35 games and has a career ERA of 8.42 with a 1-6 record. He is known to have some control issues and averages almost 1 walk per inning.

Kim Min-woo (SBC1501-158-RN) was the 1st pick of the 1st round of the 2nd draft in 2015. Since being drafted by the Eagles, he has pitched in 45 games and recorded an ERA of 7.34 with a 1-6 record.

Hong Sung-mu (SBC1501-159-RN) was drafted by the kt Wiz in 2015. Since being drafted, he has pitched in 38 games with the Wiz and posted an ERA of 5.82. His overall record is 0-2.

Ju Kwon (SBC1501-160-RN) is the 1st Korean-Chinese player to ever play in the KBO. Since being drafted in 2015, he has pitched in 82 games and has a career ERA of 5.96. His overall record is 11-16. 2016 was his best season with the Wiz. That year he had an ERA of 5.10 and a record of 6-8. In 2017 he pitched in the WBC for China.