2006 Topps Series 1:

1. #50 Manny Ramirez
2. #98 Geoff Blum
3. #27 Ryan Dempster
4. #225 Ichiro
5. #69 Braden Looper
6. #23 Jonny Gomes (Topps All-Star Rookie)
7. Mantle Home Run History #MHR1 Mickey Mantle
8. #32 Mike MacDougal
9. #1 Alex Rodriguez
10. #194 Torii Hunter

“Each new season brings with it a major achievement for Ichiro.  After setting the record for hits in a season in 2004, he became, on June 14, 2005, the third-quickest (696 games) to reach 1,000.  No less than Commissioner Bud Selig has cited him as a player who may one day bat .400, saying, “I can’t tell you what a great thing that would be for our sport.””

If Ichiro can play 4 more seasons with the consistency he has shown over the past decade, he likely reach 3,000 MLB hits by age 40.  He already has 3,000 hits if you count the 1,278 he had while playing for Nippon Professional Baseball.

2009 Topps Series 2:

1. #629 Lyle Overbay
2. #415 Josh Beckett
3. #463 Brian Wilson
4. #351 Chris Snyder
5. Turkey Red #TR96 Ichiro
6. Topps Town #TTT32 David Wright
7. #589 Ricky Romero (Rookie)
8. #605 Rick Ankiel
9. #348 Tony Pena

The Ichiro card is just beautiful.

“Ichiro was arguably the most famous athlete in Japan through much of the 1990s, and his star has tarnished not a bit since he joined the Mariners in 2001.  That season, he won the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year Awards while leading the League in AVG (.350) and steals (56).  Every year since has been similar, as “Ich” now opens 2009 with a .331  career AVG and an eight-year streak of MLB All-Star Game appearances and Gold Glove Awards.  The only player ever with eight straight 200-hit/100-run campaigns, he broke George Sisler’s 84-year-old single-season hits record with 262 in 2004.“

I got a pack of 2008 Topps Opening Day thrown into an order of wax boxes I won on eBay.  Let’s see what I got:

1. #214 Emilio Bonifacio (Rookie)
2. #42 Vladimir Guerrero
3. #27 Hank Blalock
4. Flapper Cards #FC-IS Ichiro
5. #109 Richie Sexson
6. #77 Tadahito Iguchi

The “Flapper Card” puzzled me at first.  I thought it was some kind of a horrible mis-cut because the back looks all messed up.  However, once I saw a “Flapper Cards” section in Beckett, I knew it must be on purpose.

Upon further investigation, I noticed that you can fold the card in different ways to reveal facts about the player.  It’s a novel idea, but I don’t think it will ever catch on (honestly… I think “stupid” is the word that came to mind here).

On the back of the card: “Ichiro is the most efficient hitter-for-average of his day.  As he was in Japan, he’s an icon in Seattle.”

Inside the front flap: “With three hits, including the event’s first ever inside-the-park HR, Ichiro was the All-Star Game MVP”

The back flap has some of his claims to fame and facts such as birthplace and team.

A few random cards to be integrated into my collection:

1996 Metal Universe Platinum Portraits #7 Hideo Nomo

2002 Nestle Ice Cream #6 Ichiro

2008 Bowman Draft Prospects #BDPP35 Tim Federowicz

2008 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Hobby Preview #UD-77 Evan Longoria

2009 Topps Series 2:

1. #349 Justin Masterson
2. #450 Hanley Ramirez
3. #489 Matt Guerrier
4. #616 Koji Uehara (Rookie)
5. WBC Stars #BCS5 Ichiro
6. Gold Border #528 Nick Swisher (Serial#0993/2009)
7. Topps Town #TTT34 Dustin Pedroia
8. #383 Everth Cabrera (Rookie)
9. #444 Jody Gerut
10. #344 J.R. Towles

“Ichiro returned to the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a conquering hero.  He went 5-for-9 in Japan’s semifinal and championship-game victories in the ’06 event, broadening his Pacific Rim legend.  His reputation was already immense there and in the U.S., where he’s reached 200 hits in each of his first eight campaigns and holds the record for single-season safeties.“

2008 Topps series 1:

1. #215 Bobby Jenks
2. #62 Rich Thompson (Rookie)
3. #24 Alex Rodriguez/Magglio Ordonez/Vladimir Guerrero (League Leaders)
4. #194 Chad Billingsley
5. #291 Eugenio Velez (Rookie)
6. #202 Mike Lamb
7. Gold Foil #221 Ian Snell
8. #320 Ichiro
9. #136 Robinson Cano
10. #42 Corey Hart

“The hits kept right on coming for Ichiro in 2007, when he tied Wade Boggs’ AL record of seven straight 200-hit seasons.  He now takes aim at Willie Keeler’s MLB mark of eight that has stood for 107 years.”

Ichiro tied Keeler’s MLB mark in 2008, and so far in 2009 he is on pace to set a new record for consecutive 200-hit seasons.

I just got an Ichiro care package in the mail today from Mario of Wax Heaven!  Here’s what the generous man gave me…

…an Ichiro Finest card.  This is nice because Ichiro is the player that kept me interested in baseball all these years, even though I wasn’t collecting.  I would just watch baseball games to see Ichiro play.  Sort of like how I would watch football just to watch Michael Vick play… before he began abusing furry animals.

2009 Finest #51 Ichiro

…and an Ichiro SPx card.  This marks the first time since 1993 that I’ve touched a card produced by Upper Deck.

2009 SPx #1 Ichiro

…a Kevin Millwood dual-jersey card.  Wow, I have never seen a jersey relic in person until today.  That’s really cool.  Now I know why people want some color in their jersey relic cards.  How would I really know if these two swatches are truly from different jerseys?  What if they were accidentally switched, with the left one being the Texas jersey?  I guess we’ll just have to trust Upper Deck & Co…  I also wish card companies would put more information about relics on the card.  It would certainly be pretty cool to know what day the jersey was worn (it would also go a long way towards verifying whether the card company is BSing us or not).

2009 SPx Flashback Fabrics #FF-KM Kevin Millwood

…and the final card I received is a Jake Peavy jersey relic.  I couldn’t resist feeling the fabric on this one, so I sure hope the fabric didn’t come from any “nether regions” of the uniform.  Jake Peavy is a really good pitcher and I’m glad Mario was so generous to send this along to me.

2009 SPx Winning Materials #WM-JP Jake Peavy

For the record, Mario at Wax Heaven is a very generous guy.  He gets 10 Karma Points for sending these cards along to me.  Thanks again Mario!  Now everybody please hustle along to Wax Heaven!