How To Spot A Fake Ichiro Suzuki 1993 BBM #239 BlueWave Rookie Card

Ichiro!  Ichiro!  Ichiro!  Fans love Ichiro.  They would chant his name hoping to see him get another record breaking hit every time he was at bat.  Before playing for the Seattle Mariners in 2001, Ichiro had a long career of playing baseball in Japan.

One of Ichiro’s most popular Japanese rookie cards can be found in the 1993 BBM set.  The look of this set reminds me of something Pro Set would’ve issued.  Watch out for counterfeits!

These are some items you should watch out for when it comes to counterfeit Ichiro 1993 BBM #239 BlueWave rookie cards.

• Name placement – counterfeit examples have Ichiro’s name on the front placed off to the right.  Nowhere near as centered as it should be.
• Compared to an authentic card, the counterfeit will almost always have a fuzzy (spotty) print pattern.
• On a counterfeit, Ichiro’s name on the front tends to be rounded, fat, and fuzzy (spotty).
• The “BLUEWAVE 51” lettering on the front is a bit larger and more bold on a counterfeit.
• Take a look at the ORIX BlueWave logo on the front.  The word “ORIX” is much bolder on a counterfeit.  The red bleeding around the word “BlueWave” is much thicker on a counterfeit too.
• On the back, the ORIX BlueWave mascot logo has the fuzzy (spotty) print pattern, and usually is lighter in color.

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Card of the Day: Ichiro Suzuki 1993 BBM #239

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Ichiro Collectors Prepare For Immortals Collection

Judging by the sales sheet, this might be one of Leaf’s best looking products to date.  I can guarantee its going to be one of their most expensive (dealer cost is about $550 per box).  Then again, if your an Ichiro collector you already know that his stuff doesn’t always come so cheap.

2013 Leaf Ichiro Immortals Collection gets straight to the point by having four base cards and one autograph per box.  The base cards will be numbered to 51, and will have parallels limited to 20, 5, and 1.  You’ll also find printing plates and the Immortals autos will be parallels of the base set limited to 5 or 1.  Insert autographs will also be limited to 5 or 1.  Inserts include Pendulum, Record Book Booklets, Accolades, Ichiro Signatures, Dual Jersey Autos, Triple Relic Autos, 200-Hit Autos, Letterman Autos, Kanji Letterman Autos, Jumbo Patch Autos, Jumbo Jersey Autos, Patch Booklet Autos, and Bat Booklets.

Ichiro collectors would probably like to get their hands on any of these cards, but it gets even better.  The Legacy Booklets have Ichiro’s autograph teamed up with signatures of some of baseball’s best players such as Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, Pete Rose, and Hideo Nomo.  Leaf has also thrown in 1 Ichiro bat knob relic too.

A majority of Leaf’s products have had the same look for awhile.  When I first saw these cards, I seriously thought Upper Deck was starting to make baseball cards again.  It makes perfect sense for them to look like this too.  Leaf’s Director of Product Development once worked for Upper Deck.  The only downside I can see to this product is that there are no team names and/or MLB logos.  For the amount of money a box of this stuff will cost, collectors would probably want to see those two things.

Ichiro’s signature isn’t the easiest or cheapest to obtain.  Leaf plans to make 300 hand numbered boxes and it states on the sales sheet “There will not be another Ichiro only themed set produced by Leaf.”  That doesn’t mean we won’t see Ichiro pop-up in other Leaf products like we have been seeing though.  

Man does this stuff look like Ultimate Collection or Exquisite.

Card of the Day: Ichiro 2013 Panini Prizm Cracked Ice Parallel

Card of the Day: Ichiro 2011 Leaf Valiant Green Base Auto

Leaf’s Ichiro Metal Draft Patch Autos Ready To Ship

Well here you go.  All of the Ichiro 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Baseball Ultimate Patch Autographs have been signed and are ready to be shipped.  I think they look fantastic!

Brian Gray announced yesterday that Leaf has never purchased anything from those six dealers involved in the fraud case that was unveiled this week.  Leaf was the first manufacturer to come out and state their position and I think it is something that all manufacturers should do.  For a relic to be 100% authentic I think it should come from the team, league, or individual athlete.  Not these off-the-wall dealers that sit behind a computer all day printing off meaningless COAs.  The day might come where we have league run card manufacturers to make sure everything is authentic.  Or perhaps the day will come where we only have one manufacturer that deals directly with each league.  It sure sounds like a monopoly, but it could work.

Which Ichiro 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Patch Will Be Yours?

Are you one of the lucky collectors to bust a box of 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Baseball and pull a redemption for an Ichiro autographed patch?  If so, check out the patches that Leaf got back from the printer earlier today.  Once these get signed next week they will be ready to go.

As you can see, there really isn’t a bad patch.  They all look great.  I’m glad that Brian Gray decided to release this image.  Knowing what the patches look like will help fight counterfeiters.

So, which patch will you be getting?

Click the above image for a closer look.  WARNING: It is a very large picture.

Ichiro’s Leaf Ultimate Autographed Patches Preview

Leaf released these new images of their Ichiro Suzuki Ultimate Autographed Patches that will be made available in Leaf Metal Draft Baseball.  They will be made redemptions in which Leaf says will be filled within 30 days.  The patches look amazing, the autographs are on-card, and each card will be recorded within Leaf’s database to help fight patch fakers.  The online database is a fantastic idea.  If your planning to buy one of these autographed patches and your not sure if its authentic or not, just check the database.  Right now these images are just mock-ups, but I think they look really good.  The only suggestion I would make is change the phrase “Game Worn Jersey” to “Game Worn Patch” or even “Game Worn Prime Jersey”.