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Topps Co., Ltd. (Director Satoshi Misu) held a hands-on baseball trading card event, ‘Toreca Support Festival,’ from March 6 to 8 at Bellesalle Akihabara in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Topps is an American global company that has reached its 75th anniversary this year since it began manufacturing baseball trading cards. The Japanese corporation held an event in conjunction with the domestic hosting of the WBC qualifying league. Topps introduced the performance of Japanese players in the previous WBC tournament and Shohei Ohtani in Major League Baseball through trading cards.
At the venue, we placed large panels of the players who were active in the 2023 WBC previous tournament and monitors showing scenes from it. All the panels are photos of cards that were actually released.The actual card display divided corners between the Japanese national team and player Ohtani.At the corner of the Japan national team, there were cards showing scenes such as players rushing to pitcher Ohtani on the mound when victory was decided.On the other hand, Otani’s cards were arranged in chronological order from his Major League debut.
At the round table set up in the center of the card display area, rare cards of player Ohtani were exhibited. There was one rare card from his time with the Angels and two wearing the Dodgers uniform, one of which was an actual card that sold for three million dollars at last year’s auction. The factors that make a card rare include the player’s popularity, rarity, and connection to memorable scenes. Cards with a low total number in the serial number have high scarcity value, and if they have an autograph, their price jumps significantly. The serial number of the high-priced card in the center of the photo has a denominator of 1 and a numerator of 1 (the similar pattern to its right without a handwritten signature has a denominator of 4). Topps conducts sales while including cards like these.
At this venue, the 2026 edition of ‘Topps Baseball Series 1’ trading cards was sold. This card is a series that pictures rookies and popular players who are transferring to new teams in their new team uniforms, released every year before the Major League season opens.The selling price at the event venue was 660 yen per bag, tax included. In addition, there are four types of pack products, and the two that exceed 10,000 yen contain rare cards.The rare cards handled by Topps include types such as chrome cards with players’ autographs and relic cards that contain pieces of uniforms or gloves used by the players. Topps signed the contracts necessary for these developments with Shohei Ohtani in 2024.In Japan, a card culture has taken root through things like candy toys. From this event, it was felt that the Japanese corporation established in 2021 intends to introduce content suitable for the market to domestic consumers and aims for a full-scale entry.
