SHOHEI OHTANI BASEBALL CARD COLLECTOR'S GUIDE
FOR HOKKAIDO NIPPON-HAM FIGHTERS ERA

Before he was a Dodger or an Angel, Shohei Ohtani spent five NPB seasons (2013–2017)?NPB Career Snapshot2012 Draft — 1st overall pick. #11 jersey (ex-Darvish). 2013–2017 with Hokkaido Nippon-Ham. 42–15, 2.52 ERA pitching. 48 HR, .286 AVG batting. 2016 Pacific League MVP & Japan Series champion. with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters — drafted first overall in 2012 and issued Yu Darvish's old #11. His Fighters-era cards, mostly printed by BBM?BBM · Baseball Magazine ShaThe leading publisher in the NPB card market, closest equivalent to Topps or Bowman. In 2013 it handled the higher-end hobby releases — Rookie Edition, Genesis, and official team sets. Still the market leader today. and Calbee?CalbeeA snack-food company that's inserted baseball cards into potato-chip bags since the 1970s — mass-market, huge print runs, thinner stock than BBM. It's most collectors' entry point into NPB cards. Still active today., and Bandai?BandaiThe toy giant behind Gundam and Tamagotchi. In 2013 it ran "Owners League," an online card game — you'd buy a physical card, register its serial code on a website to build a fantasy “dream team,” and battle other collectors online. Bandai shut the service down on September 23, 2016, so these cards are easy to overlook today., predate his 2018 MLB rookie cards by up to five years and get far less attention from collectors, largely because the brands and set names aren't familiar outside Japan. Below are the Fighters-era cards worth knowing, and the specific years to search for first. Japan's most sought after Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Card Year