An Ichiro That Has Eluded Me

 

In 2001 when Ichiro hit the scene his cards were all the rage. I was living in Seattle at the time and he was the man to pull at the card shop and I busted plenty of boxes hoping to pull something of his and I eventually pulled one of his 2001 Topps rookie cards so I was satisfied. My LCS got in a couple of boxes of 2000 Japanese Ovation and I opened some packs in hopes of finding the Ichiro card and while I didn’t pull an Ichiro I did pull a Kenji Johjima, who like Ichiro came to the US following his retirement from the NPB. Johjima played for the Mariners for just 3 seasons but he was beloved by the Mariners’ faithful.

It has been 15 years since I tried pulling that 2000 Ovation Ichiro and over time I just forgot about it until recently when I came across a seller who had one at $11.99 BIN. I have wanted this card, not that it was high on my WANTS list but since it had been something of interest I finally picked one up.

I love these 2000 Ovation cards, the card surface feels like a baseball. Upper Deck did an amazing job with the set. I have a number of Griffey cards from the set, both from the American set and the Japanese set, and they are some of my favorites.