Innholdsfortegnelse for April 1, 2025 i Sports Collectors Digest

Ichiro Suzuki, a newly elected Baseball Hall of Famer, already had a storied professional career on the diamond long before he ever played in the major leagues. And then, once he was in the big leagues, he became an international legend. The highly talented left-handed hitter played for 19 seasons with the Seattle Mariners (2001–2012, 2018–19), the New York Yankees (2012–14), and the Miami Marlins (2015–17). He also played nine seasons at the highest level of professional baseball in his native Japan with the Orix BlueWave in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPR). Suzuki, who prefers to be called by his first name—Ichiro—left his mark wherever he played. In Japan he was a seven-time Pacific League batting champion (1994–2000) as well as a seven-time All-Star (1994–2000) and a…

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani conquered both the major leagues and the collectables industry with his historic 50-50 season last year. The Japanese star, known by the nickname “Shotime,” capped off the 2024 season by helping the Dodgers win the World Series. The two-way star is reminiscent of another hitter (who was also a pitcher) who once dominated baseball to become one of the 20th century’s greatest athletes. That player was Babe Ruth, who made the long ball fashionable and forever changed the game with the New York Yankees of the 1920s and ’30s. Ohtani and Ruth are linked in other ways. While Ohtani, a three-time MVP, dominated the MLB season, Ruth did the same in Japan when he and a group of major leaguers took a barnstorming tour…

Who better to come through when it’s all on the line than Billy Wagner? The hard-throwing closer recorded 422 saves in his major league career, so it’s only fitting that Wagner’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame was a nail-biter as well, keeping fans on the edge of their seats until the final vote was announced on Jan. 21. Wagner described that day as one of the longest in this life. “It was like the clock stopped,” he said. “The emotions were running high and I was just trying to keep myself busy and get through the day.” Finally, around 5:15 in the afternoon, the phone rang and the revered bullpen ace got the news that he’ll be enshrined in Cooperstown. Perhaps this was Wagner’s biggest save of all,…

As the back of Mr. Suzuki’s 1997 Calbee baseball card says, Ichiro is “a superstar who needs no introduction.” “He was like Michael Jackson over there,” said Willie Fraser, who teamed with Ichiro in Japan on the Orix BlueWave from 1996-98. “We would come off the bus on the road and if he got too close to the ropes—these haphazard ropes put between the fans and us walking off the bus—they would grab him and pull him into the crowd. “We had to go and get him a couple of times,” Fraser said, adding that Ichiro interacted well with fans and in most regards fans were “ultra-polite.” The BlueWave was a thrilling and fascinating team that featured not only Ichiro but future major leaguers Shigetoshi Hasegawa and So Taguchi. The…

Ichiro Suzuki might be the best thing that’s happened to Empire State tourism since the “I Love New York” campaign was launched in 1977. Thousands of fans from the “Land of the Rising Sun” are expected to descend on Cooperstown when Ichiro joins baseball’s all-time greats during Hall of Fame Induction Weekend ceremonies on July 27. He’ll enter the shrine with CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Dave Parker, and the late Dick Allen. The Hall of Fame’s vast artifact collection already has numerous items from each player’s career. But one thing in particular stands out for Ichiro. “I have a dog [Ikky] that was with me throughout my whole career,” he told reporters, smiling, during a Jan. 23 press conference in the Hall’s Grandstand Theatre. “There’s a plaque of him in…

At Rizo Sports Cards in Riverside, Calif., Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels entered the hobby shop to chants of “M-V-P, M-V-P.” Across the country, at Blue Breaks in Sarasota, Fla., more than 800 people attended Topps Rip Night, with the shop filled to capacity three hours before MLB stars Paul Skenes, Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman arrived. In New York City, at Dave & Adams in the Empire State Building, New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers was joined by Red Sox legend David Ortiz and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin. At DNA Sports Cards in Phoenix, MLB star Mike Trout personally bought Topps Series One boxes for every collector in the crowd of 200, while across town at Sports N Cards in Youngtown, Ariz., rookie Jac Caglianone stayed for three…

The way he wore his cap. The way he struck out batters (all 3,093 of them). The way he won big games. No, you can’t forget about all that when it comes to CC Sabathia. Members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BWAA) certainly didn’t forget when they elected Sabathia to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. “It means a lot just being in the Hall of Fame, period. But on the first ballot—I know what that means to a baseball player, and it’s very special,” Sabathia said. True, but what stands out most in Sabathia’s splendid 19-year major league career (2001–2019) is his stunning, three-month stint in 2008 with the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a performance that may never be equaled by another…

Sports history is full of historic calls from iconic broadcasters. No one will ever forget the way Russ Hodges yelled “The Giants win the pennant!” Or the moment Al Michaels asked a television audience: “Do you believe in miracles?” Fans of the Cleveland Indians/Guardians still recall the way radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton electrified the fan base when Jose Ramirez, their beloved All-Star third baseman, got into a tussle with Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson on Aug. 5, 2023. Anderson, a live wire who had been verbally needling some of the younger Guardians players, slapped a hard tag on Ramirez after a head-first slide into second base. Ramirez jumped up, the two men squared off, and things got heated. “They’re fighting!” Hamilton told his audience. “They’re swinging!” Both benches emptied…

Sterling Sharpe walked down the stairs like it was Christmas morning. “What y’all got going on down here?” he said with a big grin. “Welcome, bro,” his brother, Shannon, said. “To? To your house?” Sterling asked. “Welcome, to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 2025,” Shannon said. Sterling was momentarily speechless. Then he smiled, then he laughed, and then he hugged his brother, who is also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shannon, a tight end for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, and Sterling, a record-setting wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, will be the first brothers to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Both brothers were emotional during the NFL’s “The Knock on the Door” moment when four new inductees learned…