Pennant Race! Collecting and Translating 1974 Calbee Series 1 (Part 1)
19 74 Calbee , the brand ’ s sophomore set, doesn ’ t actually exist as such. It is in fact 1974-75 Calbee, because the set covers both of those seasons and doesn ’ t reset numbering at all. This set is almost three times bigger than ‘ 73. Cards #1-504 were issued in ‘ 74 (but for whatever reason #289-324 do not exist!), while #505-935 were issued in ‘ 75. So you could try to collect one or the other as a stand-alone set based on the year if you wanted. It ’ s honestly hard for me to consider them one cohesive set myself. Did Calbee really consciously set out to make a 900-card behemoth covering two different seasons? In truth, even just one of either the ‘ 74 or ‘ 75 halves of this set is too big and too difficult for me to have any real interest in collecting it in its entirety, so I’m focusing on the “1974 Pennant Race” series, which is series 1 (or “ b lock” 1 to use the Japanese terminology) and contains cards #1-72. I was drawn to series 1 in partic...