1973 Calbee Flag-Back Primer
1973 Calbee #6 Shigeo Nagashima Bat-Back (left) and Flag-Back (right)
The 1973 Calbee bat-back set was probably a test issue that saw enough immediate success for Calbee to continue on with production. Whatever the case, this expanded 1973 set reprints the 91 bat-back cards with the redesigned flag-back and adds 277 more, for a grand total of 368 cards. The flag-back set was released in 10 series or “blocks” starting only about a month after the first bat-backs dropped. There are basically three kinds of flag-back cards: standard cards (released nationwide), photo variants (released only in western Japan), and regional issues (released around a certain city and environs).
1973 Calbee #59 Yoshiro Sotokoba base (left) and B Type Photo Variant (right). The base comes in both bat-back and flag-back while photo variants come in flag-back only
Blocks 1 and 2 are simply reprints of the bat-back cards with flag-backs. The photo variation cards all come from these two blocks (cards #3, 9, 54-59, 61, 62 and 64-72). Photo variants are usually known as “B Type.” Some cards have a second photo variant, C Type. Although B Type are scarce, C type are even more so. So if you’re keeping score, card #59 here has a base bat-back, base flag-back, B Type variation, and C Type variation.
Block 4 is all Yomiuri Giants players. Unsurprisingly, given the great popularity of the team and its players, this block was fully reprinted and are among the most readily available cards.
1973 Calbee #213 Morimichi Takagi (Block 6, Regional Issue)
Blocks 6, 8, and 9 are regional issues featuring exclusively Dragons, Lions, and Carp players respectively. These cards are rare and generally very pricey when they surface. A few are particularly coveted, including manager cards of Kaoru Betto and Wally Yonamine. The existence of these regional issues basically makes completing '73 Calbee all but impossible. A few dozen in number, when they do actually surface they tend to go for usually no less than around $100, and can reach $1,000+ depending on which card and its condition. For whatever reason, the #221 Kenichi Yazawa from Block 6 seems to pop up more than other regionals, but I couldn’t say why or if this is just random coincidence somehow. (I was able to get this #213 Takagi for an uncharacteristically low price. It is likely the seller did not know what they had).
1973 Calbee #312 Heated Battles Series - Katsuya Nomura (Block 10)
The “Heated Battles Series” comprises Block 10. Maybe less literally translated as “Exciting Matchups,” this series foregoes the usual player-position-team fronts for that dramatic moniker, and tends to feature more action oriented in-game photography, culminating in scenes from the playoffs and finally the Giants victory in the Japan Series. This block was partially distributed in January of 1974, leading the set to sometimes be referred to as “1973-74 Calbee,” although I prefer to think of it as simply 1973 Calbee. For one, only the last of the 10 blocks saw issue in ‘74, and even so, that block was first issued as early as November of ‘73. Besides that, none of the cards' content is concerned with the ‘74 season at all.
A stray observation about the flag backs: some cards are particularly tough despite not being a photo variant or known regional issue. Card #94, featuring photogenic Lions pitcher Osamu Higashio, is a definite rarity. It's also an (uncorrected) error card, giving the wrong uniform number. #93 (Mimura) is also pretty scarce, while #92 (Ueda) is quite available. Similarly, the #102 (Motoi) is not often seen, but his #117 is quite common. This, despite all these cards being from Block 3. As I alluded to, even among the regional issues some seem to pop up more than others. A turducken of riddles and enigmas, these things.
I plan to start translating my flag-backs, although probably not with quite the same frequency as I did the bat-backs. So, stay tuned for that!
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