Leaf Trading Cards has released the 2013 Ichiro Immortals Collection, a limited issue commemorating Yankee star Ichiro Suzuki’s career.
Leaf will produced only 300 hand-numbered boxes, each containing four base cards numbered to 51 (his uniform number) and an Ichiro autograph. The company holds Suzuki’s exclusive autograph rights.
“We set out to make a memorable product,” said Leaf President Brian Gray. “Ichiro continues to have a remarkable baseball career and we wanted to produce a set that paid proper homage to his many milestones and delivered something to collectors that would take their breath away.”
Since arriving in the major leagues in 2001 with Seattle as a 27-year-old rookie from Japan, Suzuki boasts a career batting average of .319 and an average of 211 hits every year. Earlier this season, combining his MLB totals with his nine previous seasons in Japan, the 40-year-old star became just the third professional baseball player in history to break the 4,000-hit plateau joining both Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.
Boxes will include autographed cards, bat relic and jumbo patch cards as well as Kanji (Japanese language) Letterman autographed cards. Featuring Ichiro in action during his first 11-and-a-half seasons in Seattle as well as his last season and a half in pinstripes, the base set’s cards also have parallel levels as low as 20, five and one.
ll of the autographed inserts, which were witnessed by Gray during a private signing session with Ichiro in New York City last month, are limited to either five or one copy each and include: “Immortal,” “Pendulum,” “Record Book Booklet,” “Accolades,” Dual Jersey,” “Triple Memorabilia,” 200-Hit,” “Letterman,” “Kanji Letterman,” “Jumbo Patch,” “Jumbo Jersey,” “Patch Booklet” and “Bat Booklet.”
The specially designed “Legacy Booklet Cut Autographs” insert collection is comprised of 1-of-1 cards that feature Ichiro’s on-card autographs paired with some of baseball’s all-time greatest players including Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, Pete Rose and others. Lastly, the “Bat Knob Autograph” features a game-used bat knob plus an on-card autograph and is numbered 1-of-1.
Two boxes pre-sold on eBay for $759.95. A couple are are currently listed on eBay.
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