Card Of The Week January 27

The big news out of Japan last week was the trade between the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the Orix Buffaloes that sent star outfielder Yoshio Itoi and 2006 Pacific League Rookie Of The Year Tomoya Yago to the Buffaloes for Hiroshi Kisanuki, Keiji Obiki and Shogo Akada.  It has been speculated that the fact that earlier last week Itoi had requested that the Fighters post him probably factored into Nippon Ham's decision to trade him.

Itoi originally signed with the Fighters back in 2003 or 2004 out of Kinki University as a pitcher.  He converted to outfield in 2006 and became a regular (and a star) in 2009.  Here's his rookie card from the 2004 BBM 1st Version set (#150) when he was still a pitcher: