Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Kensuke Tanaka of the San Francisco Giants

Last week former Hokkaido Nippon Han Fighter infielder Kensuke Tanaka signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants.  Tanaka was drafted by the Fighters in the second round of the 2000 draft and has played for them ever since.

His BBM rookie card was #367 in the 2000 set.  He did not have another card in a BBM "flagship" set again until 2003.  After appearing in 1st and 2nd Version in 2003 and 1st Version in 2004, he didn't appear in either 1st or 2nd Version in 2005 or 2006.  Starting in 2007, he's been a staple of both the 1st and 2nd Versions.  He appears in BBM Nippon Series sets for the 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012 Series and the BBM All Star sets in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

His first Calbee card appears to be #226 in the 2006 set.  He also appeared in the 2000 Upper Deck Ovation set's "Rising Stars" serially number insert set (#19).

As always, this is just some of the highlights - check out the Inventory Manager over at SportsCardForum.com for a much more complete list.

Here are some cards:

2000 BBM #367

2003 BBM 1st Version #325

2006 Konami Baseball Heroes 2 Black Edition #B06B092

2007 BBM Nippon Series #S44

2010 Calbee #050

2012 BBM All Stars #A22
UPDATE - I was incorrect - he did not appear in the 2012 Nippon Series due to injury so he does not appear in the 2012 BBM Nippon Series set.

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