Korean Baseball Cards: A Primer

After Korean Baseball Organization games appeared on ESPN during the first year of the Covid pandemic, Americans got a crash course in the history and nature of the Korean version of professional baseball. Not only did it exist; it was fun and exciting. The KBO has legitimate stars, some of whom have made the transition to Major League Baseball. 

But what is out there for card collectors? 

Well, that's wanted to know, and I'm sure I'm not alone. So here's what I could find out about Korean baseball cards.

Korean baseball cards hit the scene in the 1980s. Some were sold as team sets, and many were unlicensed. Sorting through what I can find online, the earliest example of Korean cards seems to feature a design that matches 1980 Topps. The words are, of course, Korean. It also appears that the players may be from MLB rather than members of the KBO.

In the l1990s, a company called Teleca began to sell packs of cards. The 1999 Teleca set features 232 cards. The first Teleca cards remind me of a low-end Pinnacle release from the same era. The cards are borderless and feature names in thick gold font. Because Korean players often have three parts to their names, the names on the cards, combined with the thickness, takes up a lot of space. 

In 2014, Ntreev Soft Co., a manufacturer or video game products, released Super Star baseball cards in packs. The 126-card set featured 14 players from each of the nine teams. Packs held six cards. 

Today, Daewon Media prints licensed baseball cards featuring KBO players. The company is involved in animation and merchandising based on the characters in its animation shows. The company has a role in Yu-Gi-Oh cards and other collectibles. In 2016, it added baseball cards, which feature "SCC" on the front. 

SCC cards are sold in both packs and in 20-pack boxes. Packs usually contain 5-6 cards (depending on the year), and Daewom Media includes limited parallel versions and inserts. It appears that the 2019 set featured autographs of 220 players, and some cards are 1/1 versions. 

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