Ichiro Suzuki’s 2001 MLB arrival didn’t just change the game on the field — he helped feed growing international demand for baseball cards via plenty of new premium brands that helped pave the way for the ultra-deluxe stuff of today.

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A legendary career and baseball journey on two continents makes its final stop this month in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Hall of Fame and there’s a lot that can be said about that in several directions. 

Ichiro Suzuki changed the game with his arrival in MLB, eschewing the longball in favor of speed and hits — lots and lots of hits. But, “hits” are also the story of all those years when it comes to baseball cards with the prized rarities found in packs with autographs on them — or pieces of memorabilia in them — being an unstoppable force in those years. 

Of course, hits didn’t start with the Japanese star’s arrival, but many of his cards in sets alongside another now-legendary 2001 rookie, Albert Pujols, helped change the cardboard world even faster. Demand for their stuff prompted several new brands from several companies making MLB cards back then to try new things, capitalizing on their new stars who could move packs and boxes of cards -- just like they could move players around the bases and move butts into seats to watch games. One could argue that 2001 was in part a big piece in the evolution of what we see in today’s sports card landscape -- a focus on rarities with small print runs and with premium prices that weren’t like the wax paper-wrapped pocket-change treasures of not that many years before. 

Now, what’s to come here is absolutely not a definitive list of top cards — and it’s not one purely based on volatile values or one limited solely to Rookie Cards. Why? There’s a lot to choose from for Suzuki on all fronts — there could be several ways to take on this challenge. He has more than 50 different Rookie Cards between his 1993 Nippon Professional Baseball and 2001 Major League Baseball debuts (depending on how you want to argue about RC definitions) and he had roughly 500 cards in 2001 alone. Many of them are rarer cards where it is impossible to own them all thanks to small print runs and rare serial-numbered versions. 

In all, he appears on more than 19,000 different cards made over the years between NPB and MLB -- and even though his playing career ended in 2019 his cardboard career has not. He’s got a place in the game in seemingly every new baseball card set on the way and that figures to be the story for the rest of cardboard eternity. He’s not just a Hall of Famer … he’s an international icon.

Here’s a small sampling of 25 Ichiro Suzuki cards that are both fun and notable.

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One of golf's greatest players is back on the links and in contention once again -- and that means there should be renewed interest in his cards and his autographs.

Tiger Woods finished in a tie for second place at the Valspar Championship on Sunday just one stroke behind winner Paul Casey. Woods, 42, hasn't won a tournament since 2013 and he's had multiple issues that have prevented him from re-capturing his past successes on the links.

But you wouldn't know that from the headlines.

"Nothing like we've seen in several years" read one, "Tiger Woods gave us a moment" read another. "Doubt him no more: Tiger Woods is going to win again" said another. "Tiger Woods leaves fans wanting more" and on and on ...

Here's a reminder of his golfing greatness -- his next PGA Tour victory will be his 80th and only Sam Snead has more. Meanwhile, his 14 Major wins are second to only Jack Nicklaus' 18 -- so there should be no doubting his place in golf history.

When it comes to today's golf cards? Woods is still a clear No. 1 -- though his struggles, combined with the continued availability of wax boxes from 2001 when he helped bring golf cards back to the masses, mean there could be bargains to be found.

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