Japanese Gym Heroes (1998): all 96 cards with PSA prices — Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge and Erika

Fifth in the complete-list series: Gym Expansion vol. 1, Leaders’ Stadium, known overseas as Japanese Gym Heroes. This is the set that introduced owner’s Pokémon, cards such as Brock’s Onix that carry the name of a Kanto Gym Leader, alongside Pokémon owned by Team Rocket.

What is it?

• Released on 24 October 1998. The Japanese name is ジム拡張第1弾 リーダーズスタジアム.
• 96 cards: 66 Pokémon and 30 Trainers. No Energy cards.
• The owners are four Gym Leaders, Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge and Erika, plus Rocket’s Pokémon. Every Pokémon carries an owner’s name, and the same species under a different owner is a different card.
• 16 holos. Fifteen Pokémon: Erika’s Vileplume, Rocket’s Scyther, Brock’s Ninetales, Rocket’s Moltres, Misty’s Golduck, Misty’s Tentacruel, Misty’s Seadra, Misty’s Gyarados, Lt. Surge’s Magneton, Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz, Rocket’s Hitmonchan, Brock’s Rhydon, Lt. Surge’s Fearow, Erika’s Clefable and Erika’s Dragonair. Plus one Trainer, The Rocket’s Trap.
• The 30 Trainers include the Gym Leaders themselves (Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika) and the Gym cards Pewter City Gym, Cerulean City Gym, Vermilion City Gym and Celadon City Gym.
• Six names appear twice as distinct cards: Erika’s Oddish, Erika’s Bellsprout, Brock’s Vulpix, Misty’s Horsea, Lt. Surge’s Magnemite and Brock’s Geodude. Each is listed separately here.
• The English Gym Heroes (132 cards) is this set plus cards taken from the Japanese gym theme decks.
• Cards are unnumbered; Pokémon are ordered by Pokédex number.

Highlights

• Misty’s Tears is a Trainer, yet it has the largest PSA population in the set. The Japanese artwork differs from the English print, and it is especially popular with overseas collectors.
• Misty’s Gyarados leads the Pokémon by graded count and stands apart from Misty’s other three holos.
• Rocket’s Moltres and Rocket’s Scyther are Team Rocket cards with a following of their own, separate from the Dark Pokémon of the Team Rocket set.
• Erika’s Dragonair and Brock’s Ninetales round out the six most-graded cards and trade regularly.

Reading the prices

• Where a name appears twice, the prices are separate too. Check the level, HP and attacks before you open the card’s price page.
• No variant print exists, so same card, same grade is directly comparable.
• PSA 10 / PSA 9 below are the median of the latest confirmed sales (up to five).