40 year quest finally completed
 

Way back in 1977 I acquired a group of Japanese baseball cards. Having no ability to read Japanese i struggled for years even figuring out what they were. (This is waaaay before the internet)

I finally found a collector of Japanese cards who informed me they were a 1963 Menko Flag back group. I had about half of the set. So naturally I continued my quest to find out more and finish the set.

I finally found a checklist that shows the set had 40 cards including Sudaharu Oh. I continued my trek and occasionally a card would pop up on eBay that I would need. I worked my way down to needing about 8 cards to finally complete a set I started in 1977

Imagine my thrill when a group popped up on eBay that included the rest of the set that I needed.

Needless to say I bid high and won the group. Finally I have completed a 1963 Menko Flag back set after 40 years of trying.

Check that one off my list ...FINALLY!



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Complete
 

Congratulations Mark. I have always found it both exhilarating and yet a tad sad to complete a long project. The quest is a good deal of the fun in collecting a set

If you get a chance can you post a scan of the Oh

Congratulations!
Larry

Congrats, I would love to see some of the cards!

Congrats!

And X2 on the pics. Post some up if can. :)

Congrats! Saduhara Oh had the highest kick ever! My Dad brought me back a bunch of Japanese cards back from Japan in the seventies. Sold all that stuff in the mid eighties.

Here's a scan of part of the set. That's Oh in the upper left hand corner.

The biggest challenge is not being able to read Japanese made it tough to know what cards I had and what I didn't.

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/z...psp6gr8tau.jpg

O/T, but does anyone else wonder why in heck the Japanese teams use the English alphabet on their jerseys?? That's odd.

That's an awesome looking set. Congrats!

Those are very attractive cards. Why are they called "flag backs"? And I've always wondered what "Menko" means. Is that just their word for trading cards?

Lefty O'Doul helped set up the Japanese professional leagues. The Tokyo Giants were named in tribute to his then-team. He is one of only a few Americans in the Japanese baseball HOF. Part of the modeling on the American game was the use of English language in team logos. That tradition has remained. After the war Lefty was among the first to bring American baseball to Japan, touring with the Seals as well as some MLBers. Here are some cards:

1949:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...%20OquDoul.jpg

1951 Lefty and Joe D:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...our%20card.JPG

1951 PC

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...r%20PC%201.JPG

Congratulations on completing your quest and thanks for sharing pics. Has to be a very satisfying feeling after so long of searching.

Speaking of Lefty, I stopped by his place last weekend…

Attachment 247410

The backs of the cards feature a flag with the team logo. Many of the sets from that period look very similar on the front so the English separation comes from a back design feature (Flag back, Bat on Right etc.)

Oddly most every set from that era also features a game of Rock-paper-Scissors on the back. Where American kids could use some sets to play a baseball game, Japanese kids liked playing rock-paper-scissors

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/z...psmz1dchze.jpg

Hi Mark,

Those are some great cards that you have. I have been collecting Japanese cards since 1979, and really enjoy the challenge and the research involved.

I don't know if you are aware, but the 2 cards directly in the middle of the 2nd row in your scan are from another set that was issued in 1964. They should have a different back entirely consisting of a rock/paper/scissors mark, then a navy blue box with a baseball term written in it, and then a large number on the bottom.

You have cards from 2 different series in your scan, including some great players. Jim Marshall is 4th from the left in the bottom row, 400 game winner Masaichi Kaneda is 3rd from the right on the top, and Katsuya Nomura- 2nd all time to Oh in HRs is in the middle 2nd from the right. Of the 2 1964 cards, Kent Hadley is the one on the right, Toru Mori is the one on the left. Mori is also in the 1963 set, his card being 2 over to the left from his 1964 card.

Let me know if you would like any further information about the cards/players involved, I love talking about Japanese cards.

Jeff

That picture is actually from a group of cards I picked up that included the final cards I needed for the set. The group also helped finish the set with brown ink backs. I had several Flag Backs with green ink that always bugged me.

No idea what I will do with my duplicate cards and the other series cards. Probably put them on BST and see if anyone wants them.

This is an amazingly cool-looking set. Any idea how rare they are? I'm guessing if you've spent 40 years and been searching throughout, pretty rare.

Do others on the board know - are there Japanese card collectors in the same way the US/Canada has such a large group of card collectors?

Post Lefty O'Doul ; perhaps Pre_War ?
 

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/204295...PANESE_NEW.JPG..

..These is the Yamanashi Prefecture Engineers Team Card from 19???

..Eleven of them are wearing spectacles...huge percentage...if this is slightly post-war , that might reflect the deprivations of a wartime diet on growing children......if this is , as I suspect , slightly pre-war ( note the one very military-type uniform ) I wonder if there was such a thing as "team-issued" glasses to enhance players' performance ? Culture of the time leads me to think they might be part of the 'equipment' as much as spikes and gloves...

.. any other ideas......neat card though, sturdy stock and slightly bigger than a postcard and a blank back...

..

Bigger Picture