Japanese HOF Project

[mrmopar]

As a kid, I tried to do a pen pal thing, I think through Baseball Digest. I wrote 1 for sure, maybe a coupl letters to someone in Japan and we exchanged some cards. I felt like I was on the losing end when I sent him some current star cards, including Rickey Henderson (his favorite top request, I recall - this was early-mid 80s) and I got back 5-6 Japanese cards. I still have them, but have no idea who they are. I think they were from the early 80s. Smaller than our cards, maybe 2" x 1.5" or so. The numbers (stats) on back didn't look impressive, which is why i figured I got dumped on with a bunch of commons after I sent him budding superstar Rickey. I either stopped writing or he did. It was a bit of a bust.

Years later, I made it to Japan with the Navy (1991) and I was hoping to find some cards or other memorabilia while we were there, but the only thing I found close was a few new magazines and some soccer cards that reminded me of action packed embossed cards. I had limited time and no knowledge of the country or language, so big disadvantage in seeking out cards.

It still surprises me that we don't see more of that kind of foreign stuff with todays global online market, but maybe I just don't know where to look for it even today.

I still have all the cards. I'll have ti try to find them and show them here, just in case I did get something OK all those years ago.

[nat]

As John said, there are many Oh rookie cards. There is one with red (or, sometimes, gold) borders that also features Nagashima that is popular and always seems to sell for a healthy amount. It's from the JCM 24 set.

Most Oh rookies look like the standard "tobacco" style menko - rectangular, a bit larger than a T206, a photo with Japanese text overlaid, usually giving his name, his team, and his position, and one of various menko-style backs. Some of these sets are quite common. I don't have an Oh rookie, but if you want one, they're not hard to find. Other sets of this kind are practically impossible, to the point that some Oh rookies are, as far as anyone knows, unique. I don't know that there is one issue that is THE Oh rookie, like the 52T is THE Mantle rookie. But there are plenty of nice ones. Now, menko cards are toys, they were meant for kids to play with. So condition on them is often pretty rough. But if you're patient you'll be able to find one in decent shape with a good image. Unless you want one of the rare ones, expect to spend in the low three figures.

mrmopar: you've probably got Calbee cards. Early Calbee cards were a little smaller than standard baseball card size, but then in the 80s they started making tiny ones. (They went back to the old size at the end of the decade.) They would have originally been packaged with potato chips. I'd love to see them if you've got a picture to share.

[Exhibitman]

Picked up this Oh card recently:



1978 JY 6 Yamakatsu Baseball Card Sadaharu Oh (HOF) Home Run Prize Card Overprint Variation

[nat]

I'm a big Yamakatsu fan. By and large, less is better for baseball card design, and they nailed it.

Not much to add today, but I got a few other cards in the trade involving the Mizuhara, so I thought I'd share.

My side of the trade involved the game card of Bessho that I wrote about earlier, so Frank sent along a replacement Bessho.

[seanofjapan]

That is a cool Bessho, I love the old round menko.

I agree about Yamakatsu too.

[nat]

Osamu Mihara

Mihara was a notable (indeed, hall of fame) manager in the post-war period. He holds the record for most games managed, and was nicknamed ‘Sorcerer.’ I’ve written about that part of his career elsewhere. Today, I’ve got a pre-war Mihara card to share.

He was the first player to sign a contract with Yomiuri, upon their formation in 1934. Contrary to my expectations, however, this does not make him Japan’s first professional player. There was a short-lived professional team run by Hankyu in the 1920s, originally conceived as a way to encourage railway ridership (they figured folks would take the train to see a ball game). Hankyu’s team played local college teams and the like, but no one else started a professional team, and they folded in short order.

Unlike most American players of the time, Mihara grew up wealthy. His father had plans for him to get a high-ranking position in the government, but he enrolled at Waseda, was recruited for their storied baseball team, and that was that. And things with dad must have gotten even messier after that. Japanese colleges at the time did not approve of married students, but Mihara couldn’t wait, so he dropped out of college, tied the knot, and moved back home.

In college he played second base. After going pro he was an infielder, often at second, sometimes at third. Unfortunately, he had a parallel career, which would often get in the way of baseball: the military. He missed time in 1935, and again in 1937, when he was wounded fighting in China.

As with his college career, Mihara’s professional career came to an untimely end. Near as I can tell, his manager was trying to protest a call, and he chased after him trying to get him to stop, and was subsequently suspended for insubordination (and maybe for threatening the manager with a bat? the story isn’t so clear); he wasn’t one to take this lightly, and so retired from the team out of spite. Not that it mattered much: he was more-or-less immediately called up to fight in Burma. American players mostly got non-dangerous jobs, I imagine that the government didn't want the bad PR that would come with getting famous ball players killed. Japan was not so generous with their athletes, lots of them saw battle, and not a few were killed. Mihara, however, made it through. After returning from the war, he got a job with a newspaper.

Evidently he was remembered fondly in baseball circles (maybe the bat incident blew over by then) because the Giants hired him to manage the team starting in 1947.

Mihara’s tenure with the Giants was short, and ended in controversy. Giants management wanted to hire Shigeru Mizuhara, who had been Mihara’s rival since their school days, and there was an ensuring power struggle. Mizuhara won, and had Mihara promoted out of his way. Mihara became a vice president, with, apparently, no portfolio. Japanese Wikipedia (my source for most of this post) remarks that he spent his days playing Go and being very bored.

Fleeing Yomiuri, he took a job as a field manager for the Lions, and quickly built a powerhouse of a team. Since I’ve written about his managerial career before, I’ll skip over the remainder of it.

This card is from the JBR 71 set, issued in 1932. It originally came as an insert in the February 1932 issue of Yakyukai Magazine. The cards are fairly large – roughly postcard size – but thin (they are bromides after all). There are only three cards in the set. It was issued during Mihara’s college days, hence the ‘W’ on his cap. He’s playing for Waseda here.

[seanofjapan]

Great write up, glad the card arrived in good time!