Page 17
 

The Nankai Hawks cards continue on the seventeenth page of the album. The page begins (in the upper left) with something of a mystery to me. Clearly this color bromide is of a Hawks pitcher, but the several ways I’ve tried to translate the name with Google Translate it comes out as Tasho Yuzuki, but I can find no Hawks player of that name. My suspicion is that it is Hawks pitch Susumu Yuki but I am not sure. The card in the upper right is a bit more straightforwad, as it is pitcher Hiroshi Nakahara, who played one season in 1943 for Hanshin and then the rest of his career with the Hawks from 1948-1955.

The left card in the second row is another mystery to me. The card has no identifying text but based on uniform and couple of other reasons, I think it is from 1948. Does anyone know who #30 on the Hawks was that season?

The right-hand bromide in the same row shows three Hawks players, which I am translating as: Kasai, Yasui, and Tagawa. Naofumi Yasui played second base for the Hawks and Yutaka Tagawa played outfield for the team but only in 1947 (so dating this image pretty clearly). But I can find no “Kasai” on the 1947 squad. The kanji is 河西in case anyone has a better idea as to the name….

The third row pictures (left to right): Kasahara again, Kazuo Horii, and a card that might be short stop Chusuke Kizuka (again, I’m unclear on the kanji translation). Horii was a long-time player (two seasons before the war and then 1946-58 with Kinki Great Ring and then the Hawks). If the other card is Kizuka, then it would be from 1948 at the earliest, as that was his rookie year.

The last row appears to be Kasahara and Yasui again, assuming I am identifying them correctly.


Yuki - Nakahara
Tsuruoka? - Hawks (Kawanishi, Yasui, Tagawa)
Kasahara - Horii - Kizuka
Kasahara - Yasui

Hi Frank,

I think that I have a few contributions that can help with page 17. The color card is Susumu Yuki. I have 3 or 4 cards of him and that is the kanji for his name- Google translate only works sometimes.

Yes, that is Chusuke Kizuka the Hawks great SS.

If the action picture is a Hawks batter then it is HOF Kazuto Yamamoto (Tsuruoka) who wore #30.

The combo card is a 1946 picture of the players in their Great Ring uniforms. Since the card lists the team as Hawks then it is from 1947, but the picture is 1946. The players are L-R: Toshio Kawanishi OF (3 time SB Champ 46-48), Naoshi Yasui 2B (changed his name in 1954 to Naofumi), Yutaka Tagawa OF.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks! That is a huge help.

It's interesting, based photos I thought it might be Kawanishi on the left, but characters kept throwing me. I'm obviously a total amateur but would have expected his name to be written 川西 ....

Hi Frank,

One of the hardest things I have had to work on is the fact that the same kanji can be entirely different words. The first kanji in Kawanishi's name is also Ko like in the common last name Kono. However, sometimes it is Kawa as in this example. Check out former Whales OF Yukio Osada. The first kanji is the same as the first one in Nagashima. When you look at the name you think it should read Nagata- but no, it is Osada.

Jeff

Page 18
 

Thanks again, Jeff! I am learning this the hard way, but it keeps things interesting and the continuing learning curve keeps me interested....

Page 18 is the final page devoted to the Hawks. As it contains only three cards, I will keep this brief. The upper right bromide is a duplicate of a Kasahara card found on Page 17. And the bottom card is a team photo of the Hawks, although I am having a hard time determining the season based on the uniforms and am not familiar enough with the roster to peg it by the players.

The upper left photo appears to be Hawks pitcher Nobuo Nakatani (although Google Translate keeps pushing Nakaya as the translation). Nakatani spent his entire nine-year career with the Hawks, compiling a lifetime W-L record of 90-76 and an era of 3.05.

The remainder of the album is devoted to the Osaka Tigers and the Tokyo/Yomiuri Giants teams and their legendary rosters.

Nakatani? - Kasahara
Hawks

Page 19
 

Beginning with Page 19, the album is devoted to the players of Japan’s greatest sports rivals, the Tigers and the Giants. And this era of play (the Japanese Baseball League) was one of the rivalry’s most exciting periods. Over the JBL’s history (from 1936-49 with 1945 having no season due to the war), the Giants won 8 championships and the Tigers 5. In only two of the league’s seasons did another team win (Kinki Great Ring in 1946 and the Nankai Hawks in 1948), and in both those years the Giants and Tigers came in second and third. You may have noticed that there were more champions than years…in each of 1937 and 1938 the league had two seasons (Spring and Fall).

The cards on this page (and the next several following) are from the end of the Japanese Baseball League era. After the 1949 season, Japanese professional baseball was reorganized into Nippon Professional Baseball, which was divided into the Central and Pacific leagues.

The three bromides of the top row (as well as the bottom right card) are of the famous Tigers player and manager Tadashi Wakabayashi. Wakabayashi joined the Tigers at the founding of the JBL in 1936 and played for them until the league’s reorganization in 1949 (after that he played three seasons for the Mainichi Orions). He was an ace pitcher with a career W-L record of 237-144 and a lifetime ERA of 1.99.

The cards of the second row are all of another strong Tigers pitcher, Tadayoshi Kajioka. 1947 was his rookie year, and I believe that is the season pictured here. He played all nine of his professional seasons for the Tigers.

I believed the final bromide (bottom left) to be pitcher Takao Misono. The front doesn’t show any text, but the picture closely resembles another I have seen of the player. Misono spent all seventeen of his professional seasons (starting in 1936 and finishing in 1951) with the Tigers.


Wakabayashi - Wakabayashi - Wakabayashi
Kajioka - Kajioka - Kajioka
Misono? - Wakabayashi

This is Kazuo Kasahara 笠原和夫

Ah, yes...thank you! I was able to identify the card on page 17 and then cut and pasted the wrong name. Doh!

Page 20
 

Page 20 displays five cards (top left and all cards of the second and third rows) of Fumio Fujimura …“Mr Tigers.” Fujimura joined the Tigers in 1936 and played with the organization through 1958. While he began as a strong pitcher, he eventually moved the third base and is best remembered for his hitting and competitive demeanor. Over the course of those 23 years, he hit .300 lifetime and retired with a career slugging percentage of .501.

The remaining bromides feature Tigers catcher Takeshi Doigaki, a mainstay of the Tigers (Hanshin and Osaka) lineup from 1940-1949, after which he played for several other teams (Orions, Dragons, Flyers, Braves) through 1957. He was a consistent hitter and, in addition to catcher, also did stretches at 1B, 3B and OF.

I particularly like the graphics of the upper center Doigaki and middle left Fujimura cards and will be on the lookout for more bromides from these sets. It’s also interesting to see the difference between the B&W and colorized versions of the same image used in the middle right and bottom left cards….


Fujimura - Doigaki - Doigaki
Fujimura - Fujimura
Fujimura - Fujimura

Page 21
 

More Tiger players make up the 21st page of the album. Although I am not adept with the kanji characters, top top row appears to be bromides of Zenso Haswegawa from three different sets. Hasegawa was a starting shortstop for the Tigers from 1946-49. Before the war, he played for Nakai and after 1949 he moved around (Clippers, Lions, Dragons, Orions, Unions) until retiring after 1954.

The second row of cards read (to me) as Kaneda, which I take it means Masayasu Kaneda, career Tigers outfielder (1942-1957). The bottom left and right cards also appear to be Kaneda (judging by the picture…I can’t find any text).

The bottom middle card looks like Shosei Go. He was actually a pretty remarkable player. He started his pro career with Tokyo (Giants in 1937) and I believe played outfield. Before the war, he pitched only seven innings with an ERA of 11.57. Yet in 1946 (now on the Tigers) he pitched the first post-war no-hitter in Japanese baseball. He only pitched into 1949 although he kept playing (outfield) until 1957. In all, he won two batting titles, a stolen base title, and had a 15-7 pitching record with a career 3.48 ERA.


Hasegawa - Hasegawa - Hasegawa
Kaneda - Kaneda - Kaneda
Kaneda - Go - Kaneda

I'm just shocked at how cool all of these are. This was one incredible find!

Hi Nat, thanks for the comment! I bought it mostly blind but it's turned out to be a pretty cool item.

And as long as at least one person is still reading, I'll keep posting the pages. :D

Page 22
 

On Page 22, the first two rows of cards are all Kaoru Betto that I believe date to 1948, his rookie year. Almost certainly they are 1948 or 1949, as those are the only two seasons he played for the Tigers, moving to the Mainichi Orions in 1950 until the end of his playing career in 1957. Betto was a star player (especially on the Orions) with a career batting average of .302 and 155 home runs during a relative short playing career. In America he is probably best known for appearing on Jeff Bridges’ t-shirt in The Big Lebowski and a couple of other films.

The bottom row is comprised of three Wakabayashi bromides. I wrote about him on Page 19, where his cards first appeared. He is interesting for many reasons, including being a Japanese American from Hawaii, which was a pretty big deal in prewar Japan.



Betto - Betto
Betto - Betto
Wakabayashi - Wakabayashi - Wakabayashi

Hey Frank,

Really great work you are doing on this album. I can confirm what you have already done on pages 18 - 21. The only change (very minor) is Hasegawa's first name is Zenzo not Zenso and it is definitely Takao Misono on the bottom left of page 19.

Fantastic cards and please keep them coming.

Jeff

Page 23
 

Thanks, Jeff. I've made the correction to my notes. And, although I had some luck on the last few pages, this one is proving a bit trickier. If you have any ideas, please let me know....

Page 23 is a hodgepodge of Tigers cards. It looks like it was the repository for cards that didn’t fit onto other pages, so we’ve seen several of the players before: Hasegawa (top left), Wakabayashi (top right), Betto (middle center), and (maybe?) Doigaki (top center).

The player on either side of Betto in the middle row is Jun Togashi…I think. It’s hard to say, as I wasn’t able to find another picture of him to confirm. He played for the Tigers his entire brief career (1946-49) with almost all of his play coming in 1946 and 1957.

The bottom row is harder for me to identify. If I am reading the script correctly (it is a little tough for me), the left card is of Hirokazu Nozaki, a journeyman pitcher who (from 1946-53) compiled a 32-56 win-loss record. And the bottom right card looks like “Kobayashi” which is probably Eiichi Kobayashi, an obscure second basemen who played pro ball from 1944-48 and only clocked 96 games.

Unfortunately, I can’t make out the name on the bottom center card. Does anyone recognize this player?


Hasegawa - Doigaki? - Wakabayashi
Togashi - Betto - Togashi
Nozaki - ? - Kobayashi

Hi Frank,

You got them all right. Eiichi Kobayashi is interesting because the card lists him as a catcher and he is wearing a catcher's mitt. He only caught a few games, and played mostly at 2B & SS. The bottom middle card you could not identify is Takao Misono.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff! I thought that might be Misono but couldn't get a good enough look at the face to be sure.

Page 24
 

Page 24 of the albums begins the stretch of Yomiuri Giants (previously Tokyo Kyojin). The upper left photo shows three Giant players at practice (although I can't identify them individually). Any takers?

The upper and middle right bromides are team photos. From what I can tell, these are 1947 images but I wouldn’t be the farm on it.

The remaining for cards appear to be Japanese HOF manager Osamu Mihara.

Mihara managed the Giants for a brief stretch from 1947-49, so that dates these cards pretty tightly. His history with the franchise goes back further, though. I remember reading somewhere that he was the very first player signed with the new Tokyo pro team in 1936, although he joined the military and 1938 and (as far as I can locate in the records) never played again. When he returned to pro ball as a manager during the 1947 season, the Giants were in last place. In 1949 they won the championship. This was typical of Mihara’s managerial career, taking teams from the bottom of the standings to championships (notably with the Lions, but also the Whales). To me, that is a much more impressive feat than a dynastic run. As a result, his 1687-1453 record (.537 winning percentage) really undersells his effectiveness as a manager.



Giants Team - Giants Team
Mihara (manager) - Giants Team
Mihara - Mihara - Mihara

Page 25
 

As with most of the teams, the collector who originally assembled this album starts off (after teams and managers) with the pitching staff. This 25th page of the album is dominated by cards of pitcher Tokuji Kawasaki who played for the Giants from 1946-49. Before the war, he spent three years on the Nakai team and from 1950-57 he played for the Nishitetsu Clippers/Lions. His bromides are (I believe) the upper left and middle, the entire middle row, and the bottom right.

The two other cards on the bottom row are of Hiroshi Nakao, an impressive left-handed pitcher who played his entire career for the Tokyo team (Tokyo Kyojin then Yomiuru Giants)…1939-57 (with a few year out for the war).

The final care (top right) looks like Nakajima (who is featured on a page yet to come) and I assume manager Mihara.


Kawasaki - Kawasaki - Nakajima and Mihara?
Kawasaki - Kawasaki - Kawasaki
Nakao - Nakao - Kawasaki

Page 26
 

Page 26 starts with another Giants pitcher, Hideo Fujimoto. Despite a relatively short career, Fujimoto is considered one of the greats of Japanese baseball. He played his entire career for the Giants franchise (except for 1947 when he was on the Chunichi Dragons and 1945 when play was canceled due to the war). Over his career (1942-55) he won 200 games and lost 87, despite playing only four games total in his final two years. His lifetime ERA is 1.90. His cards are the top left and center, entire middle row, and bottom center.

Nakao, mentioned on page 25, is pictured in the top right bromide.

The other two cards are a little hard for me to identify.

The bottom left card reads to me (admittedly, not a hard endorsement) as kawa-matsubara or something like that. I’m guessing it is Hiroyoshi Komatsubara who pitched in pro ball from 1942-42 and 47-49 and then played outfield through 1947.

The bottom right card I’m having a hard time figuring out. Does anyone recognize him?



Fujimoto - Fujimoto - Nakao
Fujimoto - Fujimoto - Fujimoto
Komatsubara - Fujimoto - Yoneo Yashima

Hi Frank,

You are right on Hiroyoshi Komatsubara. The bottom right card is pitcher Yoneo Yashima. He only played 1 year in 1948 for the Giants going 2-2 in 15 games.

Keep them coming,

Jeff

Page 27
 

Thanks, as always, Jeff!

Page 27 transitions from pitchers to catchers with a player who wore both hats. The top left and center cards appear to be Fukuzo Tada, a catcher and starting pitcher who played pro ball from 1941 to 1955 with all but the last two years with the Giants. The top right card is Komatsubara who also appeared on the previous page.

Another Giants catcher, Tamotsu Uchibori, occupies the middle row center and right cards. Uchibori played for the Giants from 1936-37 and then left pro ball until the 1946 season. He finally retired in 1951.

The left-hand card in each of the middle and bottom rows is the legendary first baseman and manager Tetsuharu Kawakami. We will see more of him in the pages to come.

The final action card (bottom right) shows Giants #20 at bat. I can’t seem to find a good source for player uniform numbers of the era, so I’m not really sure who this is….

Fukuzo Tada - Tada - Komatsubara
Kawakami - Uchibori - Uchibori
Kawakami - Giants action (players?) -

Page 28
 

The 28th page of the album is entirely devoted to Tetsuharu Kawakami. Kawakami joined the Giants as a player in 1938 and played with the team through 1958 (with a few years out for the war). For those unfamiliar with Japanese baseball history, Kawakami was arguably the greatest offensive player of his era, known for his disciplined hitting and his red bat. He was also arguably the greatest manager in Japanese baseball history, having led the Giants through 9 consecutive championship seasons during his reign as manager (1961-1974). By all accounts, he was a very intense and disciplined person.

Hi Frank,

#20 on page 27 is OF Kiyomitsu Hayashi whose last year was 1947. From 1936-1941 his first name was Seiichi, and from 1942 onwards it was Kiyomitsu. By the way the photo is a reverse negative as is Kawasaki's upper left corner card on page 25.

Jeff

Page 29
 

Page 29 continues with more Kawakami cards and introduces long-time (1938-56) Giants second baseman Shigeru Chiba. A member of the HOF, he was an extremely disciplined hitter and a strong defensive player. One particular record that stands out is that he scored six times in one game. Not really sure how you do that. Wish I could see the film….


Chiba/Kawakami - Kawakami - Kawakami
Kawakami - Kawakami - Chiba/Kawakami
Chiba - Chiba - Chiba

Page 30
 

Page 30 of the album includes seven more bromides of the Giants star second baseman Shigeru Chiba. The two additional cards appear to be journeyman third baseman Takeshi Yamakawa, including one really exceptional decorative bromide. Yamakawa played pro ball from 1940-1954 and for the Giants from 1946 through 1951.


Chiba - Chiba - Chiba
Chiba - Chiba - Chiba
Yamakawa - Yamakawa - Chiba