Here’s my Sachio Kinugasa card for the meikyukai collection. Original post
here.
When Kinugasa originally signed with the Carp he bought himself a Ford Galaxy, which was notable at the time as most Carp players drove Mazdas, and Kinugasa’s Japanese Wikipedia page says that some of them even rode bicycles to their games.
As a young man he was fond of late nights of drinking, and would sometimes skip evening practice. One time, when he was returning to the team dormitory at 3am, Junzo Sekine (RIP – he just died the other day) was waiting for him. Sekine took him out to the practice field and made him practice until sunrise. The matter arose during his hall of fame induction, and he laughed at his youthful indiscretions. (Which, to be fair, I think we all do.)
Although he rarely led the league in anything (besides games played), Kinugasa had a long career and was consistently very good. He therefore does well on all-time lists. He’s 5th in hits, 7th in home runs, and 5th in runs. In addition, he took home the 1984 MVP award, was a member of the best-nine three times, won three gold glove awards, and had his uniform number retired by the Carp.
Hall of Fame:
Yes – Meikyukai:
Yes
1984 Calbee