I lived in Tokyo (Azabu Juban) in the early-mid seventies and found collecting North American sports cards back then almost impossible. Dealers, didn't want to ship internationally, auction houses were not as ubiquitous as now, etc. So being now a Tokyo boy, I became a Yomiuri Giants fan, went to many of their games, (the Japanese fans loved the fact that I was a gaijin supporter, sitting in their section of the stands, and collected a few Nagashima and Oh cards, now long disappeared. I suspect my ex-wife who organized our departure might have had something to do with it. Great memories. Welcome to the board, and I hope we will hear from our Asian correspondent often.
P.S. One of the fascinating things about Japanese baseball back then was the practice of when a batter hit a foul ball, a parade of young pretty Japanese girls armed with gloves would rush the field and whoever caught the ball would dutiful toss it back to one of them. It never failed to amaze me, exemplified Japanese group discipline, but I doubt would ever work at Yankee Stadium. Does this still go on? However, when there was a home run a lucky fan got to keep the ball.
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