Identifying Japanese Bromides (Starffin, Kawakami et al)

[japanbb]

Great purchase! I sometimes have difficulty finding cards in my own guide. It's not easy. I sympathize with everyone's frustration over all the bromide sets that haven't made it into the guide yet. I have over 100 partial bromide sets in my collection for which I don't yet have enough examples for inclusion. The good news is that there will be more than a dozen newly entered bromide sets in Version 3.0, which I hope to publish next summer.

Most of the cards that you have pictured in this thread seem to be from JBR 36, JBR 73, JBR 109, JBR 114, and a set produced by Marusaka in 1947 similar to their 1948 JBR 19 set, and which will be included in the next guide edition. Of course there are a few cards that you pictured which remain uncatalogued.

I'm glad to see so much recent interest in Vintage Japanese cards. I will continue to publish new editions of the guide as long as people remain interested.

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by japanbb

Great purchase! I sometimes have difficulty finding cards in my own guide. It's not easy. I sympathize with everyone's frustration over all the bromide sets that haven't made it into the guide yet. I have over 100 partial bromide sets in my collection for which I don't yet have enough examples for inclusion. The good news is that there will be more than a dozen newly entered bromide sets in Version 3.0, which I hope to publish next summer.

Most of the cards that you have pictured in this thread seem to be from JBR 36, JBR 73, JBR 109, JBR 114, and a set produced by Marusaka in 1947 similar to their 1948 JBR 19 set, and which will be included in the next guide edition. Of course there are a few cards that you pictured which remain uncatalogued.

I'm glad to see so much recent interest in Vintage Japanese cards. I will continue to publish new editions of the guide as long as people remain interested.

Thanks, Gary! I'm just getting into bromides and really enjoying it. While I started with menko and find their designs more interesting, there is an austere beauty to the bromide cards.

Anyway, your guide must be a real labor of love. I have dozens of obscure menko (and an unknown number of bromides) that aren't catalogued yet, though you are probably aware of most of them. I can only imagine how many cards and images you have in your files waiting for a given set to have enough specimens for inclusion in a future checklist....

[prestigecollectibles]

This is Shigejiro Kanbayashi 上林繁次郎 He joined the Dragons in 1947.

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

This is Shigejiro Kanbayashi 上林繁次郎 He joined the Dragons in 1947.

Ah, thank you! That makes sense.

The next page starts with four different bromides of Michio Nishizawa, who I've always liked a great deal, at least from everything I've read. Below that to the right is a nice action shot of Kiyoshi Sugiura throwing back the bat. This is probably from the 1947 or 1948 season, so either his second or third as a pro.

Two of the three remaining cards are, I believe, Tsubouchi at bat. The last looks like his teammate (#33) but I don't know who that is.

Two of these last bromides are very small (1.5" x 1").


Nishizawa - Nishizawa
Nishizawa - Nishizawa
Sugiura - Sugiura
Sugiyama RC - Tsubouchi

[Jeff Alcorn]

Hello Frank,

That is a fantastic collection! Japanese bromide cards are the most fascinating cards to research by far. Robert has done a great job helping you, and I have a couple of tidbits to throw in which may be of interest.

On page 1 the Pacific player is indeed catcher Masumi Isekawa. Since the card lists his team as the Robins the issuer was simply using a 1946 photo when the team was known as Pacific.

Page 2 The top row is Iijima - Naito; middle row is Kiyohara - Iijima; bottom row is Kiyohara - Kumagami. I think Robert made a typo on the top row.

Page 3, as Robert indicated, has 2 team cards one reading Kinsei Stars and the other Kinsei Team. The Stars photo has the 1946 Goldstar team picture, but the card has the name change to Kinsei thus making the card a 1947 issue.

Page 4 the bottom right player is Hattori as you noted. The bottom left player, however, cannot be Hideo Shimizu since he is right handed and Shimizu was a lefty.

Page 5- Only the bottom right card is Michinori Tsubouchi. He is with the Stars and the card says: "Stars Tsubouchi Batting Form". The card with player #30 indicates it is a game between the Dragons and the Hawks. Note that the card with player #33 has the same font used for the uniform number as #30, and they have the same hats and socks. The only team in Japan with a #30 & #33 in 1948 was the Dragons and #30 is Kiyoshi Sugiura (notice his trademark bat release similar to his other card) and #33 was rookie OF Satoru Sugiyama. In fact Sugiyama was the only #33 in all of Japanese baseball that year.

Hope that helps,

Jeff

[Leon]

This is a great thread with some super cards in it. Thanks to all whom have shared.
.

[Leon]

This is a great thread with some super cards in it. Thanks to all whom have shared.
.

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alcorn

That is a fantastic collection! Japanese bromide cards are the most fascinating cards to research by far. Robert has done a great job helping you, and I have a couple of tidbits to throw in which may be of interest....

Hope that helps,

Wow, thank you so much, Jeff! That is a huge help. I'm still fairly new to this but am doing my best to get up to speed and learn. In fact, learning about both mid-century Japanese baseball and about the bromide sets was my main motivation in purchasing this collection. I've purchased those resources I can find in English but they are scant. Japanese Baseball (Statistical Handbook) by Johnson, the books by Gary and Rob Fitts, and some visual guides to uniforms and caps. Otherwise, I just rely on searching the web and creative gymnastics with Google Translate and hope for the best. And Robert has been very generous with his knowledge, both on and off the forums. Without his help, I probably would have given up on Japanese baseball cards already.

Which brings us to page 6 of the album, which contains a mix of teams. The first card (top left) is a partial lineup of the Chubu Nippon team in what looks like their 1946 uniforms (suggesting a 1947 card?). If I am translating correctly, the players are (left to right) Fujimoto, Furukawa, Kanbayashi, Sugiura, and Tayori. I can't find any Tayori on the team roster so am probably mistranslating this one.

The top right card appears to be Michinori Tsubouchi at the end of his swing. He is in a Stars rather than Gold Star uniform, so the image is probably from the 1947 season (and thus a 1948 bromide...total guess).

The center row of cards contain no identifying text and I am not confident enough to identify the players by faces alone. If anyone knows who these players are, please do let me know!

The bottom left bromide is Tsuneo Mitomi in what looks like a 1946 uniform so probably a 1947 card (as most of the cards in this album appear to be). And the bottom right cards is a player I don't recognize at all. My best efforts with google come up with Okunai as a last name, but I can't find him on any rosters so I probably have it wrong.

Just a note: At the moment I am working on identifying all of the players in the album and trying to figure out the year of the images in hopes of later determining the specific sets. The next stage will be to measure all of the cards and make an effort to identify all of the individual issues. In the meantime, if anyone knows what set a particular card comes from, please feel free to let me know...I'm sure it will help guide me in the next stage. Thanks!


Chubu (Fujimoto, Furakawa, Kanbayashi, Sugiura) - Tsubouchi
? - Tsubouchi and ?
Mitomi - Tsuchiya

[prestigecollectibles]

You had the correct names for the team bromide however the last one is 右より which means "from the right", so it's not a player's name.

The player pictured here is Tooru Tsuchiya 土屋亨 the 土 character is cutoff. 内墅手 means infielder. 墅 is an older kanji character for 野