The team now known as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows entered professional baseball as one of the new teams joining the Central League in 1950. The team was originally known as the Kokutetsu Swallows until halfway through the 1965 season when Kokutetsu sold the team to Sankei. From May 10th, 1965 to the end of the season the team was known as the Sankei Swallows. Sankei then decided to attempt to cash in on the popularity of the "Mighty Atom" anime (known in the West as "Astro Boy") and the team became the Sankei Atoms. In 1969, Sankei jointly ran the team with Yakult and the team was known simply as the Atoms. Yakult took over full ownership of the team in 1970 and the team became the Yakult Atoms. In 1974 Yakult reverted the nickname back and the team was known as the Yakult Swallows until 2006 when they added "Tokyo" to the front of the team name.
As always I am using
The History Of Uniform and
Professional Baseball Uniforms Encyclopedia 1936-2013 as my primary sources as well as
Yakyu Baka's Uniform posts.
1950-51 Home
1950-51 Away
 |
| 2009 BBM Masaichi Kaneda Memorial #01 |
1951 Home
 |
| Uncataloged Bromide |
1951 Away
1951-54 Home
1951-54 Away
1953-54 Home
1953-54 Away
1955-59 Home
 |
| 2009 BBM Masaichi Kaneda Memorial #07 |
1955-59 Away
 |
| 2006 BBM Nostalgic Baseball #088 |
1960 Home
 |
| 2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #061 |
1960 Away
 |
| 2009 BBM Masaichi Kaneda Memorial #14 |
1961-62 Home
 |
| 2009 BBM Masaichi Kaneda Memorial #17 |
1961-62 Away
1963-65 Home
 |
| 1964 Fujiya Gum Kaneda |
1963-65 Away
1965 Home (Sankei)
1965 Away (Sankei)
1966-68 Home
 |
| 2002 BBM All Time Heroes #058 |
1966-68 Away
1969 Home
1969 Away
1969-70 Home
 |
| 2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #062 |
1969-70 Away
1971-73 Home
 |
| 2007 BBM Draft Story #056 |
1971-73 Away
 |
| 2009 BBM Yakult 40th Anniversary #52 |
1974-77 Home
 |
| 1975/76 Calbee #656 |
1974-75 Away
 |
| 1974/75 Calbee #852 |
1976-77 Away
 |
| 2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #063 |
1978-89 Home
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| 2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #064 |
1978-89 Away
 |
| 1984 Calbee #356 |
1990-93 Home
 |
| 1992 BBM Nippon Series #S30 |
1990-93 Away
 |
| 1993 BBM Nippon Series #S13 |
1994-98 Home
 |
| 1995 BBM Nippon Series #S10 |
1994-96 Away
 |
| 1994 BBM #586 |
1997-98 Away
 |
| 2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #065 |
1999-2005 Home
 |
| 2002 BBM 2nd Version #455 |
1999-2005 Away
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| 2004 BBM 1st Version #308 |
2006-08 Home
 |
| 2006 BBM 2nd Version #668 |
2006-08 Away
 |
| 2007 BBM 1st Version #302 |
2008 Throwback
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| 2008 BBM 2nd Version #611 |
2009-12 Home
 |
| 2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #066 |
2009-12 Away
 |
| 2009 BBM 2nd Version #716 |
2009 Throwback
2013-15 Home
 |
| 2014 BBM 1st Version #316 |
2013-15 Away
 |
| 2016 BBM 1st Version #163 |
2016
Away-
Notes:
HOU doesn't distinguish Home and Away for the 1950-51 and 1951 uniforms but PBUE does.
PBUE lists a "1955-59 Away" uniform that's identical to what they've got listed for the 1960 Away uniform so I think they might have made a mistake.
Despite the fact that it appears that the team was known as simply the "Atoms" in 1969, the team did have "Yakult" on the front of the away uniforms.
HOU lists one home and one away uniform between 1990-98 while PBUE lists five due to some subtle differences - the hat changed in 1994, the sleeve caps changed in 1994 for the home uniforms and in 1997 for the away uniforms). I've used the PBUE listings.
PBUE has two different uniforms for 1999-05 for both home and away - it looks like the only difference is a red bill on the cap. I just combined these.
PBUE lists a different home uniform from 2009-10 and 2011-12 and a different away uniform from 2009-11 and 2012 but I can't tell the difference in either case so I'm lumping them together.
I'm not positive that the alternate uniform (green with the "YS" logo on the left breast) was the same in both 2013 and 2014 but I'm pretty sure it was.
5 comments:
I just picked up an uncut sheet of cards from Japan and there is a player from the 1958 Swallows team that I need help identifying. Was hoping you could help.
http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/JapaneseMenko/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsxojkvvtt.jpeg.html
Sorry about the upside pic, can seem to rotate it in photobucket from my mobile phone. Thanks in advance for the help!
I don't have any serious idea at the moment, other than to guess Masaichi Kaneda simply because he was the most significant player on the Swallows at the time. Are all four cards the same player?
Thanks for taking a look. All 4 cards are the same player. The sheet is from mid-1958 as Asashio was promoted to Yokozuna later in 1958, but is depicted as an Ozeki on the sheets. The sheet also has 4 Nagashima rookie cards which is pretty cool. Engel's book doesn't have these mentioned anywhere. I'll get a post here soon on the set once I get settled at our new house.
I went and looked at pictures of Kaneda and it is dead on. One of the cards shows him with a glove on his right hand and everything else seems to match. Thanks for the help!
Glad I could help.
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