Friday, July 8, 2016

More Memories Of Uniforms - Swallows Edition

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

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

2004 BBM 1st Version #308
2006-08 Home

2006 BBM 2nd Version #668
2006-08 Away

2007 BBM 1st Version #302
2008 Throwback

2008 BBM 2nd Version #611
2009-12 Home

2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #066
2009-12 Away

2009 BBM 2nd Version #716
2009 Throwback

2010 Great Central (Home)

2010 Great Central (Away)


2013-15 Home

2014 BBM 1st Version #316
2013-15 Away

2013 BBM 2nd Version #497
2013-14 Alternate

2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #071
2015 Swallows Crew

2015 Calbee #ES-24
2015 EMPower

2016 Home-

2016 BBM 1st Version #163
2016 Away-

2016 BBM 1st Version #CF19
2016 Swallows Crew

2016 EMPower

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:

SumoMenkoMan said...

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!

NPB Card Guy said...

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?

SumoMenkoMan said...

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.

SumoMenkoMan said...

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!

NPB Card Guy said...

Glad I could help.