RIP Junzo Sekine

Hall Of Famer Junzo Sekine passed away a couple of days ago at age 93.  Sekine joined the then Kintetsu Pearls in their inaugural season of 1950, reuniting with manager Shozo Fujita who had coached Sekine at Hosei University in the late 40's.  He was initially a pitcher but injuries forced him off the mound and into the outfield in the mid-50's.  He was a five-time All Star, making the team in 1953 as a pitcher and in 1959-60 and 1962-63 as an outfielder.  The only other player to be selected to the All Star team as both pitcher and position player is Shohei Ohtani.  He is also the only player in the "modern" two league system to have recorded 50 wins and 1000 base hits.  The only other player to do so, Michio Nishizawa, got his wins in the pre-1950 Japan Baseball League.

Sekine spent the first 15 years of his 16 year career with the Kintetsu Pearls/Buffalo/Buffaloes before finishing his career in 1965 with the Yomiuri Giants.  He coached for Hiroshima in 1970 and Yomiuri in 1975 and 1976.  He managed the Yokohama Taiyo Whales from 1982 to 1984 and the Yakult Swallows from 1987 to 1989.

Here are all the cards I have of him.  He had a number of cards during his career (including a couple when he was still playing for Hosei University) and made sporadic appearances in BBM and Epoch OB sets over the last 20 years.

~1956 Uncataloged bromide (possibly JBR 42)

1959 Marusan JBR12a

1962 Doyusha JCM 55

2003 BBM Buffaloes #101

2004 BBM Kintetsu Memorial #K37

2006 BBM Nostalgic Baseball #086

2008 BBM Baystars 30th Anniversary #03

2009 BBM Kintetsu Anniversary #08

2009 Epoch All Japan Baseball Foundation 15th Anniversary #33

2011 BBM Legend Of Tokyo Big Six #048

2011 Epoch Managers #24

2014 BBM 80th Anniversary Batters Edition #11

2014 Epoch Giants V9 Glorious Victory #21