Card Of The Week October 25

Much has been made both this season and last about this being the 40th Anniversary of the Carp's first Central League pennant in 1975.  What kind of gets lost is that they didn't win the Nippon Series that year - the Hankyu Braves did.

The 1975 Nippon Series (which started 40 years ago today) was the start of the best stretch of seasons in Hankyu Braves history.  They had previously made it to the Nippon Series five time but were defeated by the Giants each time (they were five of the nine teams the Giants defeated during the V9 era from 1965 to 1973).  Starting in 1975, they won three straight Nippon Series, defeating the Giants in 1976 and 1977.  They made it to the Series again in 1978 but lost to the Yakult Swallows (who were in the Series for the first time in their history).  Hankyu only won the Pacific League one more time before they sold the team to Orix following the 1988 season - the Carp avenged themselves by beating them in the 1984 Series.

The monster 1975/76 Calbee set had a couple of cards that commemorated Hankyu's victory.  Here's a team photo:

1975/76 Calbee #285

 There's also this group shot that I suspect was taken during spring training in 1976.  From left to right, that's Yutaka Fukumoto, Tadayoshi Okuma, Takashi Yamaguchi, Hisashi Yamada, Hideji Kato and Atsushi Nagaike.

1975/76 Calbee #366