I did a post a couple weeks ago talking about which current MLB players on playoff teams had been on a Nippon Series winning NPB team and therefore could be the latest player to win both a World Series and a Nippon Series championship. Since then the Yankees have been eliminated (Yay!) which knocked out Masahiro Tanaka as a possibility but the Braves are still in it so Chris Martin's candidacy is still viable. At least for another couple of hours.
What I didn't bring up in the post was that there was a player on a likely NPB postseason team that had previously won a World Series. That player is Gerardo Parra of the Yomiuri Giants who was a member of last year's Washington Nationals World Series winning team. Were the Giants to win the Nippon Series with Parra on the active roster he would be only the second player in history to win the championships in consecutive years (with Hideki Okajima being the first in 2006 with the Fighters and 2007 with the Red Sox). Parra (or Martin) would be the first Westerner to get both Championships since Dan Gladden in 1994. (Should the Braves win the World Series Martin would become the first Westerner to first win a Nippon Series before the World Series.)
Last week, however, the Giants announced that Parra would be returning to the United States to get treatment on his right knee which has been injured for about two months. It is apparently unlikely that he will return in time for the Nippon Series in mid-November (H/T NPB Reddit). So unless the Braves win tonight it doesn't look like we'll get the 1312th member of the Dual Champions club this year. (UPDATE - the Braves didn't win.)
Here's Parra's card from this year's BBM 1st Version set (#183):
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