Sad news announced today - former MLB and NPB player Adrian Garrett passed away from pneumonia at age 78. Garrett had spent three years with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 1977 to 1979 and helped the team win their first Nippon Series championship in 1979.
He hit 35 home runs in his first season with the Carp and then had his best season in 1978. He homered in each of his first four games and had 15 in the month of April, tying an NPB record. He also hit three in one of the All Star games that year. He finished the season with 40 homers, making him the first foreign player for the Carp to hit 40 or more in a season. His home runs (along with Koji Yamamoto's 44, Jim Lyttle's 33 and Sachio Kinugasa's 30) helped the Carp become the first NPB team ever to have more than 200 home runs in a season.
His brother Wayne also played in MLB and NPB, spending two seasons with the Chunichi Dragons in 1979-80.
Garrett had a handful of Calbee and Takara cards during his Japanese career along with some more obscure issues. He made a couple appearances in BBM's OB sets over the past 12 years or so and was also featured in the recent Japan Retired Foreign Player Association set from Epoch. Here's the cards I have of him:
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| 1979 Calbee July Best #40 |
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| 1979 TCMA #31 |
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| 2009 BBM Carp 60th Anniversary #45 |
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| 2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners #19 |
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| 2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners #74 |
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| 2015 BBM Carp Legends #61 |
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