2022 Hall Of Fame Class

The Japanese Hall Of Fame inductees for 2022 were announced today.  There were two players elected on the Players Division ballot, Shingo Takatsu and Masahiro Yamamoto.  They were the first players elected on that ballot in three years.  For the second straight year no one was elected on the Experts Division ballot and the Special Committee elected Shigeyoshi Matsumae, the founder of Tokai University.

Here's cards of Takatsu and Yamamoto:

Shingo Takatsu

1991 BBM #387

2002 Calbee #EX-3

2007 BBM 2nd Version #626

Masashiro Yamamoto

1990 Calbee #64

2006 Dragons #34

2015 Epoch Dragons X Mizuno #13

I updated the spread sheet I have listing all the Hall Of Famers in BBM's flagship sets over the years (the one I used to identify the sets with the most Hall Of Famers and the sets with the most Hall Of Fame players).  It didn't make a difference in the standings since Takatsu appeared in the sets from 1991 to 2007 with the exception of 2004 & 2005 when he played in MLB and Yamamoto appeared in the sets from 1991 to 2015.  The set with the most Hall Of Fame players is still 1994 which now has 16 and the set with the most Hall Of Famers (players and managers) is still 1991 which now has 24.  The most recent year to feature a Hall Of Fame player is now 2015.  Since Takatsu has been the manager of the Swallows since 2020, the sets from the last two years now feature three Hall Of Famers (Takatsu, Kimiyasu Kudoh and Tatsunori Hara).  This year's set will also feature three Hall Of Famers - Takatsu, Hara and Kazuyoshi Tatsunami.