Hall Of Famer Yoshio Yoshida passed away yesterday at age 91. Yoshida was perhaps the greatest shortstop in NPB history. He joined the then-Osaka Tigers as a 19 year old in 1953 after dropping out of college and immediately became their starting shortstop, a role he didn't relinquish for another 15 years. He won nine Best 9 awards at the position, the most of anyone in history. He was also a 13 time all star and led the league in steals in 1954 and 1956. He retired after 1969 and had three stints as Tigers manager in each of the next three decades although the only one most people really remember is from the mid-1980's when he led the team to their first ever Nippon Series championship in 1985. In between his 1980's and 1990's iterations as Hanshin manager, he managed the French National Baseball team which earned him the nickname "Monsieur".
There are a ton of baseball cards of Yoshida, both from him playing days and in OB sets from both BBM and Epoch over the past 30 years or so. Here's a bunch of them from my collection:
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| 1958 Mitsuwa JACM 129 (w/Shigeo Nagashima) |
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| 1958/59 JBR 60 |
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| 1960 Doyusha JCM 30c |
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| 1962 Marusan JCM 10 |
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| 1962 Marusho JCM 13b |
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| 1967 Kabaya-Leaf #113 |
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| 1998 BBM #517 |
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| 2000 BBM 20th Century Best 9 #T-06 |
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| 2001 BBM #537 |
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| 2010 BBM Tigers 75th Anniversary #15 |
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| 2015 Epoch Tigers Nippon Champions 1985 |
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| 2021 BBM Tigers History 1935-2021 #09 |
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