Card Of The Week April 13

The Lions and Fighters had a scoreless tie going into the bottom of the twelfth inning Friday in Hokkaido.  With two outs and pinch runner Go Matsumoto on second, though, pinch hitter Yuya Gunji stepped to the plate and ended both the tie and the game:

It was only the second time in NPB history that a player hit a pinch hit, sayonara home run to end a scoreless tie in extra innings.  The first time?  July 29th, 1970 when Junichi Ikeda hit a walk-off grand slam in the thirteenth inning to beat the Giants 4-0.

Here are cards of both Gunji and Ikeda:

2024 Topps Stadium Club NPB #163

1973/74 Calbee #118

Hiroyuki Nakajima

Long time NPB star Hiroyuki Nakajima officially announced his retirement a few weeks ago.  He'd been hoping to continue playing after being released by Chunichi last fall but, with the beginning of the new season, his first in 25 years that he wasn't on the roster for a professional team, the 42 year old decided to hang up his spikes.

Nakajima had been the fifth round pick of the Seibu Lions in the 2000 draft out of Hyogo Prefectural Itamikita High School.  He spent most of his first few seasons on Seibu's farm team as Kazuo Matsui was firmly entrenched as the starting shortstop on the ichi-gun squad.  When Matsui left for the Mets in 2004, though, Nakajima had an opportunity to replace him and he made the most of it, hitting .287 with 29 home runs and 90 RBIs.  He made the All Star team and helped the Lions win the Nippon Series despite finishing second - it was the first year that the Pacific League had a playoff system.

He put up good numbers over the following eight seasons, making the All Star team in every season except 2005 (when he missed time with a broken cheekbone from getting hit by a batted ball).  He won four Best 9 awards (2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012) and three Golden Glove awards (2008, 2011 and 2012) and led the Pacific League in hits in 2009 and OBP in 2008 and 2009.  He helped the Lions win another Nippon Series in 2008 and played for the National Team in both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Nakajima wanted to play in MLB and asked the Lions to post him following the 2011 season.  The Yankees won the bidding for him but he and New York failed to come to an agreement.  He returned to the Lions for one final season in 2012 before leaving as a free agent and signing with the Oakland Athletics.

He played poorly in spring training in 2013 and started the season on the disabled list.  The A's sent him to their Triple-A team in Sacramento when he was healthy again and he spent the entire season with the River Cats.  He started the 2014 season back in Sacramento but, after only hitting .128 in 12 games, he was demoted to Oakland's Double-A team in the Texas League, the Midland Rockhounds.  He spent the rest of the season with Midland and, frustrated by not being able to get promoted to the majors, decided to return to Japan.

He talked with three teams upon his return to Japan - his two "hometown" teams of the Tigers and Buffaloes as well as the Lions.  He ultimately signed with Orix which reunited him with an elementary school teammate - Katsuki Yamazaki.  

He wasn't the same player after he returned to Japan.  He had hit over .300 in six of the seven seasons before he headed to the US but never reached that number after he came back.  He was slowed some by injuries but being in his 30's (and later 40's) probably didn't help.  

He spent four seasons with Orix before joining the Giants as a free agent in 2019.  After five seasons in Tokyo, he moved to Nagoya for 2024 and spent most of last season on the Dragons' farm team.

Nakajima's rookie card was #426 from the 2001 BBM set.  His only other 2001 card was from the Broccoli Lions set (#065).  He didn't have any cards that I know of in 2002 (although I'd be willing to bet he had a card in a Lions team-issued set) and his only known 2003 card was in BBM's first comprehensive Lions team set.  He started appearing in many card sets in 2004 - getting into both of BBM's flagship sets (1st and 2nd Version) as well as appearing on his first Calbee (#081 in Series Two) and Konami cards.  Here's a bunch of his cards:

2001 BBM #426

2001 Broccoli #065

2004 BBM Nippon Series #19

2005 SCM #49

2006 BBM 2nd Version #M02

2007 Lions "Special Card 2007" #3

2008 BBM 2nd Version #694

2009 Topps 2 WBC #BCS4

2010 BBM 1st Version #448

2011 BBM All Stars #A27

2012 Epoch TCP Lions #SL-02

2013 BBM 1st Version #375

2015 BBM Classic #009

2016 Calbee Series One #025

2017 Epoch Pacific League #48

2018 BBM 1st Version #092

2019 BBM Giants #G70

2020 Calbee Series Two #109

2021 BBM 1st Version #174

2022 Topps NPB #37

2023 Epoch NPB #342

2024 BBM 1st Version #148

My friend Justin of Charm City Autographs gave me a card a while back that Nakajima signed for him in Sacramento.  He said that it's a terrible autograph but "Believe it or not, that was probably one of the better autographs that I got from him":

2012 BBM 1st Version #382

Certainly doesn't look as good as the facsimile autographs on the 2005 and 2019 cards.

RIP Tony Blanco

Devastating news out of the Dominican Republic today - a roof collapse at a night club in Santo Domingo has left at least 66 people dead and over 150 injured.  Among the dead were merengue musician Rubby Pérez who was on stage when the roof collapsed; Nelsy Cruz, governor of the Montecristi province and sister of former MLB star Nelson Cruz; former MLB player Octovio Dotel and former MLB and NPB player Tony Blanco.

Blanco spent about ten years in the Red Sox, Reds, Nationals and Rockies organizations with only a brief, 56 games stint in the majors with the Nationals in their inaugural 2005 season.  He joined the Dragons in 2009 as a replacement for Tyrone Woods and homered in his first NPB at bat on Opening Day against Daisuke Miura of the Baystars.  He led the Central League in home runs (39) and RBIs (110) that season, was selected for the All Star game and won a Best 9 award.  He again hit over 30 home runs in 2010 and again made the All Star team.  His performance tailed off somewhat the two years (definitely due to injury in 2012 but maybe also in 2011) - although he won a second Best 9 award in 2012 and was again selected for the All Star team although he declined to participate - and he left Nagoya for Yokohama after the 2012 season.

He had an amazing first season with DeNA in 2013, leading the Central League in batting (.333) and RBIs (136) while also hitting 41 home runs.  He probably would have won the Triple Crown had that not been the season that Wladimir Balentien hit 60 home runs.  He won his third and final Best 9 award that year and was once again selected for the All Star team.

Muscle strains in his legs plagued him in 2014, ultimately limiting him to only 85 games.  His performance when healthy resulted in yet another All Star team selection but he lost his spot in the starting lineup to Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh late in the season.

He moved on to the Orix Buffaloes, signing a two year contract in December of 2014.  Injuries limited him to only 52 ichi-gun appearances in 2015 and only 27 in 2016 (I remember that his only card in the 2016 BBM 1st Version set was the Buffaloes team checklist showing him standing in the dugout with a stabilizing boot on his left foot).  He and Orix parted ways when his contract was over and his final days as an active player came in a 7 game stint with Estrellas Orientales of the Dominican Winter League during the 2016-17 season.

Here's a bunch of his cards - I picked at least one for each of the eight years he played in Japan:

2009 Calbee Series Two #180

2010 BBM All Stars #A19

2011 BBM 2nd Version #576

2012 Calbee Series Three #186

2013 BBM 1st Version #149

2013 Front Runner Baystars Season Summary #03

2014 SCM Cosmic Cross #SCM23/#SCM276

2015 Calbee Series Two #098

2016 BBM 1st Version #329

2016 BBM Buffaloes #Bs54

I was fortunate enough to see Blanco play in an open-sen game for the Baystars against the Dragons on my first trip to Japan in March of 2013.  I think it might have been his first game in Yokohama as a member of the Baystars but I don't know that for sure.  I do know that he hit a home run completely out of Yokohama Stadium that afternoon - it was a windy afternoon and the Baystars had four home runs that day along with one by the Dragons but Blanco's was the only one to leave the ballpark.

There was one thing I saw that day that I didn't understand until today.  "Blanco" is similar to the Japanese word "buranko" which means "swing" (as in "swing set") so he was more or less known as "Swing" in Japan.  Which explains this t-shirt I saw for sale at the Baystars shop that day:

Zippy Zapped Yet Again

Got a surprise envelope in the mail from Japan the other day - once again I have been the recipient of the generosity of Kenny - aka Zippy Zappy.  Unlike some of his previous packages, this envelope only had a few cards (plus a 2013 Chunichi Dragons pocket schedule).

The big thing was this "Youth Culture" insert card of Akio Moroyama of the Dragons from the 2023 Bowman NPB set:

2023 Bowman NPB #YC-23

I'm not a big fan of the Bowman NPB sets but this is an attractive card.  It's also a little thicker than the run of the mill cards so it has a little heft to it.

The back shows the usual level of effort and detail that we've come to expect from Topps with their NPB products:

Kenny also included two cards of Dragons rookies from the 2022 Topps NPB set:

2022 Topps NPB #167

2022 Topps NPB #85

The last sports card in the box wasn't something I collect but it was interesting to take a look at.  Earlier this year, Calbee had issued a card set* for the Japan National Football (soccer) Team and Kenny sent me one of the cards from it.  I know nothing about Atsuki Ito but it's kind of neat to see what Calbee does with something other than baseball.  Here's the front and back of the card:

2025 Calbee Japan National Team #17

*I think it's a 2025 set for the 2024 National Team but I could be wrong.

Once again, thanks for the cards, Kenny!

Card Of The Week April 6

Last Thursday, Yasuhiro Ogawa of the Swallows threw a "Maddux" against the Carp.  He had a complete game, 2-hit shutout on only 92 pitches.  What's more, he hit a double and since the Central League is the only league in the world that doesn't use the DH, he's likely to be the only player in the world not named "Ohtani" to throw a "Maddux" and get an extra base hit in the same game.

Ogawa's nickname is "Ryan" due to the fact that his windup resembles Nolan Ryan's.  But I don't think Nolan Ryan ever threw a "Maddux".  Of course, Ryan has six more no-hitters under his belt than Ogawa does.

Here's a couple cards of Ogawa - one showing his windup and the other showing him hitting:

2015 BBM Classic #069

2022 BBM Fusion #50

RIP Hidetoshi Hakamada

The news broke last week that former Lotte Orions catcher Hidetoshi Hakamada had passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage in early February at age 69.

Hakamada was born and raised in Shizuoka and attended Shizuoka Kita Senior High School where he was the cleanup hitter in his senior year.  He was drafted by Lotte in the third round of the 1973 draft but opted to attended Hosei University instead.  He was the starting catcher for Hosei by the spring season of his sophomore year and became somewhat notable for being the battery-mate of Suguru Egawa, the "Monster Of The Showa".  He ended his collegiate career with 6 home runs, 43 RBIs and a .300 batting average in 89 games.  He was named to the Best 9 team four times (keep in mind that there are two separate seasons - spring and autumn - every year for collegiate baseball).

Lotte took him again in the 1977 NPB draft, this time with their first pick.  He spent most of his first four seasons with the farm team as veteran Hiroshi Takahashi* was firmly entrenched as the Orions' starting catcher.  It wasn't until 1982, Takahashi's final season, that Hakamada took over the starting job, which he would not relinquish until 1989.  He would make the All Star team in 1982 and 1985 but did not have an opportunity either time to face Egawa.  He led the Pacific League in sacrifices in 1986.

*Takahashi was one of the other players along with Masanori Murakami that Nankai loaned to the San Francisco Giants' organization in 1964.  He spent the season with the Magic Valley Cowboys of the Pioneer League 

He earned a reputation as good handler of pitchers and became future Hall Of Famer Choji Murata's preferred battery-mate, even after he'd been replaced as the primary catcher by Yoichi Fukuzawa.  He apparently caught Murata without giving him signs as (if I'm understanding his Japanese Wikipedia page correctly) Murata had poor eyesight and couldn't make out the signs.  Hakamada announced his retirement at Murata's final game in 1990.  Murata had also been the pitcher for Hakamada's debut with the top team in 1978.

After retiring, Hakamada coached for Lotte for twenty of the next 22 years, missing only the 1998 and 1999 season.  He sat out a year after the Marines fired him following the 2012 season before spending 2014 and 2015 coaching with the Saitama Seibu Lions.  His final coaching job was with the Musashi Heat Bears of the independent Baseball Challenge league in 2016-17.  He inherited "Retto Koshien", Murata's baseball school, when Murata passed away in 2022.

Hakamada doesn't have a lot of baseball cards from when he was an active player.  He never had a Calbee card as much of his career was from the period of time when Lotte didn't allow Calbee to issue cards of Orions players.  As far as I can tell, his first card is from the 1981 Takara Orions set and most of his active player cards are from other Takara Orions sets - 1983-90 as well as the 1984 Takara Kids Orions set.  His only other card from the 1980's was from the 1989 Lotte set.  He appeared in some of BBM's Marines team sets from the 00's that included cards of the team's coaches and has appeared in a handful of OB sets from both BBM and Epoch over the years.  Here's a handful of his cards:

1984 Takara Kids Orions #12

1987 Takara Orions #12

1989 Lotte #57

1990 Takara Orions #12

2007 BBM Draft Story #004

2008 BBM Lotte 40th Anniversary #34

2011 BBM Legend Of Tokyo Big 6 #057

2021 BBM Marines History 1950-2021 #26