Card Of The Week September 13

The Hawks were leading Nippon-Ham 4-1 going into the bottom of the eighth inning last Tuesday night in Fukuoka when the wheels fell off for the Fighters.  SoftBank battered reliever Shoma Kanemura for ten runs (only nine of which were earned) on seven hits and four walks, highlighted by Ukyo Shuto's inside-the-park grand slam.  Kanemura faced 13 batters and had only retired two of them when manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo finally pulled him from the game.  Instead of bringing in another reliever, however, Shinjo tapped catcher Yuya Shindoh to get the final out.  Miraculously, Shindoh did that, getting Tatsuru Yanagimachi to ground out to second on his second pitch.

Having a position player pitch used to be fairly rare in Japan but it seems to be happening more often in the past few years.  I know that first baseman Jose Osuna of the Swallows pitched in a game earlier this year and I think there have been other instances of it, although I don't know if there's a list somewhere.  It was reported, however, that Shindoh was the first position player to pitch for the Fighters since September 29, 1974.

When looking over Shindoh's cards, I discovered another instance of two different card companies using the same photo.  This is another thing that I'm not sure how often it happens although with four companies producing numerous sets, it's bound to happen more often than I realize.  

2024 Epoch Fighters Premier Edition #10

2024 Topps Stadium Club NPB #156

Shintoh was a member of the 2023 Samurai Japan Collegiate team and, as such, was featured in the 2024 Panini USA Baseball Stars & Stripes set:

2024 Panini USA Baseball Stars & Stripes #JPN-YS

Finally, I want to add some details about the previous time that the Fighters had a position player pitch.  It was part of catcher Hiroshi Takahashi's successful attempt to become the first player in NPB history to play all nine positions in one game.  It was the second game of a double-header at home at Korakuen Stadium and the next-to-last game of the season.  The opponent was also the Hawks, although they were owned by Nankai at the time and called Osaka home.  With the Hawks up 7-0, Takahashi faced one batter to lead off the ninth and retired him, although I don't know any more details than that.   

Takahashi is most known outside Japan, to the extent that he's known at all, as one of the other guys that Nankai sent to the San Francisco Giants minor league system along with Masanori Murakami in 1964.  While Murakami pitched for Fresno in the Class A California League, Takahashi and Tatsuhiko Tanaka played for Magic Valley (Idaho) Cowboys of the Rookie Class Pioneer League.  Takahashi had a long career in NPB, playing for the Hawks (1964-71), Flyers/Fighters (1972-76) and Lotte Orions (1977-82).  He passed away in 2016.

2017 BBM Time Travel 1975 #39