Card Of The Week February 19

75 years ago today President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which lead to the relocation and internment of around 120,000 people of Japanese descent who were mostly living on the US west coast at the time, roughly two thirds of whom were American citizens.  Among the internees were a handful of nisei who would go on to play baseball in Japan after the war.  I haven't been able to determine a definitive list but I know that three members of the Carp in the 1950's were former internees - Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama was interred at the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona while the brothers Kenso and Kenshi "Harvey" Zenimura were at nearby Gila River (along with their father Kenichi Zenimura, the "Father Of Japanese American Baseball").

I don't know if there are any cards for either of the Zenimuras (Kenzo only played in 10 games in 1953 while Kenshi played in 375 games between 1953 and 1956) but there are many menko and bromide cards of Hirayama who played with the Carp from 1955 to 1964.  Here's a card of him from the 1958 "Who Am I?" JCM 54 set:

Many of the nisei who played in Japan in the 1950's such as Wally Yonamine were from Hawaii and were not subject to internment.

Kenso Zeminura and Hirayama are both still alive and attended one of the Masanori Murakami book tour events in Fresno, California in 2015.  Among the things I have become a broken record about (and there's an analogy that shows how old I am) is that I would love for BBM to do cards for these guys and many of the other Americans who played in Japan in the 50's.  They have never done so.

Card Of The Week February 12

I came across this oversized (3 12 inches by 5 1/2 inches) bromide card of Tetsuharu Kawakami a little while back when I was doing research for my post on the Giants uniforms.  As far as I can tell the card is uncatalogued.  Assuming that the colors are correct (which is a big assumption given some of the hand colored bromides of the era) the uniform is from 1950 so I assume the card is from 1950 or 1951.

My scanner clipped a bit of the white border on the right side of the card.

Disappointed!

The Can-Am League's schedule is official now and Shikoku Island League All Stars will NOT be touring the league again this summer.  Instead the Yeoncheon Miracle, an independent team from Korea, will be spending three weeks in June playing each of the six Can-Am League teams.  The Cuban National Team will be returning as well to balance the schedule.

I don't know for sure why the Shikoku Island League All Stars are not returning but I suspect it has something to do with not wanting to blow a hole in the middle of their season again - the league went on hiatus for a month or so while the All Stars were in North America.

I'm disappointed because it was a lot of fun going up to New Jersey the last two summers to see the team, get some autographs and have a chance to hang out with my friend Chuck.  I'm also disappointed because I was hoping that a certain recent pickup by the Kochi Fighting Dogs was going to make the team.

More Memories Of Uniform - Japan National Team Edition

This will be a bit different from all the other uniform posts.  There have been a variety of "Japan National Teams" over the years made up of professionals or amateurs (and in some cases both).  The coverage of these teams on baseball cards has been pretty sporadic at least up until the past 20 years or so.  What I'm going to do is simply show what I've got and not worry about what I know about but don't have cards from (like the 1934 All Nippon team).

The History Of Uniform and the Professional Baseball Uniforms Encyclopedia 1936-2013 both have some coverage of this topic.

There was some sort of team or teams in 1949.  I think the teams were split up between East and West as there's a patch on the left sleeve with an "E" or a "W" on it.  This maybe the uniform worn in the games against the San Francisco Seals during their tour that fall.

~1950 Uncataloged Bromide

The following uniform was apparently worn in 1951, 1953 and 1956.  I assume it was to play against visiting MLB teams but that's just a guess on my part.  HOU indicates that the letters "CBL" appeared on the left sleeve in the 1953 version of the uniform so I guess that means this photo is not from 1953.  I see the numbers "51" and "55" on the back of the card so maybe the photo is from 1951.  That's Masaichi Kaneda standing - not sure who the kneeling player is.

2009 BBM Masaichi Kaneda Ultimate Southpaw #19

Skipping ahead a few years...

The nest Japan National Team I have any cards for is the 2000 Olympic team.  This was the first Olympics to use professionals for baseball and both Upper Deck and Calbee had cards for the team.  There doesn't appear to be a home and away version of the uniform but that may be do to the photo selection.

2001 Calbee Japan National Team #J-05

The 2001 Baseball World Cup uniforms looked a little different and there's definitely a home and away version:

2001 BBM Japan National Team #44

2001 BBM Japan National Team #2

The 2003 Asia Baseball Championship was held in November that year and was a qualifier for the 2004 Olympics.  The uniform design had some slight changes from the 2001 BBWC design.

2003 BBM Japan National Team #07

2003 BBM Japan National Team #21

 This was the same uniform worn in the 2004 Olympics although there were no cards made for that team (at least none that I'm aware of).

The 2006 World Baseball Classic team rolled out a completely different look:

2006 Upper Deck WBC Box Set #33

2006 Upper Deck SP Authentic Future Watch #WBC-60

The 2007 Collegiate All-Star team wore a different uniform as well:

2008 Upper Deck USA National Teams Box Set #JN-17

For the 2008 Olympics, the National team went back to the same (or very similar) uniforms as were worn in the 2004 Olympics:

2008 BBM Japan National Team #JPN18

2008 BBM Japan National Team #JPN25

The Collegiate National Team wore similar uniforms that season:

2008 BBM Japan Collegiate National Team #CN02

2008 BBM Japan Collegiate National Team #CN20

The 2009 World Baseball Classic team unveiled yet another new look:

2009 Bowman Draft Picks WBC #BDPW34

2009 Konami Baseball Heroes WBC #W09S001

And then another new look for the 2013 WBC:

2013 Topps Tribute WBC #19

2013 Topps Tribute WBC #82

The 2013 Collegiate National Team wore similar uniforms to those of the WBC team:

2013 Panini USA Baseball Box Set Japanese All-Stars #17

In November 2013 the national team was dubbed "Samurai Japan" and new uniforms were rolled out for all levels of the team both professional and amateur.  This has been the uniform worn for all international events the past few years including friendlies against MLB, Europe, China, the Netherlands and Mexico as well as the Premier 12:

2016 Calbee Samurai Japan #SJ-23

2016 Calbee Samurai Japan #SJ-02

The 2017 World Baseball Classic team will wear uniforms that are very similar to the Samurai Japan uniforms from the past few years.

Card Of The Week February 5

Hiromitsu Ochiai's tenure as Dragons GM ended on Tuesday as the three year contract he signed after the 2013 season expired.  Ochiai had been the most successful manager in Dragons history between 2004 and 2011 - he lead the team to the Nippon Series five times in eight years and won the Series in 2007, the first championship for the Dragons since 1954.  His managerial contract was not renewed after 2011 and after two disappointing seasons the Dragons brought him back to be GM.  The disappointing seasons for Chunichi continued, including a last place finish this past season and the organization decided to make a change.

Ochiai has not appeared on a baseball card since he was let go back in 2011, even though there have been several sets that you would have expected him to be in (Dragons Legend, Dragons 80th Anniversary, BBM 25th Anniversary for example).  Here's what I'm pretty sure was his last card - it's from the 2011 BBM Nippon Series set (#S27):

More Memories Of Uniforms - Kintetsu Edition

The team that was ultimately known as the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes began life in 1950 as the Kintetsu Pearls and were one of several teams that joined the new Pacific League when the old Japan Baseball League transformed into the new two league Nippon Professional Baseball organization.  The team changed their name to the Kintetsu Buffalo in 1959 when they hired former Giants star Shigeru Chiba as manager - Chiba's nickname was Mogyu which translates as either "wild" or "formidable" Buffalo.  The name went plural in 1962 and the city/prefecture name was added in 1999.  Officially the team "merged" with the Orix Blue Wave after the 2004 season but in reality the Buffaloes were simply absorbed by Orix.  The Kintetsu corporation completely divested itself of the team, none of Orix's team records include anything from any Kintetsu players and Orix has not even recognized the one uniform number Kintetsu retired (Keishi Suzuki's #1).  About the only acknowledgement of Kintetsu that I see by Orix is the use of Kintetsu uniforms in "turn-back-the-clock" games.

As always I'm using The History Of Uniform and the Professional Baseball Uniforms Encyclopedia 1936-2013 as sources.  The uniform posts from Yakyu Baka and Yakyu DB don't go back far enough to cover Kintetsu.

1950-52 Home

1950-53 Home

1950-57 Away (2 different)

2009 BBM Kintetsu Memorial #09

1954-58 Home

2004 BBM Kintetsu Memorial #K32

1958 Home

1958 Away

2000 BBM 20th Century Best 9 #184

1959 Home

1959 Doyusha JCM 30b (Shigeru Chiba)

1959 Away

1959 Marusan JCM 12a (Junzo Sekine)

1960-61 Home

1962 Doyusha JCM 55 (Junzo Sekine)

1960-61 Away

1960 Marusan JCM 43e (Glenn Mickens)

1962-64 Home

2014 BBM Brilliant Teenagers #133

1962-64 Away

2004 BBM Kintetsu Memorial #K35

1965 Home

2009 BBM Kintetsu Memorial #12

1965 Away

1966-71 Home

1966-71 Away

2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #133

1972-73 Home

2014 BBM Brilliant Teenagers #135

1972-73 Away

1973 Home

2011 BBM Legend Of The Bs #51 (Takashi Iwamoto)

1973 Away

1974-76 Home

2015 BBM Memories Of Uniform #134

1974-76 Away

1975/76 Calbee #544 Kohei Shimamoto

1977 Home

2010 Epoch All Japan Baseball Foundation 1977 #59

1977 Away

2011 BBM Legend Of The Bs #52 (Yukio Nishimoto)

1978-96 Home

1994 Calbee Hokkaido #C-25 (Hideo Nomo)

1978-96 Away

1992 Calbee #41

1997-2004 Home

2001 BBM Nippon Series #S55

1997-98 Away Black

1997 BBM #153

1997-98 Away Red

2015 Memories Of Uniform #135

1999-04 Away Black

2015 Memories Of Uniform #136

1999-04 Away Red

Notes:

The away uniforms from the 1950's are very confusing.  HOU lists one of the two styles as being from 1950-52 while PBUE has three different listings for it - two different ones for 1950-52 and one for 1950-57.  Looks like all three have the same uniform style but different hat designs.  HOU has the other style as being from 1950-53 while PBUE only lists it as being from 1957.  HOU has no away uniform listed for 1954-57.  I decided to use the 1950-57 time period for both of them.

The only difference in the 1966-71 and the 1972-73 uniforms is that the hat has a colored brim in the later version.  There was a hat with the "buffalo" logo that was apparently an alternate hat between 1969 and 1971 as well.  I've also seen some cards with photos from the mid-70's showing a variant of this hat that is not listed in either source.

The uniforms listed as 1973 differ from the 1972-73 uniforms in that they have trim at the collar and sleeve cuffs and have solid red stirrups rather than black, white and red.  That said, I'm not positive that the card of Iwamoto shows him in this uniform since I can't see the stirrups.  I'm pretty sure there's trim on his jersey though.

The main difference between the 1975-76 uniforms and the 1977 uniforms was that the emblem on the left sleeve changed.  The main difference between the 1977 and 1978-86 uniforms was that the player's name was added to the back and the hat design changed.

The Chiba and Sekine menko cards don't have the correct colors.

I don't know why Keishi Suzuki is wearing the 1962-64 home uniform in that Brilliant Teenagers card when he didn't join the Buffaloes until 1966.  My only guess is that they wore the old uniforms in training camp that year.

I just have to add that that Tuffy Rhodes card is one of my all time favorites.

Sports Card Magazine #121

Sports Card Magazine #121 was published last Friday.  Here's my summary:

Color Section:

- Three page interview with Seigi Tanaka, top draft pick of the Hawks
- Two page spread showing "cheki" photograph cards from the new "Shining Venus" Woman Athlete set - I think every athlete in the set is featured on the pages.
- Ads for Rookie Edition (2 pages), "Farewell" (1 page), Shining Venus (1 page), Fast Break 1st Half (Basketball) (2 pages),  Japan National Team (Football) Special Edition (1 page), Sumo (1 page) and True Heart (Women's Pro Wrestling) (1 page) sets

Monthly "Bests":
Best Card Of This Month: 2016 BBM Fusion Ami Inamura Autograph Card
Best Item Of This Month:  2017 BBM Rising Sun box

Hot Card Lists
Rookies:
1. 2016 BBM 1st Version Shun Takayama (#238)
2. 2016 BBM 1st Version Eigoro Mogi (#158)
3. 2013 BBM 1st Version Shohei Ohtani (#183)
4. 2016 BBM 1st Version Shota Imanaga (#318)
5. 2016 BBM 1st Version Shinnosuke Ogasawara (#292)
6. 2016 BBM 1st Version Masataka Yoshida (#126)
7. 2016 BBM 1st Version Louis Okoye (#156)
8. 1993 BBM Ichiro Suzuki (#239)
9. 2016 BBM 1st Version Taiga Hirosawa (#075)
10. 2016 BBM 1st Version Shinnosuke Shigenobu (#210)

Autograph & Memorabilia:
1. 2017 BBM Rising Sun Shohei Ohtani Autograph card
2. 2016 BBM Fusion Ami Inamura Autograph card
3. 2017 BBM Time Travel 1975 Hiromi Iwasaki Autograph card
4. 2016 BBM Masterpiece Naoko Takahashi Autograph card
5. 2016 BBM Masterpiece Kosuke Kitajima Autograph card
6. 2017 BBM Rising Sun Hayato Sakamoto Bat card
7. 2017 BBM Rising Sun Shohei Ohtani "The Prime 3D" card
8. 2016 BBM Masterpiece Kazu Autograph card
9. 2016 BBM Masterpiece Kyoko Iwasaki Autograph card
10. 2016 Epoch Carp Stars & Legends Seiya Suzuki Autograph card

"Newsprint" Section:
- Five page interview with someone that looks like a review of all the 2016 BBM issues (at least the baseball ones)
- "Card Shop Navi" for Mint Kashii
- Box Break Contest - four collectors open boxes of Fusion and Time Travel 1975 and compare the hits
- New Card List contains checklists for the sets advertised in the color section
- "Vintage" Checklist and Price Guide is for Sumo and other sports along with recent cards for all sports

SCM Original Cards:

Six promo cards for the new Rookie Edition set - Seigi Tanaka (Hawks), Chihaya Sasaki (Marines), Tatsuya Imai (Lions), Shoma Fujihira (Eagles), Naruki Terashima (Swallows) and Yuya Yanagi (Dragons)

SCM #394

SCM #396

Notes:

- There's still not much information out about new BBM baseball issues for 2017.

- The first issue of SCM for each year seems to always be about Rookie Edition.  I'm mused that this year's Rookie Edition cards have the players framed by triangles when last year's set had them framed in circles.  We should start a pool for predicting next year's set - squares?  Trapezoids?  Hexagons?