More National "Type" Cards

When I went to the National earlier this month, I picked up some items with future blog posts in mind, and also to add some interesting items to my collection. These items fit both of those criteria.

I've mentioned here before that I have some interest in vintage Japanese cards. While in Baltimore, I picked up a few type cards to add to the collection, all are from the 1948-'50 time period and all are different types of Menko cards. 

This is a die-cut Menko from the JDM 14 set. They are distinguished by a bat/ball/glove at the top on the reverse. It features Tamotau Uchimori, which I figured out simply by the uniform number...I am still not able to read the characters on the card. There are 12 cards in the complete set, and this is one of the commons.

With 11 cards to go here, I might be interested in going after the other 11. Maybe.

This card is a rectangular Menko. The cards were designed with a number of games for kids to play. While there was the "card-flipping" aspect familiar to American collectors of the era, Menkos also featured other games, such as the rock/paper/scissors game represented in the fist on the reverse. This is one of the cards in the JDM 119 set, also known as Maruman cards from 1950 (Maruman is a company; their logo appears on the reverse next to the player's cheek). From what I understand, the league designation -- Central League or Pacific League -- runs along the top and the player's name appears in the circle. The name on the back is obscured by a number, which lets me identify it. This is Shissho Takasue.

Now, I'm still trying to determine this one. It's a round Menko and is thicker than the others, presumably so it can be thrown down by its owner in a game. According to my reference book, this design should be a JRM 17 except for two major things: the borders should be red and there is no "533-71" card listed in that set.

If you know, chime in in the comments. This one is beginning to get under my usually thick skin.

Book Review -- "Sayonara Home Run"

Thanks to some credits I had on Amazon, I went and picked up this book recently for my own collection:

Sayonara Home Run! by John Gall and Gary Engel

I have written a few articles about Japanese baseball cards in the past (most notably this one), where I mentioned the book above. I also showed off what is still the only Japanese card in my personal collection:

While that card isn't shown in the book, I did learn a little more about it. While I knew it was a Menko card and had several game elements on the back, the book explained that these particular cards are also called "Tobacco" Menkos, because they're similar to what American collectors know as T-series cards. They were not, however, issued along with any tobacco products. They're called that to differentiate themselves from Menkos from the late 1940s through the early 1950s, which used cartoon-style artwork rather than photographs.

This book isn't an in-depth reference book, nor is it intended to be one. Instead, it's an introduction to a new "world" of cards from another country, where baseball is considered as much of a National Pastime as it is here. Hundreds of cards are pictured, going back to postcards from 1913 that featured collegiate players. It goes from there through the World War II era and then the two main eras of Menko cards in the postwar years. It also delves into the cards issued with gum and candy products, as well as those that were part of games. They also cover Bromide cards of the era, which show photos on them and were sometimes available as bookmarks.

Along the way, players are spotlighted, from Russian-born Victor Starffin to Sadaharu Oh. Sections talk about the early influx of baseball into Japan, the exhibition tours of American teams into the country and the proliferation of gaijin (foreign-born players) later on. While the "meat" of the book featured images of baseball cards, the extra information fills in the details about the subject.

Here's a link to pick up a copy if you're interested:

Here's where I get to the rest of the story...

When I ordered this book, it arrived in defective condition. The cover had come off from the body. The seller (Diane Publishing of Darby, Pennsylvania) immediately sent me a new copy that was intact. I couldn't finish this review without pointing out their act of customer service. I've ordered stuff through Amazon for years and have never had this problem before; their quick fix was something I never expected.

But...now I have an extra copy of this book (they wouldn't take it back since it was defective). If you're interested in the subject, I'll offer my defective copy as a giveaway this weekend. If interested -- and unconcerned about the removable cover -- leave a comment below and I'll do a drawing on Sunday night.

Helping a Friend Out

I've mentioned Rob Fitts before in this blog and have plugged a couple of his books. He's an author who specializes in the history of Japanese baseball. He's also a trading buddy of mine who goes back nearly a decade.

Rob has written another one, which piques my interest because I'm a fan of history and a World War II buff. Here's the cover:

Here's a little bit about the book, from Rob's own Website:

"In November 1934 as the United States and Japan drifted toward war, a team of American League all stars that included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, future secret agent Moe Berg, and Connie Mack barnstormed across the Land of the Rising Sun.  Hundreds of thousands of fans, many waiving Japanese and American flags, welcomed the team with shouts of “Banzai!  Banzai Babe Ruth!”  The all stars stayed for a month, playing 18 games, spawning professional baseball in Japan, and spreading goodwill.   Politicians on both sides of the Pacific hoped that the amity generated by the tour—and the two nations’ shared love of the game—could help heal their growing political differences.  But the Babe and baseball could not overcome Japan’s growing nationalism, as a bloody coup d’état by young army officers and an assassination attempt by the ultranationalist War Gods Society jeopardized the tour’s success.  A tale of international intrigue, espionage, attempted murder, and—of course—baseball, Banzai Babe Ruth is the first detailed account of the doomed attempt to reconcile the United States and Japan through the 1934 All American baseball tour."


This week, I received an email from Rob that said (in part):

"I’m asking you to please pre-order a copy of the book from Amazon in the next few weeks (or ask for it for the holidays).  Although you will not receive the book until March, a large number of pre-orders will help me greatly.  Publishers use pre-orders to help determine the size of a book’s print run and its advertising budget.  They also use the number of pre-orders to convince stores to carry the book.  So every pre-order of Banzai Babe Ruth will help me reach a wider audience once the book debuts.  

"Besides, I think that you will really enjoy the story!"

Hoping to help out a fellow collector and author, I'm passing this on through my blog. I'm hoping that at least a few who read this can help Rob out as well. It looks to be an interesting story. Here's a link to the book on Amazon that will allow you to pre-order it:

The price above (at this writing) reflects a 34% savings off the list price of $34.95. Plus, if you buy it in conjunction with another Amazon product and push the total price above $25, it's eligible for free shipping. That's a great deal.

I'll write a review of this once I get my own copy.

The Setting Sun

Back in November, I showed this "card":

It's a modern creation by Gary Cieradkowski (of The Infinite Baseball Card Set Blog) featuring Wally Yonamine, who was a pioneer in two sports. First, he was the first professional football player of Asian descent when he suited up for the 49ers in 1947. Second, he was the first American-born player in Japan's professional baseball league, and played at a time when there was still a great deal of uneasiness from the Japanese that was caused by several years of war with the United States.

As a man who was ethnically Asian but brought up in another country, Yonamine was often seen as rude and aloof when he simply didn't understand the culture. His aggressive style -- learned on American ballfields -- seemed odd to his Japanese opponents and fans, which led to him being booed until enough people began realizing that games were being won. Later, he served as a liaison with other American players, giving them pointers on the differences they would experience. After his playing days were over, he went on to manage and earned a place in the Japanese baseball Hall of Fame.

Sadly, Yonamine died last week at 85. Though death is a natural event that is going to happen after enough time passes, it still leads me to pause and think about the stories that are now forever silenced.

Wally Yonamine's story is an interesting read. Most readers of this blog don't know much about him (and, to be fair, neither do I) because we tend to focus on the sport from an American perspective. However, most fans realize that baseball is a huge sport in Japan. My post in November had a link to a book about Yonamine's life and times. Feel free to check it out now that the final chapter has closed for him.

More Foreign Flavor, Part 3

This week, I've been doing a little bit about Japanese baseball. Today, I'll do one more before I return to cards that are more familiar to us (mainly) American fans.

In Monday's post, I mentioned that I sometimes found Japanese baseball hard to understand. While the rules and fundamentals are the same, it's a little hard to follow some of the differences. Where we know the New York Yankees play in New York...the most visible Japanese team is the Yomiuri Giants (the team that Sadaharu Oh played with in the 1960s and 70s), and they play in Tokyo. Rather than the city/team designation we use here, the Japanese baseball teams are named after corporate sponsors. So, the Tokyo team is named after the Yomiuri media conglomerate. It would be the same as the pre-Steinbrenner Yankee team being referred to as the CBS Yankees.

Since the best-known team in the league is owned by a large media conglomerate, it's safe to say that information about them is manipulated to fit whatever image the corporation wants to project. In the United States, sportswriters covering teams have an influence because they can write whatever they want; in Japan, that behavior can lead to being banned from the park. Therefore, much of what is available about the game in Japan is close to propaganda.

As part of gaining a better understanding, I picked up the following book:

I also mentioned in Monday's post that the book's author (Robert Fitts) is an old card trading buddy of mine from several years ago. He sent me a copy of his book for two reasons. First, after I asked him about this card I posted here in June, I said I'd love to find out some more information about that part of the game. Second, as a guy who writes a blog, he likely figured I'd let others know what I found.

Rather than writing a book about the history of the game in Japan, Fitts presents the book as an oral history, as told by 25 former players, managers and executives from the NPB (Japan's major league). Some of the people were Japanese natives, while others were American players who went over. By giving several interviews and weaving the answers together, the result is a narrative that tells about a game that is similar to us, but surrounded by a different culture halfway around the world. In essence, the story stretches from the weariness of a war-torn nation around 1950 to the late 1990s, the period where Japanese players could make their way to the United States to play. The first few stories mention how things were after the war, while the last one mentions Ichiro.

There were several stories about getting used to a different culture. Some American players told about how Japanese umpires used different strike zones with them than they did with Japanese players. Some explained how different managers' styles were. Many explained fighting homesickness. A few, especially at the beginning, explained that there was a general lack of trust; understandable, considering the fact that just a few years before that, these same people were bitter enemies. However, there's a measure of respect as well. Many eagerly named which Japanese players could have made it in the major leagues. Most had a very favorable opinion of their time there.

Remembering Japanese Baseball is a good place to gain some understanding about the men who played the sport. It's not being presented as a full report, or even as a "tell-all" story like the ones that frequently come out about the American game.While it sometimes seems as if it's a nostalgic trip taken by when old-timers begin telling their old Army stories, in a way it's also a glimpse of what it's like to be immersed in a culture that is totally alien; the rules are the same but the pace, the practice, the work ethic and the crowds are very different.

Should you get a desire to raed more about Japanese baseball, here's another book worth picking up:

You Gotta Have Wa was written in 1980 by Robert Whiting (who also wrote the forward for Remembering Japanese Baseball). Wa is team spirit, which some Japanese critics say is lacking in the American game. The book gives a broader history of the game in Japan and perhaps a better understanding of the Japanese way of playing. That said, consider adding both of these books to your reading list.

More Foreign Flavor, Part 2

Keeping With the Japanese theme of this week's posts, here's another one of the "cards with character" that sits in my dupes box:

1964 Topps card #252, Ken Aspromonte

This would be the final Topps card for Ken Aspromonte until 1972, when he was the manager of the Cleveland Indians. After playing for the Cubs in 1963, he would play the 1964 season for the Chunichi Dragons.

The original owner of this card made the necessary notation that Aspromonte was no longer a Cub for 1964. He even misspelled "Japanese."

In my last post, I mentioned Hawaii-born Wally Yonamine as the first American-born player in the Japanese League (which is formally called Nippon Professional Baseball), when he went over there in 1951. However, as a player whose ancestry was Japanese, he was better accepted there than non-Asian Americans may have been that soon after the end of World War Two. By the end of the 1950s, a handful of foreign-born players -- known as gaijin, a term that is now sometimes considered disrespectful -- also made their way to Japan. At first, many were either Nisei (Americans of Japanese descent) or former Negro League players. In 1953, Leo Kiely would be the first former major league player there.

By the 1960s, enough American players had come over to force the NPB to limit the number of gaijin on any team to three. For many, the Japanese League was a way to keep playing after they could no longer make a big league club. Don Newcombe, Larry Doby and Aspromonte were among those players. Eventually, younger players would opt to go to Japan...and Japanese players would complete the circle. Though Japanese players weren't a constant presence in the majors for 30 years, the first would take the mound in 1964:

1965 Topps Card #282 -- Giants Rookie Stars

Masanori Murakami pitched for the Giants from 1964-'65 before returning to Japan, where he continued to pitch through 1982. His American playing days saw a contract dispute...not between him and the Giants, but between the Giants and his team in Japan that was so contentious commissioner Ford Frick had to settle it. In the end, Murakami went back, but not because of disputes or homesickness or anything having to do with America. He made a promise to the owner of his team in Japan that he would return, and it would not have been honorable to go back on his word.

More Foreign Flavor

This week, my post will be focusing on baseball in Japan, which I have found interesting even as I've often had a hard time understanding it. Back in June, I posted this little bit about a Japanese baseball card I have in my collection.

This time around, I have this:

This isn't a vintage card. It's a custom job by Gary Cieradkowski of The Infinite Baseball Card Set blog (check his stuff out, it's well worth the time) and sent to me by Rob Fitts, a historian, author and an old trading buddy of mine from way back. It shows Wally Yonamine, a Japanese Hall of Fame baseball player who comes from the U.S.A. Born in Hawaii and growing up just as World War Two began, his story is interesting. While he didn't play major league baseball in the U.S., he did manage to suit up for the San Francisco 49ers in 1947 (making him the first pro football player of Asian descent). By 1951, he was playing baseball in Japan; however, as an American just after World War Two, he was seen in a different light; however, looking like a native but not understanding the language or customs was likely even worse for him. Despite the problems, he went on to change the Japanese version of baseball by incorporating a heads-down, more aggressive style.

He went on to play and manage in the Japanese League for 37 years. When other Americans began playing over there beginning in the late 1950s, Yonamine was something of a cultural adviser.

While most Americans know few other players from Japan besides Sadaharu Oh and those who've been able to play in the major leagues (Hideo Nomo, Hieki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, etc.), it's worth mentioning that Yonamine was a big influence on Sadaharu Oh.

Again, this card (actually, two of them) was sent my way by Rob Fitts. He has written a book about Yonamine, which is available at Amazon:

Please check out the reviews there. In fact, feel free to go ahead and buy the book. I've known Rob for several years now. He's an author who looks at things from a historical standpoint (much like the way I like to add historical points right here on this blog). I'm willing to say that if you like the way I present the facts on this blog and also have a slight interest in Japanese baseball, you'll really enjoy this book.

In fact, if you click the link above and buy the book...the first person who sends me an email with their name and address and a note saying I talked you into getting a copy, I'll send along the card shown above to use as a bookmark.

A Little Foreign Flavor

Despite being mainly a collector of Topps and Bowman issues from 1948-1980,  I have several other items that I find cool. Along with several prewar type cards and long-term Goudey, Play Ball and Diamond Stars projects, I am not averse to adding something different if for no other reason than showing it off to people looking through my cards.

At the 2007 National Convention in Cleveland, I found this card for $3 and decided it would be cool to take home:

According to a collecting buddy of mine, this card is from 1959. The player is Terukuki Takakura, an outfielder for the Nishitetsu Lions. The card is classified as a Marukami Bat on Right Menko. Marukami is the name of the card manufacturer. "Menko" is a Japanese game played with cards, where one player places a card on the floor and another attempts to toss another down and try to flip it over. Before World War Two, the cards were most likely to show warriors, tanks and Zero planes; baseball players became popular Menko subjects after the war. Menko cards often came in sheets that would be cut apart, which explains why my card appears to have been trimmed on its right border and is missing the top white border.

The set is also referred to as JCM14a. American vintage collectors are familiar with the ACC designations (T, R, E, etc.) given to cards, and Japanese cards have their own categories. With Japanese cards, "JCM" is a designation for standard Menkos. Other designations include JRM for round menkos, JC for Calbee cards and JBR for bromide cards.

I'd like to stop for a minute and recommend a good starting place for understanding Japanese baseball cards. In fact, one of this book's authors (Gary Engel) is the same guy who sold me the card you see above. Yes, the link leads to Amazon and I'll receive a portion of anything bought through the link...but any proceeds I get will go toward adding more books to my own reference shelf, which will allow me to continue making posts to this blog.

One of the pages in Engels' book goes over the stuff found on the card backs. First, the set is called "Bat on Right" because of the back design (not the fact that Takakura is holding the bat on his right shoulder):

On the bat is a "Who Am I?" question -- note the question mark -- that gives a hint for somebody playing a game to guess who's pictured on the front. The picture on the bottom right is part of a "rock/paper/scissors" icon common to Menko cards. The number across the bottom is a Menko number, which I haven't yet understood. In the middle is player info. The writing in the middle tells us about the player: above the squiggly border, it tells that he bats and throws right-handed. Also listed is his height, weight, place of birth and uniform number (25, which is the only part of the writing I can read).

It's cool to see that the cards were designed to use as part of several different games, from the "flipping it over" aspect to the "Who Am I?" question and even having a "rock/paper/scissors" icon. Since American kids were quite familiar with the concept of flipping cards as well as the idea of paper covering scissors, it shows that kids' games are pretty universal.