seanofjapan
09-23-2019, 09:34 PM
I picked up a an old 1930 baseball card of a Japanese university pitcher who nobody has ever heard of and its led me on a bit of a hunt to confirm something.
In 1931 a team of American stars visited Japan on a barnstorming tour. This wasn't as famous as the 1934 tour, but featured some big names including Gehrig. They played teams made of university stars and wiped them out, winning all 17 games.
During one of the games, Gehrig was hit by a pitch that injured his hand. By the time he returned to the US in December it was still swollen and there was some concern that it might pose a threat to his streak, but fortunately he healed up by the time spring training came around and the panic subsided.
But who was the pitcher that hit him? I haven't (admittedly in only brief research online) found anything in English identifying him, but in Japanese I found an article identifying Takeshi Tsuji, a pitcher for Rikkyo University (who never went pro) as the guy who hit him.
I found this out while researching a card of Tsuji I found and was wondering more about him when I stumbled onto this tidbit about him.
Anybody out there know of any resources about the 1931 Tour of Japan that are available? I'd like to find something to corroborate the Japanese article identifying Tsuji as the pitcher?
This is the card of him I got and a bit more of a write up about it here: https://baseballcardsinjapan.blogspot.com/2019/09/crazy-rare-stuff-and-guy-who-almost.html
In 1931 a team of American stars visited Japan on a barnstorming tour. This wasn't as famous as the 1934 tour, but featured some big names including Gehrig. They played teams made of university stars and wiped them out, winning all 17 games.
During one of the games, Gehrig was hit by a pitch that injured his hand. By the time he returned to the US in December it was still swollen and there was some concern that it might pose a threat to his streak, but fortunately he healed up by the time spring training came around and the panic subsided.
But who was the pitcher that hit him? I haven't (admittedly in only brief research online) found anything in English identifying him, but in Japanese I found an article identifying Takeshi Tsuji, a pitcher for Rikkyo University (who never went pro) as the guy who hit him.
I found this out while researching a card of Tsuji I found and was wondering more about him when I stumbled onto this tidbit about him.
Anybody out there know of any resources about the 1931 Tour of Japan that are available? I'd like to find something to corroborate the Japanese article identifying Tsuji as the pitcher?
This is the card of him I got and a bit more of a write up about it here: https://baseballcardsinjapan.blogspot.com/2019/09/crazy-rare-stuff-and-guy-who-almost.html