KFC is throwing out one of Japan's most treasured pieces of baseball memorabilia

[seanofjapan]

https://japantoday.com/category/nati...ed-of-in-japan

In 1985 the Hanshin Tigers won the Nippon Series. To celebrate a mob of Tigers fans grabbed a statue of Colonel Sanders from outside a KFC in downtown Osaka and threw it into the Dotonbori Canal. This was in honor of Randy Bass - they wanted something that looked like him and the statue of the Colonel was the closest thing they had.

The statue sank and disappeared. The Tigers went on a decades long futility streak without another Series win. Fans attributed this to the Colonel's anger at being thrown in the canal, and the "Curse of the Colonel" became Japanese baseball's most famous folk legend.

In 2009 construction workers doing some work on the canal found the statue and pulled it from the mud. It was headline news nationwide, and became an object of veneration for Tigers fans. KFC was still the owner of it and it was returned. Its been on display at various venues ever since, and last year for the first time since 1985 the curse was lifted and the Tigers won the Nippon Series.

This morning however KFC announced that it will be throwing away the statue, saying that it is "too dilapidated" to display anymore.

This is just the most insane piece of news to me. Its like the equivalent of the person who owns Roger Maris' 61st home run ball deciding to toss it in the trash because its a bit scuffed up or something. The thing must be worth a fortune to collectors and I can't wrap my head around why KFC isn't trying to sell it to one rather than trashing it.

[Deertick]

Even the Bartman ball is in the Hall of.....

Oh. Nevermind.

Maybe the Japanese aren't as memorabila-minded as some cultures??

[seanofjapan]

Originally Posted by Deertick

Even the Bartman ball is in the Hall of.....

Oh. Nevermind.

Maybe the Japanese aren't as memorabila-minded as some cultures??

Interesting fact: the Bartman Ball actually still exists (in pieces) and is on display at a Chicago museum.

There actually is a voracious appetite for baseball memorabilia among Japanese collectors too, which makes the decision to dispose of this statue all the more mysterious to me.

[ooo-ribay]

The Colonel Sanders resemblance is a bit of a stretch.

[rhettyeakley]

Seems like a weird thing to do, just throw it away?

No collectors in Japan? Seems like having a charity auction and donating all proceeds to charity or something would have been a fun promotion, or something along those lines.

New curse is sure to follow! 🤣

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by seanofjapan

Interesting fact: the Bartman Ball actually still exists (in pieces) and is on display at a Chicago museum.

The Bartman saga has always fascinated me, and from a collectors' perspective it was disappointing to learn the final fate of the ball. I had always thought it was lost forever after it was destroyed, but I'm glad to see that's not the case.

The ball is located in the Chicago Sports Museum.


(Image source: https://www.chicagosportsmuseum.com/exhibits.html)

[seanofjapan]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

The Colonel Sanders resemblance is a bit of a stretch.

True. They were choosing people in the crowd who looked like each Tigers player, then making that guy jump in the river. When they came to Bass there weren’t any gaijin in the crowd, so the Colonel was accepted as a substitute.