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Old 12-05-2013, 10:52 PM
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Mikeknapp
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Great NW
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Default The God of Batting

Quote:
Originally Posted by bobfreedman View Post
1956 Roberto Clemente photo used for his Topps card 8 x 10
1916 Red Sox taken by George Bain 5 x 7 (This will be as close as I get to a Ruth rookie)
You are killing me with that Clemente image!

Here is the most recent addition to my increasingly eclectic collection. Although I dabble in Japanese baseball memorabilia I didn’t have an original photo from the Nippon Professional Baseball League. I saw this 1947 photo on eBay and fell in love with the photo’s composition without having any idea who the subject of the photo was. I googled his name (Tetsuharu Kawakami) and found that he was known as The God of Batting in Japan and is a member of their Hall of Fame. I contacted Robert Klevens of www.prestigecollectibles.com . He had this early 1950s Autographed Small shikishi by Tetsuharu Kawakami. Apparently autographed shikishis from this period are quite scarce. In addition to his name at left, Kawakami wrote "Tokyo Giants Team" in the center in Japanese. At right, he wrote the kanji for "Endeavor" signed with a traditional brush pen. If you read the link below by Robert Whiting you will learn how appropriate the use of the “Endeavor” kanji was by Kawakami. I hope to frame the photo and shikishi board together. By the way if you haven’t read Whiting’s book You Gotta Have Wa do so it is a great read.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2.../#.Up1Wu8u9KSM
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Last edited by 71buc; 12-05-2013 at 11:01 PM.
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