[Frankish]

The Nankai Hawks cards continue on the seventeenth page of the album. The page begins (in the upper left) with something of a mystery to me. Clearly this color bromide is of a Hawks pitcher, but the several ways I’ve tried to translate the name with Google Translate it comes out as Tasho Yuzuki, but I can find no Hawks player of that name. My suspicion is that it is Hawks pitch Susumu Yuki but I am not sure. The card in the upper right is a bit more straightforwad, as it is pitcher Hiroshi Nakahara, who played one season in 1943 for Hanshin and then the rest of his career with the Hawks from 1948-1955.

The left card in the second row is another mystery to me. The card has no identifying text but based on uniform and couple of other reasons, I think it is from 1948. Does anyone know who #30 on the Hawks was that season?

The right-hand bromide in the same row shows three Hawks players, which I am translating as: Kasai, Yasui, and Tagawa. Naofumi Yasui played second base for the Hawks and Yutaka Tagawa played outfield for the team but only in 1947 (so dating this image pretty clearly). But I can find no “Kasai” on the 1947 squad. The kanji is 河西in case anyone has a better idea as to the name….

The third row pictures (left to right): Kasahara again, Kazuo Horii, and a card that might be short stop Chusuke Kizuka (again, I’m unclear on the kanji translation). Horii was a long-time player (two seasons before the war and then 1946-58 with Kinki Great Ring and then the Hawks). If the other card is Kizuka, then it would be from 1948 at the earliest, as that was his rookie year.

The last row appears to be Kasahara and Yasui again, assuming I am identifying them correctly.


Yuki - Nakahara
Tsuruoka? - Hawks (Kawanishi, Yasui, Tagawa)
Kasahara - Horii - Kizuka
Kasahara - Yasui