Here's a bit of eye candy of some Japanese menko cards. I decided to try to catalogue all of Shigeo Nagashima's 1958 rookie cards. Some context - Shiegeo Nagashima, "Mr. Giants," is arguably the most popular player in NPB history, and many view him as the greatest player in Japanese baseball. He famously hit a homerun to win the game that was the first game ever that the emperor of Japan had visited. He also formed half of the famous O-N team with Sadaharu Oh batting 3rd and Nagashima batting 4th in the lineup, to great success. He earned MVP 5 times, and one of the "Best Nine" awards each year that he played. His number 3 jersey was retired, and he was put in their Hall of Fame in 1988.
So here's my new blog, featuring over 250 of his rookie cards!!
https://nagashimarookiecards.blogspot.com/
And in this process, I was able to add some more uncatalogued cards to the list. This runs the gamut of what you can find in Japanese menko:
- round discs
- early tobacco sized menko
- later menko
- photo bromides
- candy inserts
- game inserts
If you are a collector, feel free to share any card images that I've missed!
