1909 Japanese Baseball Postcard - Kyoto University

[Leon]

Do we have any folks who can interpret this? The shipping was almost as much as the postcard. I almost fainted when I saw the 20 dollar charge on a 30 dollar pc...(after I hit the BIN )...but it was from Japan so guess it wasn't that bad. According to the description it was from Kyoto University and was their baseball team.

[Classic_Auctions]

Hey Leon,

I think the front translates to "The third higher school team".
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by Leon

I almost fainted when I saw the 20 dollar charge on a 30 dollar pc.

Kinda how I feel every time I see an eBay item that has Global Shipping. Sucks big time.

That's a terrific postcard. Send out the Bat Signal to Robert Klevens. He should be able to translate it. Looks to me like W squeaked by T 27-zip but I could be wrong.

[Den*nis O*Brien]

.....Kawika that Mr Klevens is the "Go To" guy on translating these baseball items. Rob Fitts of Robs Japanese Baseball Cards is also very knowledgeable. And I also agree that is quite the postcard...but $20.00 postage!!!!#^&!)|!!

[sterlingfox]

It's postmarked April 18th, 1909

[clydepepper]

AWESOME item! I would have paid without (much) hesitation.

of course, I once got in a bidding war for a raw 1965 Topps Dick Groat and paid 57 freaking dollars.

-from the school of 'I want what I want when I want it.'

[orly57]

Seanofjapan is a member who lives in Japan, reads Japanese, and is an avid Japanese card collector. Send him a pm.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Kawika

Kinda how I feel every time I see an eBay item that has Global Shipping. Sucks big time.

That's a terrific postcard. Send out the Bat Signal to Robert Klevens. He should be able to translate it. Looks to me like W squeaked by T 27-zip but I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by Den*nis O*Brien

.....Kawika that Mr Klevens is the "Go To" guy on translating these baseball items. Rob Fitts of Robs Japanese Baseball Cards is also very knowledgeable. And I also agree that is quite the postcard...but $20.00 postage!!!!#^&!)|!!

Yep, then pay the CDN/U.S. exchange rate, and it's another 30% on top of that!

[prestigecollectibles]

It is dated April 18, 1909 (Meiji 42). It is a bit confusing but I believe the team pictured is the The Third Senior High School of Nihon University. The handwriting on the back is referring to a game between Waseda and Tokyo. The card was sent from Tokyo to Nagano prefecture. The seller wrote in the description that shipping by registered mail was $7. I guess the default was set to $20 for EMS. Still a nice looking card.

[Leon]

Thanks Robert!! Seven dollars would have been better but it is what it is. I liked the look of the PC quite a bit so probably would have still nabbed it.

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

It is dated April 18, 1909 (Meiji 42). It is a bit confusing but I believe the team pictured is the The Third Senior High School of Nihon University. The handwriting on the back is referring to a game between Waseda and Tokyo. The card was sent from Tokyo to Nagano prefecture. The seller wrote in the description that shipping by registered mail was $7. I guess the default was set to $20 for EMS. Still a nice looking card.

[seanofjapan]

Bit late with my reply, Robert already covered the details.

Its definitely a high school team that is pictured, I'm not sure why the seller would have identified it as Kyoto University's team.

Its interesting to look at the linescore that the writer has included of the game between Waseda and Tokyo. Looks like the final score was 27-0 for Waseda. The game started at 2:30 and was finished by 4:00, what a blowout.

Tokyo University is the most prestigious university in Japan, but has a notoriously bad baseball team (even over a century after this was sent). Waseda on the other hand has a very strong one (again still 100 years later) which is reflected pretty strongly in the result. This is because Waseda is a private university which can recruit the best players out of high school while Tokyo is a public university which can't do that (the same applies across all universities, private ones get the best athletes while public ones tend to get the best brains).