Pre-War Japanese Cards and Photos

[Runscott]

Anyone collect them?

I didn't realize that I did, but when this one arrived and I went to file it, there were five others

1930"s Silver Gel:

[glchen]

I have a couple of Ruth's

[packs]

I have a Victor Starrfin card somewhere. I think he's the only Japanese League pitcher to win 300 games. He's got a pretty fascinating life story too.

[Exhibitman]

I have this one plus a few other postwar cards [Starffin, Oh, Kaneda, Inao. Nagashima, Harimoto, Nomura]:

[Runscott]

Now I'm wondering if my photo is actually a card. The image is very soft and the kanji appears to be part of the negative.

[Jeff Alcorn]

Hi Scott,

I have been collecting Japanese cards since the late 1970s, and yours is certainly a card, but not pre-war. From the late 1940s through the mid-1950s black & white photo cards like these were issued in many, many varieties and are known under the general name of "bromides". Some of the bromide cards feel and look more like old photos than cards that we might be used to, but they are collectible cards. They were generally sold at small shops or stands in bundles and came in a wide range of sizes, from postage stamp to 8" x 10" or so.

I cannot quite make out the player's name on the scan, but that hat is the Nishitetsu Lions and was worn from 1951 to about 1954. With a closer scan I can tell you who you have. Most bromides had the player and team info. printed right on the photo, rather than the border of the card. For example, on Adam's Lefty O'Doul card, the right hand column says "Frank", and the left hand column says "O'Doul kantoku". Kantoku means "manager" in Japanese, and both columns are read from top to bottom.

Also, regarding Victor Starffin, he was the first pitcher to win 300 career games in Japan, but not the only one. Six pitchers have won over 300 games, and Masaichi Kaneda won 400 games and struck out over 4,000 batters.

I hope this information helps, and thanks for reading.

Jeff