Identifying Japanese Bromides (Starffin, Kawakami et al)

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alcorn

That is a fantastic collection! Japanese bromide cards are the most fascinating cards to research by far. Robert has done a great job helping you, and I have a couple of tidbits to throw in which may be of interest....

Hope that helps,

Wow, thank you so much, Jeff! That is a huge help. I'm still fairly new to this but am doing my best to get up to speed and learn. In fact, learning about both mid-century Japanese baseball and about the bromide sets was my main motivation in purchasing this collection. I've purchased those resources I can find in English but they are scant. Japanese Baseball (Statistical Handbook) by Johnson, the books by Gary and Rob Fitts, and some visual guides to uniforms and caps. Otherwise, I just rely on searching the web and creative gymnastics with Google Translate and hope for the best. And Robert has been very generous with his knowledge, both on and off the forums. Without his help, I probably would have given up on Japanese baseball cards already.

Which brings us to page 6 of the album, which contains a mix of teams. The first card (top left) is a partial lineup of the Chubu Nippon team in what looks like their 1946 uniforms (suggesting a 1947 card?). If I am translating correctly, the players are (left to right) Fujimoto, Furukawa, Kanbayashi, Sugiura, and Tayori. I can't find any Tayori on the team roster so am probably mistranslating this one.

The top right card appears to be Michinori Tsubouchi at the end of his swing. He is in a Stars rather than Gold Star uniform, so the image is probably from the 1947 season (and thus a 1948 bromide...total guess).

The center row of cards contain no identifying text and I am not confident enough to identify the players by faces alone. If anyone knows who these players are, please do let me know!

The bottom left bromide is Tsuneo Mitomi in what looks like a 1946 uniform so probably a 1947 card (as most of the cards in this album appear to be). And the bottom right cards is a player I don't recognize at all. My best efforts with google come up with Okunai as a last name, but I can't find him on any rosters so I probably have it wrong.

Just a note: At the moment I am working on identifying all of the players in the album and trying to figure out the year of the images in hopes of later determining the specific sets. The next stage will be to measure all of the cards and make an effort to identify all of the individual issues. In the meantime, if anyone knows what set a particular card comes from, please feel free to let me know...I'm sure it will help guide me in the next stage. Thanks!


Chubu (Fujimoto, Furakawa, Kanbayashi, Sugiura) - Tsubouchi
? - Tsubouchi and ?
Mitomi - Tsuchiya

[prestigecollectibles]

You had the correct names for the team bromide however the last one is 右より which means "from the right", so it's not a player's name.

The player pictured here is Tooru Tsuchiya 土屋亨 the 土 character is cutoff. 内墅手 means infielder. 墅 is an older kanji character for 野

[prestigecollectibles]

This player looks like Tsubouchi to me, however I can't identify the players in the action shot.

Also Jeff was correct I made a mistake. Page 2 top row is Iijima and Naito

[Frankish]

Thanks for both of the IDs, Robert!

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

The player pictured here is Tooru Tsuchiya 土屋亨 the 土 character is cutoff. 内墅手 means infielder. 墅 is an older kanji character for 野

And thank you for this. Working through the album is definitely familiarizing me with many more kanji characters and player names, but I don't think I would ever have figured that one out....

[Frankish]

Page 7

The top center and middle right cards look like Jiro Noguchi who may have been the Shohei Ohtani of the 1940s (or vice-versa). He was one of the top pitchers in the league (with a career ERA of 1.96) as well as an excellent hitter. The comparison breaks down there, as Noguchi almost never hit home runs…but his 31 game hitting streak stood as a record in Japan for 25 years. I also love the glasses. I believe both cards show images from 1946 (the season of his hitting streak) and are 1947 bromide issues. A little more research on uniforms is needed, as the 1946 Hankyu Club uniforms should be different than those of the later (1947 on) Hankyu Braves.

Seizo Furukawa (middle row center and bottom left cards) played for 17 seasons (and missed a couple due to the war). Before the war he played for Nagoya and immediately after, though the team became Chubu Nippon/Chunichi Dragons. In 1948 he moved to the Hankyu Braves where he spent his last dozen seasons. I believe both of these photos predate his move and so are probably 1947 issues.

Rounding out the album page is what I believe to be a 1947 bromide of Braves catcher Takeshi Hibino (top left card), Rentaro Imanishi (one of the Braves pitchers, top right), and Junji Nakatani (bottom right) in his 1946 Pacific team uniform (so likely an early 1947 bromide). Hibino played for 18 years, beginning in 1939, and lost an additional three seasons to the war.

The card in middle left doesn’t have any text and I’m not sure who this Braves player is. Does anyone recognize him?

I realize that mid-century Japanese bromides are a very small niche in the hobby. So I really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read this thread and especially those who have helped me along with their comments. Heck, I even appreciate that people who skip over the thread don’t feel the need to tell me how niche it really is….

[Frankish]

Page 8

If there are any fans of long-time Braves pitcher Yoshio Tenbo, then you might enjoy this page. Assuming, that is, that I’ve done the identification correctly. Tenbo appears in four of the bromides (top center, middle left and right, bottom left). Interestingly, each of the same images (just with different cropping) are used in two different cards. I believe the darker uniforms are from the 1946 season. The lighter ones need more research.

The top right card has no text, so I’m not really sure. Does anyone recognize this image?

The other cards on the page appear to be a 1947 bromide of Furukawa (top left), Shinji Hamasaki who had a short career as a pitcher for the Braves in the center (someone please correct me if I’ve identified the player incorrectly), and a Braves player that my clumsy attempts with google translate show as Takeshi Akashi (bottom right) though I can find no record of a player with that name.

As always, and help is appreciated.

[Jeff Alcorn]

Hi Frank,

You are doing great work. It is nice to find another collector seriously interested in Japanese baseball!

You have 2 nice cards of Jiro Noguchi. There were 3 Noguchi brothers who played professionally- Jiro, Akira, & Noboru. Noboru was unfortunately killed in 1945 in the Philippines, one of 51 Japanese players killed in WW II.

You have encountered one of the banes of Japanese player research in Akashi- the dreaded name change. Akashi changed his first name to Koichi so that is why you could not find him. Often times it is the last name that is changed like Hawks HOF manager Kazuto Tsuruoka who was formally Kazuto Yamamoto.

I will try to see if I can come up with anything on those unidentified players and keep the photos coming.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alcorn

You have encountered one of the banes of Japanese player research in Akashi- the dreaded name change. Akashi changed his first name to Koichi so that is why you could not find him. Often times it is the last name that is changed like Hawks HOF manager Kazuto Tsuruoka who was formally Kazuto Yamamoto.

Thanks, Jeff! I really appreciate it. And while I knew about the Tsuruoka change, I wasn't aware there were others. Now at least I know to stay open to that possibility.

The next page in the album (Page 9) is largely devoted to right-handed pitcher Juzo Sanada (who I’ve seen referred to elsewhere as Shigeo Sanada). As I work through this album, it is becoming apparent that the vast majority of the cards are 1947 bromide issues and some may be early in that year given that the photos chosen were from the 1946 season. That is the case here with Sanada, as well. The top center, top right, and middle left cards show him in his Pacific uniform from 1946. In the top left bromide, he is wearing the 1947 Robins uniform but the Pacific had from ’46. And in the bottom right, he is in full Robins attire.

If I am identifying them correctly, the bottom left and center cards appear to be first-baseman Isamu Fujii who had a very long playing career from 1936-1958 (several seasons missed for the war). After the war, he joined Pacific and stayed there as they became the Taiyo Robins.

The middle right card looks like Hiroshi Tsujii in his 1947 Robins uniform (with Pacific cap). And, rounding out the page, the center card seems to be of a pitcher named Watanabe. There was a Seitaro Watanabe who pitched for the Robins from 1948-1950, but Stats Crew shows him on the Osaka Tigers roster in 1946 and 1947, so this might be a different player (or a slightly later card…although it might be a little odd for him to be in the old-style cap in a later season).