Identifying Japanese Bromides (Starffin, Kawakami et al)

[prestigecollectibles]

This is Kazuo Kasahara 笠原和夫

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

This is Kazuo Kasahara 笠原和夫

Ah, yes...thank you! I was able to identify the card on page 17 and then cut and pasted the wrong name. Doh!

[Frankish]

Page 20 displays five cards (top left and all cards of the second and third rows) of Fumio Fujimura …“Mr Tigers.” Fujimura joined the Tigers in 1936 and played with the organization through 1958. While he began as a strong pitcher, he eventually moved the third base and is best remembered for his hitting and competitive demeanor. Over the course of those 23 years, he hit .300 lifetime and retired with a career slugging percentage of .501.

The remaining bromides feature Tigers catcher Takeshi Doigaki, a mainstay of the Tigers (Hanshin and Osaka) lineup from 1940-1949, after which he played for several other teams (Orions, Dragons, Flyers, Braves) through 1957. He was a consistent hitter and, in addition to catcher, also did stretches at 1B, 3B and OF.

I particularly like the graphics of the upper center Doigaki and middle left Fujimura cards and will be on the lookout for more bromides from these sets. It’s also interesting to see the difference between the B&W and colorized versions of the same image used in the middle right and bottom left cards….


Fujimura - Doigaki - Doigaki
Fujimura - Fujimura
Fujimura - Fujimura

[Frankish]

More Tiger players make up the 21st page of the album. Although I am not adept with the kanji characters, top top row appears to be bromides of Zenso Haswegawa from three different sets. Hasegawa was a starting shortstop for the Tigers from 1946-49. Before the war, he played for Nakai and after 1949 he moved around (Clippers, Lions, Dragons, Orions, Unions) until retiring after 1954.

The second row of cards read (to me) as Kaneda, which I take it means Masayasu Kaneda, career Tigers outfielder (1942-1957). The bottom left and right cards also appear to be Kaneda (judging by the picture…I can’t find any text).

The bottom middle card looks like Shosei Go. He was actually a pretty remarkable player. He started his pro career with Tokyo (Giants in 1937) and I believe played outfield. Before the war, he pitched only seven innings with an ERA of 11.57. Yet in 1946 (now on the Tigers) he pitched the first post-war no-hitter in Japanese baseball. He only pitched into 1949 although he kept playing (outfield) until 1957. In all, he won two batting titles, a stolen base title, and had a 15-7 pitching record with a career 3.48 ERA.


Hasegawa - Hasegawa - Hasegawa
Kaneda - Kaneda - Kaneda
Kaneda - Go - Kaneda

[nat]

I'm just shocked at how cool all of these are. This was one incredible find!

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by nat

I'm just shocked at how cool all of these are. This was one incredible find!

Hi Nat, thanks for the comment! I bought it mostly blind but it's turned out to be a pretty cool item.

And as long as at least one person is still reading, I'll keep posting the pages.

[Frankish]

On Page 22, the first two rows of cards are all Kaoru Betto that I believe date to 1948, his rookie year. Almost certainly they are 1948 or 1949, as those are the only two seasons he played for the Tigers, moving to the Mainichi Orions in 1950 until the end of his playing career in 1957. Betto was a star player (especially on the Orions) with a career batting average of .302 and 155 home runs during a relative short playing career. In America he is probably best known for appearing on Jeff Bridges’ t-shirt in The Big Lebowski and a couple of other films.

The bottom row is comprised of three Wakabayashi bromides. I wrote about him on Page 19, where his cards first appeared. He is interesting for many reasons, including being a Japanese American from Hawaii, which was a pretty big deal in prewar Japan.



Betto - Betto
Betto - Betto
Wakabayashi - Wakabayashi - Wakabayashi