Japanese Menko Cards Pt 1 The Circles

Hello again. I'm back after taking a mini break from the hobby.

I need to catch up and post about one of the best mailers I've ever received. It came from Ryan aka SumoMenkoMan who authors the very interesting blog of (nearly) the same name. The envelope was totally unexpected and quite welcome. As you'd expect it contained Japanese menko cards, lots of 'em. So many that I thought it best to make two posts about them.

In this post I'll showcase the round ones. Identifying baseball menko sets isn't hard if you have the right tools, Gary Engel's guide for example. Ryan himself has info on his blog mostly geared towards sumo rather than baseball menko. He's written a guide to those btw.

ID-ing players on these cards is more problematical, at least for me. But that hasn't stopped me from enjoying them. I'm posting these from smallest to largest grouped (I think) by set. Scanning limits your ability to show the precise sizes and tends to cut off the edges of these but no matter, I'll plow ahead.

Of course the first one I stick up here I can't identify as to the exact set. That figures. The various elements match several different cataloged sets but none precisely. But it looks to be from the late 40s. I'm sure Ryan or one of the other menko experts that frequent the blogs can set me straight.

Whiffed on this one as well. Can't find a set that has a design quite like that..and no set in the guides shows a card with a number with that many digits. I feel like his face is familiar but I'm drawing a blank. 

         

Finally, a couple that I can identify. These next two are from the 1949 ten card JRM2 Starburst set. This batter is Hiroshi Oshita. I like this one a lot. Great little details in the catcher and ump. Oshita is a Hall of Famer.

This next guy I also recognize. He is Henry "Bozo" Wakabayashi. He's a Japanese baseball Hall of Famer and has a compelling story.

here is a JRM 14 from 1950ish. I thought I had deciphered the Kanji as Matsumoto but that doesn't appear to be the case.

The next five as bigger (obviously) and are from sets in the circa 1948 JRM 1 family. There are differences in sizes and small details but they all have the same basic design. In some the team name is in parenthesis.

The next three are JRM 26 Pinwheel menko. First up, Masayasu Kaneda.

Michio Nishizawa turned pro at 15 and excelled as both a pitcher and as a first baseman/outfielder.

Finally here is Hideo Fujimoto. This is one of two cards I had in my collection albeit in slightly different sizes.

I had a version of this next card as well. This is a JRM 20 of Bozo Wakabayashi seen above in another card. He was a two time Japanese League MVP.

This final card in today's post was easy to identify as it is the same card Engel uses in his set description. It's a large size JRM 37 from 1958. The player on top is Michio Nishizawa but the others are listed as 'unknown' Chunichi Dragons.

That wraps up the circular versions of the menkos I received from Ryan. Wonderful, colorful cards aren't they? I love 'em.

Next time (when I return from a short trip to San Antonio, I'll post the rectangular ones. Those may be even sweeter.

どうもありがとうございます Ryan.

Fumio Fujimura 1949 Japanese Bromide

I hadn't done much with my Japanese cards in a year or so it seems so I picked up something to add to my 'type' collection. I didn't have a Bromide card of this sort and it was pretty reasonable so I bought it. The set is classified as the JBR 13 1949 Yakyu Shonen. The set consists of 36 cards of Japanese players and 12 cards of the San Francisco Seals' PCL team. The cards were distributed in sheets and the individual cards were hand cut from these sheets. I found a picture of the Seals cards. It's at the bottom of the post.

The front side text under the picture consists of his name and position with his team (Tigers) in parenthesis. The same info (plus the players age) runs down the right side of the card's back. At least that is my understanding..... Fujimura is listed as being 34 years old on the card and his Baseball Reference page puts him at 32 in 1949.

Fumio Fujimura is a Japanese Hall of Famer who played, mostly as an infielder, for the Hanshin/Osaka Tigers both before and after World War II. He finished his baseball career as the Tigers' manager in 1957. He had managed them at the age of 29 in 1946 and took over again in 1955

Here is his page from the Japanese Hall web site (English version):

The first "Mr. Tiger"; famous for his aggressiveness

Inducted 1974 Category Elected by the Selection Committee for Players From Hiroshima Born August 14,1916 Died May 28,1992 Alma Mater Taisho (Goko) Junior High School

The winning pitcher in Koshien (1934) joined the Tigers in 1936 and played as a clutch hitter until his retirement in 1958.The aggressive"Mr.Tigers,"home-run king in '49, MVP in '50, was famous for his long "wash-line pole bat.

I'm not sure what a "wash-line pole bat" is but maybe this shot of Fujimura gives an idea:

Here are the 12 SF Seals included in this set:

4-n-1 Japanese Bromide

At it's simplest the difference between Bromides and Menkos is that Bromides are photos printed on photo paper while Menkos are cruder, usually hand-drawn cards that are much more colorful. That's a very broad generalization but accurate to a point. The featured card is a '4 in 1' Bromide card which is from the set classified as JBR3 1960 Doyusha Black and White. There is a corresponding Color set. Doyusha appears to be a hobby company which currently markets scale model planes, tanks, science toys, etc. The reverse has playing card elements.

This Bromide features four Japanese players who are, clockwise from upper right:

Kiyoshi Oishi... he started and relieved for nearly two decades for Hiroshima. In 1962 he led all pitchers in losses, walks and homers allowed. Ouch.

Morimichi Iwashita... he played for three teams from the early 50s through the early 60s. Not much on the 'net about him.

Wally Yonamine... a fascinating figure who played in the AAFL for the 49ers as well as Japanese baseball. He was a Japanese American born in Hawaii and became known as the 'Jackie Robinson' of Japanese baseball due to the resistance he received as an American. I have Robert Fitts' acclaimed book queued up in my reading rotation. He's a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame having had a sterling career as outfielder and manager until his 1988 retirement. Lots more on this website.

Tatsuro Hirooka... another Hall of Famer he played as a shortstop and managed before becoming GM of the Chiba Lotte Marines and was well known for firing wildly popular manager Bobby Valentine in 1995.

I've scanned the card next to a current Topps card for size comparison purposes.