I have a few cards from the 1950 Kagome "Flying Bats" set (JCM 5). It is so called thanks to the artwork on the card backs:
I'm not really sure where the idea to put wings on the bats came from, but for Japan its not too odd a thing to find.
The cards are kind of neat to look at. They feature bright colors yet have an overall dark look thanks to the thick outlines used by the artist. They also have some odd spellings for player names. The guy named "ZA" for example is Atsuhi Aramaki. I have no idea why they call him Za.
This set is notable for featuring the rookie card of Masaichi Kaneda, probably Japan's all time greatest pitcher with 400 career wins. I haven't been able to add that one to my collection yet though. Its on the top of my want list though. Unlike other big names like Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh, who had dozens of rookie cards, Kaneda didn't appear on many in his rookie season so this is probably his "key" card out there.
Seeing those flying bats instantly took me back to the 90's when I had the flying toasters as my screensaver on my Mac. Don't think I thought of that in over 20 years.
ReplyDeleteAnyways... best of luck on tracking down the Kaneda. Gotta imagine those go for some serious money... considering the set is 71 years old and he's the greatest pitcher in the history of Japanese baseball.
I remember those flying toaster screensavers, makes me a bit nostalgic for the late 90s.
DeleteCool stuff and interesting theme. I wonder what kind of the airplane is on the bottom. These 1950 menko are staples in the hobby for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe airplane is neat, not sure if it is based on an actual plane or just an imaginary one.
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