I was browsing through Yahoo Auctions for Calbee cards from the 1980s the other day when I came across the above
card (which I don't own). Its from the 1983 Calbee set and features Hall of Famer Katsuo Osugi. As the back of the card notes, he accumulated over a thousand hits in both the Pacific and Central Leagues over his career.
The thing that caught my eye of course was the photo on the card. You don't see cards with players being driven around on Archie Andrew's Jalopy very often. The back of the card doesn't tell us what the occasion was, though he did retire in 1983 so this may have had something to do with that.
This card is #542 in the set, which is in one of the very rare short printed series. How rare, you may ask. I looked the card up in my old copy of Sports Card Magazine and was shocked to see that there was a blank space in their checklist next to card 542. The compilers of it didn't know who was on that card.
I opened up Engel to see if he knew and sure enough, nope! This is his listing for #542 in the 1983 set:
I was really interested in this card at first just for that photo but now I'm really intrigued that this is the first time anyone has seen what card 542 looks like and who is on it!
The price (5000 Yen starting bid) is a bit out of my range, and also the seller has zero feedback which is a bit fishy so I'll probably pass but I just wanted to do a post about it because I thought it was so neat: another little blank spot in the collecting world's checklists has been filled in!
Wasn't familiar with the unknown 542 card, but it's cool to see the mystery solved.
ReplyDeleteYup, who knew it was Katsuo Osugi all along!
DeleteCollectors will now be able to cite your blog as the first time that #542 was shown anywhere... pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteOn a semi-related note, do people ever haggle on those auctions? Just curious what you, or anyone else's, chances would be to try and get it for a lower price.
Haggling is not really a thing in Japan, though on Yahoo Auctions it is possible to make a counter offer for something. I've seen people do it (on an auction they do it by using the "Question" feature which leaves a public record of the messages), but never seen a seller respond positively.
DeleteAnother cool story. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's interesting to me that the car appears to have an American license plate.
Thanks. Japanese license plates are about the same dimensions as American ones (very different from European ones), though a bit narrower I think. The yellow plate on that one indicates its a special vehicle (nromal plates are white), usually its used for a class of light cars but I guess maybe they use them for antique vehicles too.
DeleteThat's cool, thanks for the extra info! Somehow I figured Japanese plates wouldn't look so similar to American plates, or would at least feature some Japanese characters on the front. Maybe they're the smaller characters toward the top of the plate that are too blurry to make out?
DeleteYes, Japanese license plates do have Japanese characters on them, the name of the city where it was registered is written in Kanji on the top of all plates. Can't really read it on this one as you say.
DeleteCool, and congrats on solving the mystery!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteActually I think the back of the card DOES tell us the occasion - it's for him getting his 1000th hit in the Central League. He was the first player to get 1000 hits in each league. He's wearing a jersey with 2171 on it and he got 1171 hits in the Pacific League.
ReplyDeleteOsugi's story is very sad - he passed away from liver cancer at age 47 in 1992.
Cool card - you should contact Gary Engel and pass along that you've identified this card.
Oh that is a good point, I hadn't noticed that 2171 on his jersey!
DeleteI didn't know that he had died so young either, that is sad.
Congrats. Very nice. This is one of the things I love about collecting Japanese cards.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteSean, whenever you find a card that is not listed in the Guide, please let me know. After seeing images of the front and back, I will be glad to include it in the next edition.
ReplyDeleteGary Engel
Sean, whenever you find a card that is not listed in the Guide, please let me know. After seeing images of the front and back, I will be glad to include it in the next edition.
ReplyDeleteGary Engel
Great! I'll continue to put posts up here as I find stuff, and will email you whenever I find something which I think could be useful to the guide!
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