Actually, that isn't quite accurate. It would be more accurate to say that I put a bid on a card that was way out of my normal budget expecting the bidding to go way higher, and then it didn't and I ended up accidentally winning the card.
The card is #433 from the 1974 Calbee set and features Shigeo Nagashima at the plate having just connected for what would be a game winning sayonara home run in a game against the Tigers that was played on June 25th, 1959.
You'll note that Nagashima is oddly framed in the photo, appearing as a little figure at the bottom while most of the photo is taken up by people sitting in the stands at Korakuen Stadium.
The reason for this is the people sitting in the box seats at the very top of the card. One of them is the Emperor of Japan.
This is from one of the most famous games in pro Japanese baseball history, the "Tenranshiai" ("Game the Emperor Watched" - my inelegant translation). Japanese Emperors had previously viewed Sumo tournaments and some amateur sporting events, but had never attended a pro baseball game until that day. Getting the proverbial imperial seal of approval was a pretty big endorsement for NPB and so everyone has made a huge deal about it ever since over here. The fact that it was actually a good, close game that ended very dramatically with Shigeo Nagashima, in his second season, hitting a sayonara home run contributed to making it a legendary game. You can see highlights of it on this contemporary news clip.
I'm not a huge fan of royalty but I can still appreciate the importance of the game and Nagashima's home run.
Of course I have to say that now that I own an expensive card featuring it.
This card is from the "famous scenes" series in the 1974 Calbee set which is somewhat hard to come by. Its the only card that commemorates this event (or at least the only vintage card that commemorates it, I would be surprised if BBM hasn't produced a ton of cards based on it over the years) so it is one of those cards that is very highly sought after by Japanese collectors, though probably of a bit less interest to international ones.
I've been vaguely interested in it for a long time, but because copies usually sell for high prices (over 100$ US usually) I had never put a serious bid on one. But its also one of those cards that every decent 1970s Calbee collection needs so I've been entering kind of teaser bids on copies over the years which never came close to winning until I ended up unexpectedly winning this one. Which is cool, its a nice addition to my collection.
Well, you're going to be surprised then because as far as I can tell, BBM has done very few if any cards celebrating the "Emperor's Game". I don't have any but BBM did two Nagashima biographical sets - the 1999 Mr Giants set and the 2001 Nagashima Memorial set (issued when he retired as Giants manager as he is still alive). I only have half of the Mr Giants set and I don't have the other set at all so there MAY be a card in each of those sets for this game. I know for a fact that there isn't a card for this game in the 2000 BBM ON box set celebrating him and Sadaharu Oh. BBM uses Nagashima's retirement as their go-to for his cards - probably because that's an iconic image. There's probably a dozen cards showing him standing on the mound giving a speech with the Korakuen Stadium scoreboard in the background.
ReplyDeleteCalbee did a reprint of this card in their 2000 ON subset which had reprints of old Nagashima and Oh cards. I picked that up recently (via Ryan) - it was MUCH cheaper than the original. The only other card I know of that features this game is from the 2014 Epoch Shigeo Nagashima Memorial Treasures box set.
I did a post about this game for its 55th Anniversary. My two favorite pieces of trivia about it are that it was the first game that both Oh (who was a rookie that year) and Nagashima homered in (the last game they both homered in was the first game of the doubleheader played the day Nagashima retired) and that Minoru Murayama, the Tigers pitcher who gave up the sayonara home run, went to his grave (at the untimely age of 61) insisting that the ball was foul.
That is interesting, I had just sort of assumed that with BBM producing so many memorial, commemorative, flashback, etc sets they must have had this game covered pretty well.
DeleteI like your post about the game, funny that Murayama spent his whole life insisting it was foul...
"It would be more accurate to say that I put a bid on a card that was way out of my normal budget expecting the bidding to go way higher, and then it didn't and I ended up accidentally winning the card."
ReplyDeleteAh yes, always dangerous. I just ended up with a 51B Ted Williams the same way. Whenever this happens it's always because I tell myself that if I can possibly get it for my bid, it'll be a great deal. And then when I do get it for my bid I panic, because a great deal on an expensive card is still a hefty hit to my baseball card budget for the year.
Dangerous indeed.
DeleteMind you, I picked up quite a few cards that way pre-2020 which I kicked myself for spending so much on at the time, but in retrospect turned out to be pretty good buys. A51B Ted Williams is a beautiful card.
Cool card. I know several bloggers who collect cards of presidents. Gotta imagine there are lots of collectors in Japan who collect cards of emperors. I just looked up Hirohito on COMC and it seems like he has a few cards available... but this one is way cooler.
ReplyDeleteBased on the clip... it looked like Oh hit a home run too. I wonder how many times Nagashima and Oh both hit home runs in the same game.
Not to step on Sean's toes here but Oh and Nagashima homered in the same game 105 times. This was the first game they both homered in.
DeleteActually I don't think they ever make cards with the emperor on it (which might explain why there are so few cards about this game, though it woudln't be necessary to feature the emperor directly on them).
DeleteThe Imperial Household Agency has pretty strict rules about the Emperor's publicity rights and would never go along with featuring him in a card set. Plus there is a kind of taboo about it in Japan which would definitely make card makers reluctant even if they could make one.
The framing of that card is unlike any other baseball card that I can recall ever seeing. Congratulations on your big get!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yeah it is kind of uniquely framed!
DeleteCongrats on the pickup. Awesome and pretty unique.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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