Willie Davis 1977 Calbee

 

I picked up another nice card the other day, this is Willie Davis' card from the 1977 Calbee set that Engel refers to as the "Pro Series" (JC 5c) (keeping track of 1977 Calbee sets is difficult as Dave recently noted in his write up on late 70s Calbee sets).  

I've been wanting to get this card for a while, I have a a couple of Yamakatsu cards of Davis that I got a few years ago but they both depict him as a member of the Crown Lighter Lions. As a Dragons fan I wanted one of him in that awesome 70s Dragons uniform, and this one displays it perfectly.  The Coke billboard in the background is a nice added touch.

This particular 1977 Calbee set (out of the eleven that were made that year, which Dave has also recently written about) is somewhat harder to find singles for than most, so this one took a while to find.  A dealer on Yahoo Auctions had listed it for 5,000 Yen and last week he suddenly had a 40% off sale and I knew I had to pounce.  I'm quite happy with it, its in very nice condition by the standards of 1970s Calbees.

The back of the card shows us Willie's MLB career totals (batting average, RBI and stolen bases) which reminds us that he was one of the elite group of MLB "Hall of Very Gooders" to play in Japan.  The career totals on the back are not his final totals though, since he played 43 games for the Angels in 1979 after his stint in NPB and nudged his totals up a bit (and brought his career batting average down a point).

Davis features prominently in Robert Whitings "You Gotta Have Wa", mostly about how his Buddhist chanting annoyed his teammates on the Dragons, which is one of those pieces of Dragons history that I just love.  

Gets: Willie Davis Yamakatsu Card!

I got really lucky on Yahoo Auctions last week, winning an uncontested auction for this beautiful Willie Davis Yamakatsu card for just 300 yen (plus 82 yen shipping)!

I have been wanting a Japanese Willie Davis card for a long time and this one is perfect.  The photograph is fantastic, with a wonderful balance of color and Willie in action with the now defunct Crown Fighter Lions.  Actually, I have been to the exact location where this photo would have been taken, the site of Fukuoka`s old baseball stadium.  It was torn down in the 1990s when they opened the Fukuoka (now Yahoo) Dome, but the site (which is actually within the walls of Fukuoka castle) remains vacant as they do some archeological research on it.

Anyway, Willie Davis is probably one of the best former MLB players to have played in Japan.  Not quite a hall of famer, but  along with Reggie Smith, Clete Boyer and Andrew Jones he is one of those solid Hall of Very-Gooders who have graced these shores with his bat. Robert Whiting devotes a fair bit of space in You Gotta Have Wa to him, mostly focusing on the cross-cultural havoc he wreaked on the Dragons during his first year in Japan.

I say I was really lucky to get this for 300 yen because the other copy of it I found when looking for his cards was this one, the exact same card, going for 18,000 yen.  Mine is about in vg condition with some corner wear, but the discrepancy in price is pretty incredible.  Not sure if that is the market value of this card or that guy is just trying to sucker someone, but anyway, I`m really glad to have added this to my collection.