Menko Mystery: Has a Player in the JRM19 Menko Set Been Misidentified?
JRM19 menko - "Iron-Armed Pitcher" Tadashi Wakabayashi... or is it? These cards come courtesy of John Mangini (of The Mangini Collection on YouTube), who asked me for some help identifying the players on them. All four cards are of Osaka Tigers players from the JRM19 menko set from 1948 (apparently — more on that later). These cards do not have player names on them, just descriptive labels . John correctly guessed “Top Batter” Kaoru Betto, and I was able to identify “Strong Hitter” Fumio Fujimura and “Catcher” Takeshi Doigaki. Where it gets interesting is with th e set’s “ Strong -Armed Pitcher.” "Strong Hitter" (Fumio Fujimura) I ended up suggesting that it could be Takao Fujimura, Fumio ’ s brother. I had ruled out Japanese-American Tadashi Wakabayashi, who famously wore the Japanese “Ace Number,” 18 . The 0 visible on the player ’ s back would check out instead for the youn...
