Sadaharu Oh and Isao Harimoto
May 28th was Sadaharu Oh Day at the Tokyo Dome. The resurgent Hawks (with whom Oh is an executive) were in town for an interleague series with the Giants, and while the Home Run King was in the building, first pitch honors went to Isao Harimoto, Japan’s Hit King.
Oh and Harimoto share several similarities. Both are of non-Japanese (Harimoto) or only partial-Japanese (Oh) ethnic ancestry. Both were 1959 rookies who, in careers touching 4 different decades, amassed counting records unlikely to be broken. Oh is Japan’s only 800 (and 700) home run hitter. Harimoto is the country’s only 3,000 hit club member. Each man also places in the top 10 of the other’s signature mark (504 HR for Harimoto; 2,786 H for Oh). The two even played together, albeit somewhat briefly.
Harimoto spent most of his career with Tokyo's also-ran Toei Flyers, completing a banner year in 1962 when the club managed its only Japan Series Championship and Harimoto took home Pacific League MVP. While Harimoto would continue to stack individual accolades, the team wallowed in mid-table irrelevance for most of his tenure. By 1976, he was wearing Kyojin orange and black. Late career moves to the Giants by past-prime stars from other teams were not unheard of, and although Harimoto played well for Tokyo's marquee club in 4 seasons with Oh, the ageing pair couldn’t quite match the inimitable Oh-Nagashima tandem of years only recently past. A Japan Series eluded them, although they did win a couple Central League Pennants. Here is a selection of cards depicting the less-heralded but still formidable sequel to the ‘O-N Cannon.’
1975-76 Calbee
Made up of a staggering 1,472 cards released across multiple years and divided into themed series, this is a set unlike any other before or since. Cards were designated their own sub-number starting with card #933.
First up, #726. An awesome shot of Harimoto letting it rip is made even better by the inclusion of Tigers HOF catcher Koichi Tabuchi (himself no longball slouch with 474).
(front)
Fierce Battles! On-A-Roll Series
Aiming to be the Central League Batting Champ
Decorated Outfielder Harimoto (Giants)
Catcher - Tabuchi (Tigers)
(back)
Pro Baseball Cards 726
Fierce Battles! On-A-Roll Series
Heavy hitting! Named MVP of the Month
Isao Harimoto 10 Outfield
From: Hiroshima High School: Namisho High
Harimoto was named MVP of the Month for June.
He hit safely in a new Central League record 30 consecutive games
and posted the month’s second highest average.
Highly regarded for his contributions to the Giants’ onslaught.
Calbee Corporation
Note: In addition to multi hit games, Japanese Pro Baseball records ‘heavy hitting’ (defined as 3 or more hits in one game) as well. Players who manage the feat have traditionally been given prizes by team sponsors. As such, the stat itself is known as a ‘heavy hitting award.’ Harimoto is the all-time leader in heavy hitting awards with 251 (Oh has 171).
Card #738 features Oh in his classic ‘flamingo’ stance.
(front)
Fierce Battles! On-A-Roll Series
The countdown to HR #700.
Sadaharu Oh First Base (Giants)
(back)
Pro Baseball Cards 738
Fierce Battles! On-A-Roll Series
Helping out the Helper - 6 Homers
Sadaharu Oh 1 First Base
From: Tokyo High School: Waseda Jitsugyo
On days Wright takes the mound, Oh always gifts
him with one swing of the bat. He has 8 homers
across Wright’s 6 starts. (Pictured is his 27th 2 run at-bat)
Calbee Corporation
Note: Former Angels pitcher Clyde Wright, who played for the Giants from 1976-78, is referred to here as a ‘helper’— a moniker used periodically for foreign players in the Japanese leagues. While I think this term might be at least slightly more dated now, the feeling behind it—that foreign players in Japan are basically just hired guns to help the team out rather than proper members of the team—hasn’t completely gone away.
#1180. Note the sub-number of 40.
(front)
‘76 Title Dash Series
Sadaharu Oh First Base (Giants)
Right - Isao Harimoto Outfield
(back)
Pro Baseball Cards 1180
‘76 Title Dash Series No.40
Burning with the Will to Recapture His Title
Sadaharu Oh 1 First Base
From: Tokyo High School: Waseda Jitsugyo
In both popularity and ability, Oh is number one.
Last season, Tabuchi (Hanshin) stole Oh’s homerun
Crown from him, and he is bound and determined to
take it back.
1975-76 Nippon Ham
Finally, a striking card from the 1975-76 Nippon Ham Sausage issue. This vibrant, unnumbered set was released by the Nippon Ham Corporation starting the second year it took over ownership of Harimoto’s club, and the second under the Fighters name. Given that Harimoto appears as a Giant, this is probably more precisely a ‘76 card. These cards are about the same length of a standard card but a bit thinner, and none of them are easy to come by.
Player Introduction
Sadaharu Oh #1 Yomiuri Giants, infielder
Isao Harimoto #10 Yomiuri Giants, outfielder
Pro Baseball Memo
Winners of the triple crown (batting champion, home run leader, RBI leader) are Nakajima (Giants) in fall 1938, Nomura (Nankai) in 1965, and Oh (Giants) in 1973 and 1974. Oh’s two consecutive triple crowns are a record unmatched even in the American Big Leagues.
Use this Pro Baseball card for Rock-Paper-Scissors, and have fun coming up with other games too. Play with your friends!
Note: For a couple years until 1939, the fledgling Japanese pro league effectively played two seasons on a shortened schedule, one in spring and one in fall.
I really like you doing translations of the fronts and backs of the cards! It's a welcome addition to just seeing them.
ReplyDeleteThe Flyers/Fighters were NOT Hokkaido-based in 1962 or 1975 - they played in Tokyo. The franchise did not more to Sapporo until 2004. In fact they shared first Korakuen Stadium and then the Tokyo Dome with the GIants until they moved. So Harimoto's trade to the Giants in the 1975-76 offseason meant he was just changing his locker room at the ballpark. And the team was called the Fighters starting in 1974 - Harimoto spent two seasons as a Nippon-Ham Fighter.
>Cards were designated their own sub-number starting with card #933
Those sub-numbers were really weird. They were basically assigned to a "theme" and could span multiple series. And a series could have cards from multiple "themes" so not all the cards in a series would have sub-numbers from the same sequence (if that makes any sense). Maybe you, me or Sean could do a post sometime listing the individual "themes" from this set. Calbee continued to do this sub-numbering for a few years - I think the last time was 1981 but I could be wrong.
You raise an interesting point on the Nippon-Ham card - while Engel lists it as a "1975/76" card, it had to be from 1976. I suspect that Nippon-Ham was essentially issuing cards in series with the same design but since they didn't number them, there's no way to establish which cards came out when, except when a player switched teams like this.
Thank you for the correction. Of course. I even recall them making a big deal about the Fighters coming to Tokyo for interleague last season because of how the franchise used to be in Tokyo. I will update the article to reflect it. As to 1974, according to Baseball Reference, in '74 the team was called the Nippon Ham Flyers, retaining the Flyers name for the first year before switching to Fighters in 1975? If this is true, Harimoto spent one year as a Nippon Ham FLYER and one year as a Nippon Ham Fighter. But if you're quite certain you are right on that I'll change it as well.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteBaseball Reference has several errors when it comes to NPB team names - for example, they list the Hawks as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2005 but that was the first year they were owned by Softbank. Wikipedia correctly has them as the Nippon-Ham Fighters starting in 1974. However, since Wikipedia can be unreliable at times as well, I submit the front and back of this card from the 2003 BBM Fighters set showing the team's uniform friom 1974.
DeleteThanks. I've updated the article. Cool card by the way. An older friend of mine used to like Nakanishi as a kid, back when Nakanishi was playing. I guess he saw him play live at least once. He said Nakanishi had the biggest arms he ever saw, that his forearms were bigger than my friend's thighs.
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