Collecting and Translating the 1973 Calbee Bat-Backs (Part 15)

#78  Kadota - Outfielder (Nankai)

Polished to a Shine!  Kadota

The heart of Nankai’s order is a force of nature consisting of Hiromitsu Kadota and Jones from the left side, and skipper Nomura hitting right. Kadota, who made the top 10 in batting last season after hitting .309, has gained all the more confidence in his ability to pack a punch. He contributed to the first-half championship, but a .270 average, 6 homers, and 29 RBI makes you think he’s capable of more. With his talents it’s nothing a little more elbow grease won’t fix.

Starting in 1973 the Pacific League, which was suffering from declining popularity, implemented a split season with a first-half and second-half ‘champion’ who would then play each other in a playoff to determine the overall league champion for the year. This gimmick lasted 10 years, and although pretty silly it’s hard to fault the league for trying it out at a time when the Central League’s invincible Giants were baseball’s center of gravity.

Hiromitsu Kadota is himself one of the more underappreciated players in baseball history. He is third all time on NPB’s home run list, right behind Katsuya Nomura, with whom he paired from 1970-77 to form a power hitting duo every bit as fearsome as Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima. ‘ON’ hit a combined 1,312 career home runs (868 for Oh, 444 for Nagashima). Compare that to Nomura and Kadota, who are right there at 1,224 combined (657 for Nomura, 567 for Kadota).

#80  Tabuchi - Catcher (Hanshin)

Hanshin’s Cannon!  Tabuchi

At 185cm tall, he is an imposing figure at catcher. This season he’s in a race with the Giants’ Oh to be the home run king. “I’d like to hit 50,” says the eager Tabuchi. No chip shots that barely make it into the stands here either; he’s made his name off of no-doubters. Hanshin’s most popular player also takes down base thieves with arrow-like precision. He owns the best caught stealing percentage in baseball.

#82  Fujita - Shortstop (Hanshin)

The Ideal Baseball Player,  Fujita

Throwing right and batting left: nothing is more ideal for a baseball player. Throwing right, you can cover any position. Hitting left means that even if you bunt, first is closer. Tabuchi is one of the few ideal players today. This year is his fifth trying to reach the .300 mark and he’s raring to go get his prize one way or another. A perennial All-Star, his defensive skill at shortstop is well-established too.

Although this card says that Fujita is on his fifth attempt at .300 in 1973, it is seemingly more than that. Unless Fujita first declared in 1969 that he was going to make it a point to try to hit .300 (which is possible), going only by number of seasons played, ‘73 would be his eighth attempt. Maybe seventh if we discount his age 18 debut season in which he only played 68 games. Fujita would go on to hit .300 five times in his career, the first in ‘74. In ‘81 his .358 average was good for the batting title.

#84  Sakurai - Second Baseman (Nankai)

A Triple Threat,  Sakurai

Sakurai is now in his fourth year with Nankai out of Sumoto High School. He’s improved year by year and has by now put his stamp on both the two-hole and second base. Last season he hit .260, while this year through the first half he is sitting pretty in the .300 range, good enough for a clean up role. Sakurai is fast too, having swiped 14 bags thus far. A triple threat characteristic of the Nankai Hawks.

#85  Yamauchi - Pitcher (Nankai)

Yamauchi,  A Little Something Extra

Going by first-half ERA, Yamauchi’s 11th-best 3.17 may look lackluster compared to fellow Nankai hurlers Emoto (1.52), Matsubara (2.58), and Nishioka (2.95). Nevertheless, he is the only one among them with double digit wins. Baseball is interesting like that. Extra intangibles like clutchness are another dimension to the game. He'll no doubt keep it up in the second half.