Part 7 of my 1980 Calbee Large survey. I gotta say, I have completely hit a wall collecting these. I’m about 2/3 of the way through set and they have just completely dried up on me. I’d venture to say the block 2 cards are even rarer than block 2 ‘73 bat-backs. Man, they are so stinkin’ hard to come by! The fact that I have half the block 2 cards feels like a miracle. Anyway, on with it. You’ll probably notice that the blurbs on these cards often follow this pattern where they’ll take a player’s achievement from a recent game and then fit it into a larger career context. This is definitely an improvement from block 1, which largely features no player blurbs at all, but it still feels a bit rote. It’s hard to beat the longer, more pensive write-ups on the ‘73 set! By the way, since I won't be getting another post out within the next couple days, Happy New Year!
#54 Hisashi Yamada - Pitcher (Hankyu)
In the game against Nippon Ham on the 10th, The Ace got his team their first win. The Fighters’ bats were quiet against his all-in performance, being held to just two hits.
#55 Tatsuhiko Kimata - Catcher (Chunichi)
In terms of sheer ability, Kimata is number one among Central League catchers. An iron wall defensively and possessing solid hitting, he’s duking it out in average with Hanshin catcher Wakana.
#56 Takenori Emoto - Pitcher (Hanshin)
During the classic with the Giants on the 19th, Emoto was in a pinch facing Oh with two outs and the bases loaded in the 10th inning. Reaching back to unleash one powerful pitch for the strikeout, he displayed the inner strength of an ace.
#57 Koichi Tabuchi - Infielder (Seibu)
Against Lotte on the 29th, Tabuchi recorded his 350th home run. He did it in just 1268 games, besting Oh’s mark of 1273 by 5 games— a new record.
#59 Koji Minoda - Outfielder (Hankyu)
In the 8th inning against Nankai on the 28th, Minoda hit his second grand slam this year. He has now hit safely in every game since the second of the season. With 18 hits and 21 RBI, he’s already working on a “double crown.”
#62 Koji Yamamoto - Outfielder (Hiroshima)
In the 1st inning of the game against Taiyo on the 8th, Yamamoto hit his first home run of the season. It was his 300th overall— good for 12th all-time. His first home run came on May 14th, 1969 against the Giants.
#65 Hiromu Matsuoka - Pitcher (Yakult)
Now a 13-year veteran, it’s only fitting Matsuoka should mark his 500th trip to the mound with a win. In the 6th inning against Hanshin on the 27th, he picked up his 3rd of the season in relief of Aida and now sits 42nd all-time.
For the record, Matsuoka finished his career 27th all-time with 191 wins. I find it a bit amusing they bothered to mention he was... 42nd? This begs the question: at what point does a position on an all-time ranking start to feel significant?
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