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 the 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 younger Fujimura, who wore #20. Strong-Armed Takao also pitched a hefty 286 innings in 1949, the year I dated the set to. (‘49 is the only year Betto, Doigaki, and the Fujimura Bros. played together). It seemed like a good theory. Of course, I remembered I should probably “check my work.” According to Gary Engel’s guide, the player is in fact... Wakabayashi. But what about #18? Well, after a brief look, although “Bozo” is known for that number, turns out he actually didn’t wear it in ‘48, but rather #30. So that would explain the 0.

"Top Batter" (Kaoru Betto)

 

I was ready to accept that I was wrong until I remembered something important. Wakabayashi was also Hanshin’s manager at the time! Why does this matter? Well, it might not actually, but it is something that should be considered. In Japanese baseball, the manager enjoys a more elevated and celebrity status than his western counterparts, generally. He’s almost always a former star player for the team he manages and more weight is given to what he says and does. This is, I think, partly thanks to Japanese culture, which values social ordering and stiff superior-subordinate relationships to a greater extent than Western countries. So how does this tie back to the card? Interestingly, the “Wakabayashi” card only mentions that he is a “strong-armed pitcher” and says nothing about him being the team’s manager. While it is certainly not a smoking gun, it is still a little strange that the card would not mention Wakabayashi’s higher title and position. To compare, in　the 1948 JRM20 menko set, Wakabayashi is labeled as “Tigers Manager” on his card.

"Catcher" (Takeshi Doigaki)
 

If there is hard evidence JRM19 was issued in 1948 then my theory is wrong. If there isn’t, I think the possibility exists that the set is from 1949 and that the “Strong-Armed Pitcher” card is actually of Takao Fujimura rather than Tadashi Wakabayashi. The likeness is certainly crude enough that it could be either. I would love to be right, not just because being right is great, but because Takao Fujimura doesn’t have many cards, and it would be neat to have him represented more!