A side note to start: for the first time in months, I got a hold of another card for my 1980 Calbee Large run, #45 Akinobu Okada. Although not a Hall of Famer, Okada is a legendary Tiger. The slugging second baseman was a key player on the team’s famous 1985 Japan Series Championship team, and won a long-awaited title in 2023 as its manager. A rarity and a rookie card to boot, I’ve added it to the 1980 archive.
The card mentions the Fall League, which is contested by Tokyo’s Big 6 Baseball Conference consisting of Waseda, Keio, Meiji, Hosei, Rikkyo and the University of Tokyo. Of the six, the University of Tokyo (commonly known as Todai) is by far the most academically prestigious and also by far the least successful on the field. In the Big 6’s 110+ year history, the Sky Blue and Gold have won a championship precisely 0 times. Meanwhile, the other schools are baseball powerhouses. To put it into perspective, imagine a six-team collegiate basketball league with Duke, UNC, UConn, Kansas, Kentucky and... Harvard. Originally conceived as league for prominent universities in Tokyo, Todai’s continued inclusion in the conference seems to be merely for tradition’s sake, but given the institution’s prestige, it’s not hard to imagine most of its players getting the last laugh upon graduation...
Anyway, on with it.
#9 Horiuchi - Pitcher (Giants)Although a 20-win pitcher who is called an ace, Horiuchi has achieved 20 or more wins only 1 time in 9 years. Now’s the time for him to show what he’s made of.
[Baseball Museum] Summer High School Baseball Tournament Strikeout Record = 1958 Pitcher Bando of Tokushima Commercial 83 K’s in 6 games.
#23 Yoshida Catcher (Giants)Yoshida has been waiting in the wings behind catcher Mori for 10 years. He has a chance to establish himself as the everyday catcher this season, as his hitting is more highly rated than Mori’s.
[Baseball Museum] “Inside work” refers to a cerebral playstyle where the catcher reads a hitter to determine the right pitch selection, together with the pitcher effectively working the corners.
“Inside work” (insaido waku) is a Waisei Eigo or “Japanese-Made English” expression. Japanese is full of these words and phrases that are derived from English but would not always be even intelligible to an English speaker. They range from kind of charming to pretty irritating. In this case I’m not sure why the use of “inside.” I guess maybe referring to the thought process, which is not visible from the outside? Actually, this blurb has a bonus Wasei Eigo expression, “corner work” (kona waku), which refers to working the corners. One of the more maddening sports-related Wasei Eigo terms is “season-off” (shizun ofu) to refer to… the off-season.
#24 Ueda - Shortstop (Giants)This is the year Ueda shoots for regular playing time. Utilizing his power tool should prove to be key.
[Baseball Museum] Ueda inherited uniform #2 from Hiroka (now a coach with Yakult), who was famed for his defensive play.
#48 Yasuda - Pitcher (Yakult)Yasuda is trying to achieve a great record— three consecutive years with an ERA title. His clutchness is second to none.
[Baseball Museum] Kazuhisa Inao (currently Taiheiyo’s manager) achieved three consecutive ERA titles between 1956-58.
#54 Nomura - Manager・Catcher (Nankai)The Pacific League’s greatest hitter, Nomura is chasing Oh at #2 all-time in home runs. The question of how much longer he will remain an active player is on every fan’s mind. This season he’ll be looking to hit .300 in the four-hole and achieve his 10th overall home run title.
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