1958 JCM54 'Who Am I?' Baseball MENKO Card~ KAISER TANAKA ~1st Fgn Mgr ~HAWAIIAN

Description: 1958 JCM 54 (JCM-54) Borderless 'Who Am I?' Baseball Menko Card Yoshio 'Kaiser' Tanaka 田中義雄 Manager (former Catcher, 1st Base) 'Hawaii born' 1st Foreign Born Manager in Japanese Pro Baseball History. born and raised in Wahiawa on Oahu, Hawaii These color Baseball Menko Cards were made in 1958. This set is Catalogued as JCM 54 in the Japanese Baseball Card Catalog. They are called Borderless 'Who Am I?' Menko Cards. Examples from this set are Scarce overall. They are ranked R3, meaning est. 11-99 of ea. card known. Yoshio 'Kaiser' Tanaka 田中義雄 Kaiser's parents had immigrated to Hawaii from Hiroshima, Japan, and Kaiser was born in Hawaii, giving him dual citizenship between the United States and Japan. Like Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher 'Bozo' Wakabayashi, Kaiser Tanaka attended Oahu's William McKinley High School, and excelled on the field mostly at catcher and 1st base. His German nickname was given in his Hawaiian school days due to his interest in the German royal family. After playing in HS and the University of Hawaii, Kaiser didn't play Pro Ball in the USA, instead he became a school teacher on Oahu. In 1937, he was asked by fellow Hawaiian and future Hall of Famer Tadashi Wakabayashi, to come to Japan to play Pro Baseball. He traveled from Hawaii to Japan for the first time that year. Professional Baseball in Japan just started the year before in 1936. Its not entirely sure what drove Tanaka to quit teaching and accept that invitation. One version of the story is that due to the deteriorating relationship between Japan and the USA at the time, Tanaka would have had to renounce his Japanese citizenship (he held dual nationality) in order to continue his teaching career in Hawaii, something his mother was staunchly opposed to. So he had to quit teaching to maintain his dual nationality, and playing baseball was just the job that came along. The other version is that he wanted to marry a girl that his mother did not like at all and he came to Japan mainly so he could be with her, with baseball just being the job that allowed him to do so. Kaiser player for the Osaka/Hanshin Tigers from 1937-1944. His playing career ended in 1944 partly because the 1945 season was interrupted by WWII and partly because he was drafted. Some stories say he was drafted by the American Military ?? Its not sure if he was drafted by the USA or Japan, with some references bring up that he was asked to spy for the Japanese military doing intercepts of USA short wave radio transmissions in 1945. This Spy story is noted in his Japanese Wikipedia page. Sort of similar to Boston Red Sox catcher/USA Spy Moe Berg's story is some ways. After the war he worked for the American military at a base in Hokkaido Prefecture in Japan for a few years, before coming back to baseball in 1954 as a coach for the Tigers. Then in 1958 he became the Tigers manager and thus the First Foreign Manager in Japanese Baseball History. He lasted two years in the role, in both of which the Tigers had winning records but did not make the Japan Series. He was the manager of the Tigers during their legendary game against the Giants on June 25, 1959 which was the first ever attended by the Emperor of Japan. average wearlight creases collector grade. about 1-13/16" by 3" Great for the 'type card collector', Hawaiian baseball, or Japanese Card collector.... guaranteed authentic and unaltered. ~SHIPPING~  I have to start charging for shipping on items over $20.  On $20+, It cost me $4.36 to send a small 3oz USPS tracked envelope.  On mid-range items in the $20-$50 range  I need to charge for a part of this fee  so have a new $2 Shipping Charge on some items.   Mahalo

Price: 20.4 USD

Location: Keaau, Hawaii

End Time: 2024-11-30T10:53:21.000Z

Shipping Cost: 2 USD