Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Japanese Baseball - Hiroshi Oshita

Hall of Famer, Hiroshi Oshita, who played for the Nishitetsu Lions,  was one of the best Japanese baseball hitters of the 1940s and 50s. This picture was taken in 1951 or '52.

 Rob of Rob's Japanese Cards, has this to say about him:
After leading the league with 20 homers in his rookie season, he went on to win three batting titles, and three home-run crowns. He held the record for most hits in a game (7), and his .383 BA in 1951 remained the single-season record until Isao Harimoto topped it by .0003 in 1971. He was named to eight Best Nine teams. His best season for the Lions came in 1954 when he won the MVP Award, hitting .321 with 22 homers, 88 RBI and 11 stolen bases. He also won the 1957 Japan Series MVP award. 

Jerry, who used to live in the house next door to me, had a pen pal in Japan just after World War II - which is how I came to have this card. They are hard to come by.

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4 comments:

  1. DorincardApril 5, 2011 at 6:34 AM

    Nishitestu Lions? I bet it's NishiteTSu Lions.
    Did I pass your TESTU? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christine H.April 5, 2011 at 8:17 AM

    Dorin,you did indeed pass the testu. I have corrected the spelling. I hope you will agree to check all of my posts. Thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PonyBoy PressApril 5, 2011 at 10:11 PM

    Hi Christine, hope you can come to the Webfooters Postcard Show. It's April 15-17. Here's a link to my blog post. Any word spreading you do would be greatly appreciated.

    http://thecedarchestblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/portland-post-card-event-of-year-april.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alan BurnettApril 6, 2011 at 3:02 AM

    There is something rather odd about the perspective in the photograph, either that or his fellow players were very small indeed.

    ReplyDelete