Empire State Express Passing Through Syracuse

In 1891, the Empire State Express became the world's first high-speed passenger train, traveling from New York City to Buffalo in just under seven hours. Top speeds between 82 miles per hour and 112 miles per hour were recorded.  Eventually the train's western terminus was extended to Cleveland, Ohio.
It seems odd that a train celebrated for its great speeds would travel right through the middle of town with no safety barriers. Word to the wise: keep your dog on a leash.

Japanese Baseball- Shigeru Sugishita

Why would I have Japanese baseball postcards? It's only because my neighbor had a Japanese pen pal when he was a boy. Otherwise, these would be hard to come by.

Shigeru Sugishita was one of the premier pitchers in Japanese professional baseball in the 1950s. This picture is circa 1951, when he was pitching for the Dragons. He beat out Wally Yonamine for Central League MVP in 1954 (a very big deal!) and was presented with the Sawamura Award three times. Sugishita was inducted into to the Hall of Fame in 1958.

If you're interested in finding out more about Japanese baseball or Japanese baseball cards, this is a good source: Rob's Japanese Cards

Happy New Year

I'm posting this lovely card mostly because David over at the Postcard Gallery has posted a similar postcard and I thought it would be interesting to look at them both together.  His New Year's lady has the sense not to grab onto the wreath of holly, but there are other differences too.  See if you can find them.