This certainly looks like fun. There was no message written on the back of this card; they were probably too busy having fun at the toboggan slide. Toboggans were a traditional form of transport for the early Innu and Cree tribes of northern Canada.
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.
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
A heartfelt thanks and farewell to my readers. My last post (the thousand and first!) will be on November 7, 2012. The blog will remain online, but there won't be any new posts as I need to make time for other things. There is a chance I'll be back, but if so it won't be for awhile. I hope you'll take the time to peruse the archives.
How To Find Things
There's treasure in the archives, so here's how to browse and find what you want:
1. Enter a search word or phrase in the box below - anything from Princess Grace to Prohibition or Graf Zeppelin.
2. Or, go down to the bottom of the page and browse the "Cloud of Tags". The number next to the tag indicates how many posts have that tag. Clicking on it will bring up all of them. (I realize now that it doesn't always bring up all of them. If there are a lot, then it will only bring up the most recent ones, but if you click on older posts at the bottom then it will bring up more.)
3. You can also go through the archives by date. Just click on the triangle next to the year or month to open the list.
I love antique postcards because they preserve evidence of everyday life as well as celebrations and sad events. Looking at an old postcard is like holding a single piece of a puzzle; we have to imagine the rest.
I will try to put up a postcard every day. If you have a special request for a particular city or place, let me know!