Up on the blog today, a special "fantasy" card creation I slipped into my "Series 11" set last month, celebrating the great Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants:
I
used the 1977 template since it was the year he broke Hank Aaron's
professional home run record, on his way to 868 over his majestic 22
year playing career.
The man is a GOD in Japan, and rightfully
so, topping 100 runs batted in 14 times, 100 runs scored 10 times and
30+ homers 19 times, which he did consecutively including his last year
in 1980.
He topped 40 homers 13 times, including 55 in 1964, a
Japanese record, then 51 in 1973 and 50 in 1977 when he broke the
record to much fanfare.
When you look at his career stats it's
like a thing out of a softball league, or some latter Barry Bonds
numbers, with on-base-percentages above .500, slugging percentages above
.700, and 100+ base on balls year after year, 16 consecutive to be
precise, on his way to 2390 by the time he hung them up.
Just a
fun angle for the blog to start designing some cards for legends of
other leagues around the world, which I hope to continue in the new
year.
Oh's final numbers: a .301 average with 2786 hits, 1967
runs scored, 2170 RBIs, 868 homers in 2831 games and 9250 official
at-bats.
Just incredible!