Super fun card to create and post to the blog today, a 1964 special Japanese Edition of Hall of Fame pitcher Masaichi Kaneda, who put together a monster baseball career:
The man was
an absolute beast on the mound, as evidenced by his 14 consecutive
20-win seasons, all for the Kokutetsu Swallows in the Central League.
Among those 14 20-win campaigns, he also reached 30+ wins twice, with 31 in 1958 and 30 in 1963.
In
1955 the man tossed 400 innings when he appeared in 62 games, 37 of
them starts, completing 34 while finishing up 21 in relief.
Incredible numbers that remind me of Robin Roberts or Warren Spahn, though for a longer amount of time.
To
top it off, in that run of 14 straight 20-win seasons, he also topped
200+ strikeouts each and every year, including five 300+ K campaigns
between 1955 and 1959, while also posting seven seasons of a sub-2.00
earned run average, with a ridiculous 1.30 mark in 1958 when he threw
332.1 innings!
Just incredible!
By the time he
retired after the 1969 season, he finished with 400 wins, a 2.34 ERA and
4490 strikeouts over 944 games, 569 of them starts, with 82 shutouts.
Legend!
Look for this card to be printed in an upcoming set for sure!
