This is the only example of the Morinaga Standups Kiyoshi Oishi card ever graded and encapsulated by either PSA or SGC!

There are only three known examples of this rare card, graded or ungraded. This specimen has been given a grade of SGC 2 (Good), making it a 1 of 1 card with none graded higher. The PSA Pop Report shows no graded examples.

The Morinaga Standups cards were originally imported to the U.S. by American servicemen in the late 1960s. As such, they have been widely known to American baseball card collectors longer than nearly any Japanese issue. These large size cards with their higher photo quality than American cards of the era and unique, easel type standup feature, have always been quite popular on both sides of the Pacific. However, what was unknown to collectors until recent years, is that there are five cards that were missing from the sets imported from Japan nearly 50 years ago. These five cards are even scarcer than the four, almost non-existent Kabaya-Leaf cards, with the Oishi card being one of the three scarcest. This card would be a special addition to any Morinaga Standups collection.

Kiyoshi Oishi is one of the many examples of Japanese pitching stars whose incredible workloads caused an early burnout. A righthander, Oishi pitched a reasonable number of innings during his rookie season of 1959 (173 IP) at the tender age of 19. In 1960, he blossomed into the Hiroshima Carp ace, with a 26-13, 2.56 season while pitching 341 innings. Over the next two seasons, he won 47 games, but threw 678 innings! In 1963 and 1964, his ability began to wane, even though his innings pitched were reduced to 218 and 262 innings respectively. 1965 was the beginning of the end. Arm troubles limited him to around 100 innings per year until his retirement in 1970 at age 29.

Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Condition: SGC 2 (Good) 1 of 1 with none graded higher. No examples graded by PSA.