This is the first time we have ever offered the JBR 80b card of O'Doul, Suzuki and sumo yokozuna Maedayama at auction. On two other occasions over the past 37 years, we have offered cards featuring all three in a similar pose, but this card is a bit different and comes from a different set. Only one other copy of this JBR 80b version is known to exist.

Cards featuring Lefty O’Doul during the 1949 San Francisco Seals Tour of Japan are always sought out by many collectors. Exceptionally rare 1949 Tour cards with O’Doul, like this one, are especially prized. However, in this case, the two other individuals portrayed on this card may have even more interesting stories than O’Doul!

Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Maedayama’s appearance makes this a historically important bromide, because his attendance at this Seals tour game ended his career as a sumo wrestler. Maedayama had a passionate love for baseball, and started his own team of sumo baseball players, the Maedayama nine, with Maedayama as catcher, captain and cleanup hitter. However, his passionate love for baseball got him into trouble. The image shown on this card (game in Tokyo) was taken while Maedayama claimed to be on injury leave from a sumo tournament being held in Osaka. This was not the kind of behavior expected of a Yokozuna. A formal hearing was ordered by sumo officials, but prior to the hearing, Maedayama chose to retire rather than to lose face.

Sotaro Suzuki, a Japan Baseball Hall of Fame member, was one of the foremost baseball authors in Japan. Possibly even more importantly, he went to New York in 1934 and is widely regarded as the man who convinced Babe Ruth to become a part of the 1934 U.S. All Stars Tour of Japan.

Blank back card

Size: 2 1/4" x 2"

Condition: Good to Vg because of a crease in the upper left corner.