Rarely does one see baseball cards autographed by Japanese stars of the late 1940s and early 1950s. In fact, in our nearly 70 auctions, we have offered only a handful of such cards. The card at upper left is an uncatalogued card of Tetsunosuke Fujiwara (d. 2002), the Yomiuri Giants' main catcher from 1949 to 1951. At upper right, we see Shigeaki Kuroo (d. 1974) on a 1949 JBR 83 bromide. Kuroo was one of the main starting pitchers for the Flyers during the late 1940s. At lower left, is a card of Chusuke Kizuka (d. 1987) on a 1950 JBR 9 Marutoku bromide. Kizuka, a shortstop, played 11 years for the Hawks. In 1950, he batted .303. At lower right is a 1950 JBR 88 Pastel Colors bromide of Kiyoshi Osawa (d. 2005), the Whales' first baseman who batted .327 in 1950. Based on the signatures, we feel that all cards were signed within a few years of when they were issued.

Size: Cards average about 2" x 2 3/4".

Condition: Cards average about Vg/Ex to Ex. Autographs are mostly 7 to 8 out of 10.