Presented is a great Japanese baseball vintage item: 1935 set of five (5) photo negatives of Dai Nippon, the first professional Japanese baseball team, and the direct forerunners of the famous Tokyo Giants, taken on the team's momentous tour of the United States and Canada. The tour was arranged primarily by Sotaro Suzuki, the baseball writer for the Yomiuri newspaper, with great cooperation from Lefty O'Doul, who was the manager of the San Francisco Seals and had strong ties to Japanese baseball. The Japanese touring team had only 17 players, with four full time pitchers and two players who pitched and played the infield. Originally intending to play about 60-80 games, the tour eventually grew to 109 games, in 13 U.S. states and four Western Canadian provinces, as well as games in Mexico and Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese squad had ten individuals who eventually became Japanese Baseball Hall of Famers: Eiji Sawamura, pitcher; Shigeru Mizuhara, third base/pitcher; Daisuke Miyake, coach; Tadao Ichioka, manager; Sotaro Tabe, second base/pitcher; Hisanori Karita, shortstop; Victor Starffin, pitcher; Elichiro Yamamoto, utility; Nobuaki Nidegawa. On the tour, the top North American competition consisted of teams from the AA level Pacific Coast league. At that time, the AA level was the highest level of the Minor Leagues. 

Each of the negatives measures 3.75x4.75". There is a team photo negative of the Dai Nippon team, posed along a baseline, and four action photo negatives, shot from behind first base. The negatives are contained in an original 4.6x5.6" photo negative envelope. This envelope reads, in typing, "Sports. Baseball Seals Vs Japanese Team. March 1935/Tabe; Hughes; Renton; Corbett; Nygama./Baseball - May 9/Seals Stadium. [Although the envelope containing the negatives has dates of both "March 1935" and "May 9," on May 9, 1935, the Japanese team was in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Japanese team did play the San Francisco Colts, the youthful reserves of the San Francisco Seals, on March 9, 1935, at Seals Stadium. It appears that the photo negatives are from the March 9th game and may have been developed at a later time. The envelope holding the negatives has a tear, some small stains and darkening, caused by the passage of time. The envelope has "Woods" written in blue ballpoint ink, as a signature for the photographer. 

The negatives are in EXCELLENT condition. The team shot of the Japanese squad and the shot of future Japanese Baseball Hall of Famer Sotaro Tabe, are the highlights. With Japanese players more and more becoming stars in the Major Leagues, these nine-decades old negatives provide a great link to really vintage Japanese baseball.

Estimated domestic USA shipping cost only. Does not include handling or insurance: 16.16 Please feel free to contact us for a more accurate shipping cost.