[1950S JAPANESE BASEBALL BOARD GAME AND BASEBALL BOOKLET].

大野球ゲーム盤. [Daiyakyū gēmuban].
[Great Baseball Board Game].

東京. [Tokyo]. 集英社. [Shūeisha]. Showa 27 [ 1952]. Stock ID #218517

Folding colour game board (37.7 x 20cm) with accompanying sheet of cut-outs of players and for constructing the stadium, (19 x 27.2cm), additional small picturebook of 早慶優勝戦. [Sōkei yūshōsen]. Some light browning but otherwise very good.

This collection comprises three items: a baseball board game, a cut-out sheet, and a miniature picture book. The board game was distributed as a supplement to Omoshiro Bukku (おもしろブック), issued in March 1952. Included is a coloured sheet depicting a baseball field with an additional game on the reverse; a cut-out sheet featuring players, spectators, scoreboards, and advertising panels for assembling a miniature stadium; and a small picture book narrating the final game between the university rivals Waseda and Keio.

Baseball had become one of Japan’s most popular sports since its introduction in 1873 by Horace Wilson, an American teacher in Tokyo. Rivalries in both the professional league—most famously between the Giants and the Tigers—and in the Tokyo University League, particularly between Waseda and Keio, were legendary and are reflected in this set. The illustrated players are shown in the uniforms of those teams, while the booklet recreates the excitement of a Waseda–Keio match in the style of a live radio broadcast. The cut-outs for the stadium are particularly detailed, with spectators animatedly cheering and advertising boards promoting Shueisha’s children’s magazines.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 218517.

Price: $450.00 AU

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