Monthly Shonen Jump 1975 Baseball Manga by Hiroshi Kaizuka

I grew up in North Carolina, but my dad was from Baltimore. Therefore, I grew up an Orioles fan. My favorite player when I was a kid was Brooks Robinson, a 16-time Golden Glove winner and Hall of Famer who was, arguably, the greatest defensive third baseman in the history of the game. One summer in the mid 70s, when we were visiting family in Baltimore, I got to see Robinson hit a home run, a magical moment.

A few years before that, in 1971, right after the Orioles won the World Series, the team was invited to play 18 games in Japan. Most of the games were played against the then reigning Japan Series champions, the Yomiuri Giants (the most successful team in Japanese professional baseball history), either straight up or combined with members of other Japanese teams. The Orioles mostly dominated their Japanese counterparts, recording 12 wins, 2 losses and 4 ties.

Anyway, in more recent times, I was in Tokyo meeting fellow CAF members, Jeff and Tom, who were visiting from Canada and the States respectively, when, after a very filling lunch of Japanese beef curry, we hit a used bookshop in Jimbocho. Along with lots of old manga, movie posters, albums and knick-knacks of all shapes and sizes, the owners had a selection of Japanese OA for sale. I was trying to be a good boy and not spend anything when I saw this page, which was drawn by Hiroshi Kaizuka, featuring my all-time favorite baseball player. (I will state very clearly and for the record that Jeff and Tom are comic art enablers, and, despite my reluctance, talked me into getting the page, for which I am very grateful.)

According to the owners, this page is from the manga, "Eien No Sebangou" (which translates to something like "Immortal Uniform Number"). It shows an at bat from (I think) game one of the series between the Orioles and the Yomiuri Giants. The first panel depicts Jim Palmer (I think) on the mound, but its real focus is on Robinson, who is standing in the background. The word balloon in panel one notes that he and Japan's most popular player, Shigeru Nagashima, A.K.A. "Mr. Giants", are approximately the same age. The second panel is a closeup of Robinson while the third panel shows Giants outfielder, Toshimitsu Suetsugu, hitting a line drive down the third baseline. The fourth panel shows Nagashima, on first base, reacting to the hit. Nagashima says something like, "I can make it!" The fifth panel is a closeup of Nagashima and the first word balloon says that Nagashima, who was 35 at the time, was excited by the hit and felt confident he would advance to second. However, the second word balloon states, "This is when I met 'Mr. Orioles.'" Thus, in the sixth panel, Robinson (AKA "Mr. Orioles") easily vacuums up the ball. (On the next page, I'm pretty sure that it would depict Robinson and the Orioles completing a 5-4-3 double play and end Nagashima's chances of scoring.)