Sunday, March 22, 2020

Guardian Angel of the Long Ball

Our blogger friend Sean, who's getting back into baseball cards in Japan, showed us a few cards from the 1975 "Rocket Robots" menko set last month. If you happened to read that post, I'm wondering what sort of reaction you had when you saw this card of Sadaharu Oh.




Sean referred to it as "striking", which fits the bill perfectly.  

It's the background that really does it for me. Those energetic white dots and streaks seem to be an abstract, artistic way of representing rays of the yellow sun behind him. Or maybe that sun is meant to symbolize something else, as Sean suggested:

The background artwork makes it look like he has a halo. Saint Oh, guardian angel of the long ball. . . 

Well, after reading that line, inspiration struck, and it struck to the point that I put aside some of the other design projects I was working on and set right out to create a more saintly, stained glass version of the card. Here it is.




The idea for a stained glass baseball card isn't new. They've appeared in sets as far back as 1996, from what I can tell. But the notion is still excellent. After all, for some fans, baseball is a religion.

And if those folks were to enter their places of baseball worship, you can imagine they'd feel a sense of comfort and strength as they gazed up toward Sadaharu Oh, guardian angel of the long ball. Or perhaps they'd refer to him as the patron saint of the long ball.

Just look. There he is, with baseball's version of a sword held at the ready. His eyes describe a studious, wary focusevidence that he understands the weightiness of his position. And who better to uphold that position than the career home run leader in Nippon Professional Baseball history? (He retired in 1980 with 868 home runs, and still holds the lead by more than 200.)

Additionally, he remained with the same teamthe Yomiuri Giantsfor his entire playing career. Loyalty. Another saintly quality. With Sadaharu Oh, inspiration abounds.  

Thank you for providing some for me, Sean. 

And thanks for reading, everyone.

8 comments:

  1. I thought this post was going to be about Sean sending you the card, or you liking it so much that you went out and bought a copy, but this is good too! I've yet to see a stained glass card design that I didn't like, and this one is no exception to the rule :)

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    1. Thanks Jon! Not a bad idea to pick up an affordable copy of the original.

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  2. I love when stained glass meets sports cards. Sean's original and your custom are both super awesome!

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  3. An amazing piece of old cardboard. Your stained glass version is magnificent! Quite a creative spark you have. The border around Oh and his bat make it pop!

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    1. Thanks Julie! Baseball card designs can definitely inspire creativity.

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  4. Ha! Awesome, I like your stained glass version better.

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    1. Thank you Sean, and thanks for posting an image of the original!

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