Hall of Fame, Banzai Babe Ruth, and Mayday Malone

In January, the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will be announcing the class of 2012. Once again on the list for the expert group (those players retired for 21 years or more as well as managers, coaches and umpires) is Masayaki Dobashi (right), who we profiled a few years back. Also on the ballot is Isao Shibata, Koji Akiyama, and Shinjo- you can find the announcement and the complete ballot in Japanese here.

Also, Banzai Babe Ruth, the new book by Rob Fitts, author of the wonderful Wally Yonemine biography as well as several other books on the history of Japanese baseball, will be out early next year. You can pre-order the book here- go get one right now!

And finally, our friends at the Infinite Baseball Card Set, who have designed a number of beautiful baseball cards featuring Japanese and Gaijin players, released in October a great card that, though somewhat out of the scope of this blog, is too brilliant not to share. Sam 'Mayday' Malone, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and later owner of famous bar in Boston, never had his own card. The Infinite Baseball Card provides one, as well as an extensive biography- check it out!