This
month’s VCoM is The Great Togo from the 1955-56 Parkhurst Wrestling release, a
121-card checklist wrestling set that covered the big named wrestles of the time.
The
Great Togo, also know Toshiyuki Sakata or Harold Sakata, may be better known to
some as Oddjob in the James Bond film Goldfinger but he was a very accomplished
weight lifter and wrestler before he became an actor. Following his time in the
US Army during WWII he began lifting weights and went to the 1948 London
Olympics where he won a Silver medal in the Light-Heavyweight weightlifting category.
In
the early 1950s he began his wrestling career, at times teaming up with
Masutatsu Oyama and Kokichi Endo as the Togo Brothers/Family winning 12
championships as an individual and tag-team.
This
1955-56 Parkie is his second-year card with his 1954-55 Parkhurst card being
his official rookie card. The odd thing is, I guess a cost cutting choice, but
the 54-55 card uses the same exact image but is a plain white background.
This
card is in horrible shape and I want to eventually replace it, but it has great
colors and you gotta love the look on Sakata’s face. I don’t think I have ever
seen a wrestler smiling so big on a card before.
Nice well loved vintage. Ah I can almost smell the cardboard... oh wait that's sushi UGH.
ReplyDeleteI probably should have known that Oddjob was a wrestler. Love this card. I have one or two from this set but had no idea he was part of it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic card! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteNever seen this set before... but that card is cool. If I wasn't cutting back on spending... I'd chase down one of these for my collection.
ReplyDelete