Foreword by Allan ‘Bud’ Selig. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Japanese baseball, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is proud to publish a two-volume set, Nichibei Yakyu: US Baseball Tours of Japan. The first book in the set is Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, 1907 – 1958.
Over 100 baseball teams from the United States and Hawaii have crossed the Pacific to play baseball in Japan. Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan is the first book written in English that focuses on these international tours.
Discover in this book, how:
- The female Philadelphia Bobbies team tour ended in tragedy
- Babe Ruth tried to prevent World War II
- Lefty O’Doul helped reunite the US and Japan through baseball
- A Native American baseball team was cheated and stranded 5000 miles from home
- A Negro League team helped start Japanese professional baseball
- Japanese Americans used baseball to build a bridge between the two cultures
- Joe Di Maggio and Jackie Robinson finished their careers in Japan
These, and many other stories, introduce readers to the fascinating world of Japanese baseball.
Volume One focuses on tours between 1907 and 1958. During this time period, many of the sport’s greatest stars-including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Joe Di Maggio, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson-played in the Land of the Rising Sun. These tours helped spread the game across the globe, spawned thousands of individual friendships, and helped bring nations together through the mutual love of baseball.
Volume One contains individual chapters written by leading members of the Society for American Baseball Research on all 15 professional squads that traveled to Japan before 1960 as well as four collegiate and eight amateur/semipro teams. Each chapter is accompanied by game results and, when available, player statistics.
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CONTENTS
1. FOREWORD
By Allan H. ‘Bud’ Selig
2. INTRODUCTION
By Robert K. Fitts
3. 1907 ST. LOUIS BASEBALL TEAM FROM HAWAII
By Yoichi Nagata
4. 1908 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON TOUR OF JAPAN
By Carter Cromwell
5. 1908 REACH ALL-AMERICAN TOUR
By Robert K. Fitts
6. VOYAGE TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN: THE WISCONSIN BADGER NINE’S 1909 TRIP TO JAPAN
By Joe Niese
7. RESTART OF LEGEND: THE WASEDA-CHICAGO RIVALRY 1910-2008
Christopher Frey
8. DECLARATION OF VICTORY: THE MEANING AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE STANFORD UNIVERSITY BASEBALL TEAM’S 1913 JAPAN TOUR
By Yusuke Suzumura
9. THE 1913-14 CHICAGO WHITE SOX-NEW YORK GIANTS WORLD TOUR
By Stephen D. Boren and James E. Elfers
10. RETURNING HOME: THE 1914 SEATTLE NIPPON AND ASAHI JAPANESE AMERICAN TOURS
By Robert K. Fitts
11. ALL-STARS, AMATEURS AND ACRIMONY: GENE DOYLE’S 1920 TOUR
By John J. Harney
12. THE 1921 NATIVE AMERICAN TOURS OF JAPAN
By Yoichi Nagata, Robert K. Fitts, and Mark Brunke
13. 1921 VANCOUVER ASAHI’S TOUR TO JAPAN
By Satoshi Matsumiya
14. THE DIAMOND STAGE: HERB HUNTER’S 1922 TOUR OF JAPAN
By Adam Berenbak
15. KENICHI ZENIMURA, ‘THE FATHER OF JAPANESE AMERICAN BASEBALL, ‘ AND THE 1924, 1927, AND 1937 GOODWILL TOURS
By Bill Staples Jr.
16. THE SAN JOSE ASAHI’S 1925 TOUR OF JAPAN AND KOREA
By Ralph M. Pearce
17. RETHINKING THE PHILADELPHIA BOBBIES 1925 TOUR IN JAPAN: ‘EMBARRASSMENT TO THE NATION’ OR ‘GREAT SUCCESS’?
By Kat D. Williams, Ph.D.
18. GENTLE BLACK GIANTS: NEGRO LEAGUERS IN JAPAN, PHILADELPHIA ROYAL GIANTS TOUR, 1927
By Bill Staples Jr.
19. TY COBB’S LAST HURRAH: THE 1928 COBB TOUR
By Tom Hawthorn
20. HERB HUNTER’S DREAM TOUR: 1931-A RABBIT, TWO LEFTYS, AND AN IRON HORSE VISIT A DANGEROUS JAPAN
By Dennis Snelling
21. MURDER, ESPIONAGE, AND BASEBALL: THE 1934 ALL-AMERICAN TOUR OF JAPAN
By Robert K. Fitts
22. THE 1935 WHEATIES ALL-AMERICANS: A BOXFUL OF GLOBAL AMBITION
By Keith Robbins
23. THE GREATEST PIECE OF DIPLOMACY EVER: THE 1949 TOUR OF LEFTY O’DOUL AND THE SAN FRANCISCO SEALS
By Dennis Snelling
24. JOE DIMAGGIO’S LAST HURRAH: THE 1951 LEFTY O’DOUL ALL-STAR TOUR
By Robert K. Fitts
25. THE COLD WAR, A RED SCARE, AND THE NEW YORK GIANTS’ HISTORIC TOUR OF JAPAN IN 1953
By Steven K. Wisensale
26. THE 1953 EDDIE LOPAT ALL-STARS’ TOUR OF JAPAN
By C. Paul Rogers III
27. GOOD OPTICS: THE 1955 YANKEES TOUR
By Roberta J. Newman
28. THE BUMS IN THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN: HOW THE 1956 DODGERS’ TOUR OF JAPAN MARKED THE END OF A DYNASTY
By Robert K. Fitts
29. CROSSROADS: THE 1958 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS TOUR OF JAPAN
By Adam Berenbak
30. TOURS OF JAPAN: VOLUME I AUTHOR BIOS
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Robert K. Fitts is the author of seven books on Japanese baseball and Japanese baseball cards. Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and a recipient of the society’s 2013 Seymour Medal for Best Baseball Book of 2012, the 2019 Mc Farland-SABR Baseball Research Award, the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for best research presentation at the SABR convention, and the 2006 and 2021 SABR Research Awards. He has twice been a finalist for the Casey Award and has received two silver medals at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. While living in Tokyo in 1993-94, Fitts began collecting Japanese baseball cards and now runs Robs Japanese Cards LLC. Information on Rob’s work is available at Rob Fitts.com.