By Gary Engel 

 

Like nearly everything else in our lives, baseball is becoming more international. In the past several years, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideo Nomo and a host of other Japanese players have made quite an impact on our National Pastime. Most American fans have only recently become acquainted with Japanese baseball. However, the sport has flourished in Japan for over a century.

Beginnings

According to most sources, Dr. Horace Wilson, an American professor teaching in Japan, introduced the Japanese to baseball in the 1870's. As a result, baseball first became popular at Japanese universities. From the early 1900's through the 1930's, the Big Six University League was the "Major League" of Japan, much as college football was the dominant form of U.S. football during the same era.

The 1934 U.S. Major League All-Star Tour of Japan featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig saw the Americans demolish their Japan opponents (mostly college players) game-after-game. After witnessing that debacle, many Japanese felt that the quality of baseball in the Japan would not improve without formation of a professional league. Shortly thereafter, newspaper tycoon Matsutaro Shiriki formed the first professional team in Japan, the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. In 1936, after nearly two years of barnstorming against both Japanese and U.S. Major and minor league teams, the Giants became a charter member of the Japan Professional Baseball League. This league operated each year through 1944, generally with six to eight teams. After a World War II-induced hiatus in 1945, Japanese pro baseball resumed. In 1950, two leagues were formed, the Central and Pacific Leagues. That structure has remained to this day, with six teams in each league currently participating.

Yomiuri Giants

Traditionally, the Yomiuri Giants are "Japan's Team." Win or lose, the Giants seemingly have more fans than all the other teams combined. From 1937 through the mid-1970's, the Giants were Japanese champions more than half of the time. In 1950, the Japan Series began pitting the Central League champion against the Pacific League champion. In fifteen of the first 24 years, the Giants were the winners!

The Giants' biggest star during the period of 1938-1958 was Tetsuharu Kawakami, known as the "God of Batting." Kawakami hit .314 lifetime, one of the highest marks in Japanese history. Then, from 1965 to 1973 he managed the Giants to nine consecutive Japan Series titles.

The next great Giants legend was Shigeo Nagashima. He remains the most revered player in Japanese baseball history, and has become a popular cultural icon. Nagashima played with the Giants from 1958 to 1974, hitting 444 homers while batting .305 lifetime. Nagashima was a contemporary of the best-known Giants star in America, Sadaharu Oh.

Oh compiled a set of power statistics unmatched anywhere in the world. He blasted 868 lifetime homers, winning the Central League home run title for 13 consecutive seasons. He also won the RBI crown thirteen years in a row. He is known for his famous one-legged "flamingo" batting stance. His .301 lifetime batting average is a testament to his effectiveness as a complete hitter.

After a prolonged dry spell (by Giants standards) following the retirements of Oh and Nagashima, the Giants returned to prominence beginning with their 1994 Japan series title. The 2002 season ended with the Giants' latest championship, as they bested the Seibu Lions in four straight contests.

The Red Helmets

A popular team during the 1970's was the Hiroshima Carp, featuring Koji Yamamoto (1969-1986) and Japan's version of Lou Gehrig or Cal Ripken, Sachio Kinugasa (1965-1987). The Carp were the equivalent of the Cincinnati Reds' "Big Red Machine" teams of the 1970's.

Kinugasa, the son of an African American GI and a Japanese mother, broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record in 1987. Cal Ripken surpassed Kinugasa's "World Record" in 1996. Yamamoto blasted 536 career home runs and had a career average of .290.

The Modern Era

A more recent, highly successful franchise has been the Seibu Lions. In the eleven years from 1982 to 1992, the Lions won the Japan Series eight times! Past Seibu stars included the heavy hitting duo of Koji Akiyama and Kazuhiro Kiyohara (now a Giant). The great Taiwanese pitcher (and former Little League World Series star) Taigen Kaku anchored a dominating pitching staff.

The most successful, and possibly most notorious of recently retired Japanese stars is Hiromitsu Ochiai (1979-1998). Japanese spring training and daily practice sessions are extremely grueling by American standards. In fact, most American players are exempt from traditional Japanese workouts. Ochiai was a Japanese proponent of the American philosophy, angering many fans who complained about his "weakness." However, Ochiai has three Japanese triple crowns in support of his argument.

Foreigners in Japan

Foreign players or "gaijin" have been a part of Japanese baseball since its inception. The Japanese public has always had a love/hate relationship with these foreigners, who at times show little respect for Japanese customs but often excel at the sport.

Among the first foreigners to have an impact on the Japanese game was Victor Starffin, a pitcher from White Russia in the 1930's, '40's and '50's who was Japan's first 300-game winner. Bozo Wakabayashi, a Hawaiian native, pitched during the same era, winning 240 games with a lifetime ERA of 1.99. Wally Yonamine was another Hawaiian who made a sizable impact. This Giants star of the 1950's was a great leadoff man, but was not so popular at the time, since postwar tensions still ran high. However, amends were made in 1994 when Yonamine was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

In the late 1970's and 1980's, Leron Lee and his brother Leon were the first of the modern "gaijin" stars in Japanese baseball. Leron played 11 seasons in Japan and had a lifetime average of .320. Leon hit .309 lifetime. Boomer Wells, a former Toronto Blue Jay, and Randy Bass, a former Padre and Ranger, had undistinguished U.S. careers but made a big impact in Japan. Bass won two triple crowns and Wells one. Wells played eleven seasons in Japan and had a lifetime average of over .320. Bass played six years in Japan (1983-1988) and hit .337 with over 200 home runs.

In 2001 Carl "Tuffy" Rhodes challenged Sadaharu Oh's single season homer record of 55, eventually tying the revered mark. In 2002, Alex Cabrera again tied the record. Unfortunately, both quests were marred by controversy. In a possible show of xenophobia, several teams refused to throw pitches anywhere near the strike zone to Rhodes and Cabrera, not wanting a Westerner to own such a prestigious Japanese baseball record.

Free Agency

Undoubtedly, many of the great Japanese baseball players from bygone years had the talent to star in the U.S. Major Leagues. However, like earlier American stars, they were prisoners of the reserve clause. Free agency was introduced to U.S. Major League Baseball in the 1970's. However, it wasn't until 1994 that free agency became a part of Japanese baseball. Earlier Japanese players couldn't have made the trip West even if they had wanted to. Even today, a player must play for nine complete seasons in Japan before he is eligible for free agency. Therefore, most players are around 30 years old before they can even consider playing in the U.S. Japanese players are not eligible for the annual U.S. draft of high school and college players, and are subject to a similar Japanese draft.

This article has been excerpted from the book, Japanese Baseball Card Checklist and Price Guide, 5th Edition by Gary Engel, Copyright 2002 by Prestige collectibles.

Gary Engel is the owner of Prestige Collectables, www.prestigecollectibles.com, and is one of the premiere experts on the subject. His online auctions feature some of the most coveted Japanese baseball memorabilia on the market.

The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip Experience!