Japanese Baseball

8 Pages 1948 Words

America’s Pastime…in Japan?

When the average American sports fan looks at the sport of baseball, they may think that it is only popular in the United States. I mean, isn’t it though? Not quite my friend. The purpose of this paper is to show the average American that baseball is more widespread that just in America, and also to show that it is as popular in a certain country which is Japan.
Japanese Baseball has existed in Japan since 1873. It first appeared amid the social, cultural and technological spasms Japan endured on the heels of the Meiji restoration. (Pacific U.) In Japan baseball is known as Yakyu. (Baywell) The game of baseball was introduced from the United States during the early Meiji period. Horace Wilson is the man who receives credit for starting baseball in Japan. (Allen) Wilson was an American professor of English at a Tokyo university. Through the early 1920’s the only baseball the Japanese saw was high school baseball. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that baseball really caught on in Japan as a professional sport. (Embassy of Japan)
In the 1930’s American all-star teams would come over to Japan to play a host of good will games. These games started in October of 1931. The U.S. all-star team played against Japanese university All-star teams, as well as others. The Americans won all 17 games. (Brown) Because of there defeat the government of Japan decide to establish their own professional teams in 1934. In 1936 the first professional game was played. (McGinnis) The game as it is today in Japan started in 1950. Railway companies, newspaper organizations, and other corporations own major league teams. There are two leagues with six teams each. (Oliver)
In the U.S. we have our own national heroes their names are ones like Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and White Ford. In Japan they have players like Oh Sadaharu, who played as an infielder for the Yomiuri Giants. During his 22-year career, Oh S...