Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War

Images

A portrait of Horace Wilson. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) A group picture of the Shinbashi Athletic Club, ca. 1878. Hiraoka Hiroshi is in the center of the middle row. The same picture was printed in the Chicago Tribune on July 15, 1888. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) The 1896 Ichikō team that trounced the American teams. Chūma Kanoe is in the center of the back row. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) The Waseda University 1905 West Coast tour. Abe Isoo is in the middle of the second row; Hashido Makoto is third from the right in the front row. (Courtesy of Waseda University Archives) (opposite) Players of Keio and Waseda Universities with spectators, 1907. Abe Isoo is in the center of the middle row. (Courtesy of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies) St. Louis of Hawaii, the first American semipro team to tour Japan in 1907. (Courtesy of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies) Keio University vs. St. Louis at the Tsunamachi Grounds, 1907. Fees were collected at the gate for this game for the first time in Japan. (Courtesy of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies) (opposite) Front-­ page picture of Yakyūkai, featuring Neal Pullen of the Philadelphia Royal Giants and Shinji Hamazaki of the Mita Club, 1927. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) The U.S. Major League tour of Japan with Herb Hunter, 1931. (Courtesy of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies) (opposite) The 1931 Major League All-­ Stars, accompanied by players’ wives, U.S. ambassador William Cameron Forbes (center), and Japanese prime minister Wakatsuki Reijirō (next to Forbes). (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) A group picture of the 1931 Major League All-­ Stars tour of Japan. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) (opposite) Pictures of the 1934 Major League tour of Japan featured in Yakyūkai; Ruth was besieged by fans in Tokyo. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) A poster for the 1934 Major League tour of Japan, featuring Babe Ruth. (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) (opposite) Scenes from the 1934 Major League tour, including Connie Mack with Suzuki Sōtarō (top left) and Shōriki Matsutarō, U.S. ambassador Joseph Grew, Count Okuma, and Babe Ruth (bottom right). (Courtesy of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library) A Japanese American baseball team at Manzanar Internment Camp, California, 1942. (Gift of Jack and Peggy Iwata; courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum) Ken Zenimura at bat, Heart Mountain, Wyoming, 1944. The inscription reads: “Ken Zenimura.” (Gift of Mori Shimada; courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum) Lefty O’Doul shaking hands with Crown Prince Akihito (the current Japanese emperor) at Jingū Stadium, October 1949. The caption reads: “Amity.” (Courtesy of Asahi Gurafu) Tokyo Giants manager Shigeru Mizuhara shaking hands with Joe DiMaggio, with Lefty O’Doul looking on, before an exhibition match at Kōrakuen Stadium, October 20, 1951. (Courtesy of the Yomiuri Shinbun) ...