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distance travelers do, accumulated debts of gratitude to countless individuals and organizations along the way. First, I would like to thank the following institutions for their financial support: Michigan State University ’s Intramural Research Grant Program (IRGP) made possible a semesterof full-­time research and writing; the Social Science Research Council / Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and the Japan Foundation ’s Short-­ Term Research Fellowship funded earlier stages of research in Japan; travel grants provided by the Northeast Council of the Association for Asian Studies and the University of Maryland Center for Historical Studies were indispensable to visits to archival collections within the United States. Archivists and librarians who have assisted me in the course of my archival odyssey are too numerous to list in full here, but I would like to acknowledge some of them by way of expressing my deep appreciation for their support and expertise. David Kelly of the Library of Congress, Julia Gardner of the University of Chicago Library Special Collections, Akiko Ogawa and Reiko Yamane of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library, Eiko Sakaguchi of the Prange Collection , Tokiko Bazzell of the University of Hawaii Hamilton Library, and Miruko Atsuta of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Archives unstintingly shared their fount of knowledge about the records I needed to consult. Frank Baldwin, Frank Costigliola, Itsuki Kurashina, Bill Lannen, Michael Lewis, Patrick Miller, Masako Notoji, Steven Riess, Cecilia Samonte, Takuya Sasaki, Kristin Stapleton, Koji Terachi, Takuya Toda-­ Ozaki, and Hiroshi Yoneyama provided me with venues for presenting my preliminary research and receiving valuable feedback from informed audiences. Many colleagues generously shared their own work in progress or their time by reading and critiquing my earlier drafts, and some of them directed my attention to scholarship I overlooked that was relevant to my project. These generous souls and comrades in the community of scholars include Toyomi Asano, E. Taylor Atkins, Eiichiro Azuma, Thomas Blackwood, Philip Block, Robert Bonner, Sandra Collins, Matthew Connelly , John Coogan, Mark Dyreson, Maureen Flanagan, Gerald Gems, Dan Gilbert, Laura Hein, Masaru Ikei, Richard Isomaki, Kohei Kawashima , William Kelly, Barbara Keys, Hidemasa Kokaze, Fumitaka KuroACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing this book was a long journey, and I have, as most long-­ x | Acknowledgments sawa, Barak Kushner, Peter Levine, Michael Lewis, Mary Lui, William Marshall, Adam McKeown, Hiromi Monobe, Emer O’Dwyer, Manako Ogawa, Michael Stamm, David Stowe, Yasuko Takezawa, William Tsutsui, Matthew Wittmann, Yūjin Yaguchi, Louise Young, and Thomas Zeiler. To this list I must add the two anonymous reviewers for the University of North Carolina Press. They read my manuscript with ineffable care and offered truly useful feedback. I thank my editor, Charles Grench, for lining up such knowledgeable and helpful reviewers for me, as well as for his faith in this project. Sara Jo Cohen and Jay Mazzocchi expertly shepherded me through the production process. In acquiring Japanese and Japanese American source materials, I was ably assisted by Ashley Brennan, Akiko Kashima, and Yusuke Sekine. The good offices of Masaru Ikei, Akiko Ogawa, Jane Nakasako of the Japanese American National Museum, Naosuke Sekiguci of the Waseda University Archives, and Takeyuki Tokura and Mayumi Yamamoto of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies were critical in obtaining some of the images used in this book. Jesse Draper provided valuable logistical support in preparing the final manuscript and the index.The bulk of research in Japan was conducted during my multiple stays at Keio and Waseda universities as a visiting scholar. Both are models of institutional commitment to international scholarlyexchange and hospitality, and I am forever indebted to these global-­minded universities and my faculty sponsors there, Kazuko Furuta, Aiko Kurasawa, Hatsue Shinohara, and Yoshihide Soeya. Being able to begin writing this book while staying in Keio University’s guesthouse only a block from the Tsunamachi Grounds and to finish the manuscript in myoffice inWaseda University’s main library— the site where Abe (Tozuka) Stadium once stood—was truly a treat. A portion of chapter 1 appeared in my article “For Love of the Game,” and materials used in chapter 7 were partially drawn from my contribution to Watanabe and McConnell, Soft Power Superpowers. I thank Yasushi Watanabe and David L. McConnell for permission to reprint the materials in this volume. Saving the most emotional and heartfelt for last, I thank my extended families in Texas, California, and Tokyo for the love and support I have received from them at every step along the way. They have nourished me with their good...

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