The year 2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the history of baseball, which is no exaggeration to say that it is Japan’s “national sport.” An overview of the history of baseball, from the enthusiasm for high school baseball, the prosperity of professional baseball, the success of Japanese players in the major leagues, and the introduction of baseball, which has become an indispensable pastime for the Japanese people, to the present day.
The Meiji Restoration and the Introduction of Foreign Sports
After over 200 years of national isolation, Japan opened its doors and embarked on a journey toward modernization. They actively introduced Western systems and cultural relics. As part of this, many foreign sports were introduced. Sports did not exist in Japan before the Meiji era. There were martial arts such as kendo, judo, and archery, not sports that ordinary people enjoyed playing or watching.
Foreign sports were introduced by “hired foreign teachers.” Baseball began in 1872 when Horace Wilson, an American teacher who was assigned to Daiichi University Ward No. 1 Junior High School (the school was renamed Kaisei School, later the University of Tokyo the following year), taught students how to play baseball. . It was 150 years ago.
In this way, baseball became popular among the students of the former First High School, Meiji Gakuin, Keio, Waseda, and so on. The elite’s involvement in baseball at the time increased the value of baseball in Japan. Before long, baseball was translated as “baseball” and spread to the general public.
Mass media that boosted the popularity of baseball
It was newspapers that took notice of the popularity of baseball. We called on junior high schools across the country to plan a tournament where the winning school of the local tournament would participate in the national tournament as a representative of the prefecture and aim to be the best in Japan. It was in August 1915 that the first All-Japan Junior High School Championship Baseball Tournament, sponsored by the Osaka Asahi Shimbun, was held. Asahi’s rival, the Mainichi Shimbun, planned and implemented a tournament during the spring break, in contrast to the “summer tournament” that was held during the summer vacation. After the summer tournament, the club members, excluding senior students, compete in the district’s autumn tournament. It was April 24th.
In August 2012, the Koshien Grand Athletic Field (now the Hanshin Koshien Stadium) was completed, providing a stage to determine the number one junior high school baseball player in Japan. Needless to say, the summer tournament developed into the “Summer Koshien High School Baseball Tournament” symbolized by “sweat, mud and tears”, and the “Spring Tournament” became established as a big event represented by “Spring starts with selection”. did.
Newspapers covered not only the game, but episodes of participating teams and the voices of local fans, attracting readers, and the popularity of baseball grew even more when radio broadcasts started in March 2013. . In addition, the Tokyo Six University Baseball started this year, and Koshien baseball players went on to Waseda, Keio, Meiji, Hosei, and Rikkyo. developed the match. The Six Universities at Jingu Stadium, especially the “Waseda-Keio Game of the Year”, became an event of nationwide attention.
The Invitation of Babe Ruth and the Birth of Professional Baseball
In contrast to the Asahi Shimbun in Koshien in the summer and the Mainichi Shimbun in the spring selection, the Yomiuri Shimbun came up with the idea of inviting Babe Ruth, who is at the height of her popularity, to compete against student baseball. In 1931, Ruth was not able to come, but top players such as Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Fox came to Japan and played against a selected team centered on players from Tokyo Big 6 Universities. rice field. However, I really want to call the main product “Babe Ruth”. The long-awaited Ruth came in 1934. However, a problem arose. The Ministry of Education issued a directive banning students from participating in for-profit major league games.
What he came up with was to gather talented people, mainly university graduates, and form the All Japan Army. In addition to Waseda alumnus Osamu Mihara, Keio alumnus Shigeru Mizuhara, and Meiji alumnus Takeo Tanabe, Eiji Sawamura, who dropped out of Kyoto Commercial, and Victor Starhin, who dropped out of Asahikawa Junior High School in Hokkaido, were gathered. Ruth, who has a strong service spirit, participated in the game even in heavy rain, and was extremely popular, such as holding a parasol and taking a defensive position. He is an effective ambassador,” he wrote in his diary.
Based on this All Japan Army, Japan’s first professional baseball team, the Dainippon Tokyo Baseball Club, was founded, and when they moved to the United States, they called themselves the “Tokyo Giants.” In February 1936, the All Japan Professional Baseball Federation was established with seven teams: Tokyo Giants, Greater Tokyo, Tokyo Senators, Nagoya Kinshachi, Nagoya Army, Osaka Tigers, and Hankyu.
Hostile sports during wartime, revived after the war
Professional baseball, which had just gotten off to a bad start, faced a difficult road due to a shortage of players, the deterioration of Japan-U.S. relations, and the outbreak of the Pacific War. First, with the expansion of the Sino-Japanese War, professional baseball players were recruited one after another, and some were sent overseas. Then, with the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, baseball, which was born in the United States, was looked upon as an “enemy sport,” and they began to search for ways to survive in the midst of this. The team names were changed from Tigers to Fukotogun and from Eagles to Kurowashi, and English was banished from baseball terminology. Nonsense such as “Good, Ippon” for Strike One, “Good” for Safe, and “Hike” for Out… When the war situation got even tighter, the baseball caps were changed to battle caps, and the game started after throwing hand grenades at the signboard of “US and UK destroyed”.
The Japan Professional Baseball Federation changed its name to the Japan Baseball Hokokukai and continued to play games for a while, but announced a “temporary suspension” of activities after the “Japan Baseball General Advancement Championship Baseball Tournament” in September 1944. . The Tokyo Six University Baseball Federation had already been dissolved the previous year, so the “fire of baseball” was extinguished in Japan.
On August 15, 1945, the public was informed of the defeat of the war through the Emperor’s “Gyokuon Broadcast”. After a long war, the people rose to their feet from the scorched earth. Radio and baseball were the few forms of entertainment for the common people. The Japanese really liked baseball. Two months after the defeat, at Jingu Stadium, which was requisitioned by the occupation forces and changed its name to “State Side Park,” alumni of the Tokyo Six Universities held a red-and-white match, and the stadium was packed with baseball-hungry fans. rice field.
Partly because of the policy of the United States that “using the emperor and baseball is the way to make the occupation go smoothly,” and with the support of the occupying forces, professional baseball, college baseball, and middle school baseball were renamed high school baseball. It has become a popular sport.
Rapid economic growth and the ON era
Professional baseball, which had lagged behind Tokyo Big6 baseball and high school baseball in terms of popularity, became the focus of national attention when superstar Shigeo Nagashima joined the Giants. Nagashima, who joined the Giants as a star of Jingu from Rikkyo University, made a spectacular debut in his first match against Shoichi Kaneda of JNR with four strikeouts and four at-bats. Sadaharu Oh, a graduate of Waseda Jitsugyo High School, and the ON gun, which hits the 3rd and 4th pitchers, were rivals Hanshin’s Minoru Murayama and Yutaka Enatsu.
In particular, Yomiuri, which is behind the giants, acquired the “Hochi Shimbun” and changed its business from a general newspaper to a sports paper. Nippon Television, an affiliated company, had the exclusive rights to broadcast the Giants game at Korakuen Stadium, so the cheapest entertainment for office workers during the period of rapid economic growth was “watching the Giants night game on TV while drinking cold beer.” to the extent that it is said to be “to see.”
The Giants, led by Manager Kawakami, who has ON, achieved an unprecedented V9, Nagashima retired, and then King also took off his uniform, Red Hell Corps Hiroshima’s first victory, Yakult’s number one in Japan, Seibu Lions, Fukuoka Softbank’s world, Kintetsu’s. With the dissolution of the club, the birth of the Rakuten team, and Nippon-Ham’s franchise moving to Hokkaido, the world of professional baseball has changed dramatically.
Birth of a Japanese Major Leaguer
For Japanese players, the major league was a distant existence. Masanori Murakami in 1964 was the first Japanese major leaguer, but he was promoted from the minor league where he studied baseball, and the Japanese major leaguers following Murakami had to wait 30 years until Hideo Nomo appeared. Due to a feud with the Kintetsu team and a distrust of coach Keiji Suzuki, he moved to the United States with an unwavering determination. In 1995, Nomo became a member of the Dodgers.
With fastballs and forkballs delivered from the “tornado throwing method” as weapons, he has 13 wins and 6 losses, 236 strikeouts, and was selected as an All-Star, completely changing the perception of both Japan and the United States. Those involved in the major leagues are (1) a force, (2) have mastered the basics of baseball such as base cover and restraint, (3) are serious and do not indulge in drugs or gambling, (4) have a positive effect on attracting spectators, and (5) spend a lot of money on television. I learned the benefits of hiring Japanese players, such as the broadcasting rights fee.
If you are a fielder, you can participate in every game and be televised every day. Are there any Japanese fielders who can pass the major leagues? There was Ichiro! Ichiro himself wanted to play in the MLB, but what will Orix do when the star leaves? Two years later, the transfer by exercising free agent (FA) rights was legal, but the result of discussions between Japan and the United States was the “posting system”. Instead of giving Ichiro to the major league team that offered the highest bid, the Orix team can get a large amount of money and use it to reinforce a player to replace Ichiro.
Ichiro recreated the fun of baseball before “Babe Ruth”, mass-producing hits with bat control as a weapon, defending with strong shoulders and speed, and running in the major leagues during the heyday of home runs. Hideki Matsui was chosen as the MVP when the prestigious Yankees won the World Series.
The emergence of two-swordsman Shohei Otani
Then came the appearance of the two-sword Shohei Otani. In 2022, he achieved a double-digit victory as a pitcher, a double-digit home run, and a feat for the first time in 104 years since Babe Ruth. What’s more, Otani’s appearance of “enjoying baseball” as a baseball boy grew up captured the hearts of Japanese and American fans. 150 years since the introduction of baseball to Japan, Shohei Otani is the “greatest present” given by the gods of baseball on this occasion!
Banner photo: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who started against the Athletics and scored his 10th win of the season, marking the first double-digit win and double-digit home run since Babe Ruth in 104 years.August 09, 2022, Oakland (Jiji)
