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Japanese Baseball History
Exactly when baseball arrived in Japan isnt clear. Horace Wilson, a professor in Tokyo, is credited with introducing the American game to his students during the Meiji Era (1867-1912). This was the beginning of the assimilation of the Western game which the Japanese named Yakkyu, meaning "field ball." Since then, the game has developed into a popular pastime for the Japanese.
During the Meiji restoration, as the Japanese began a process of modernization, they adopted many Western ideas. Western sports started to be introduced at this time, particularly baseball. According to Robert Whiting, the Japanese found the one-on-one battle between pitcher and batter similar in psychology to their native sumo and martial arts. It involved split second timing and a special harmony of mental and physical strength. Because of this, the Ministry of Education believed it was good for the national character and encouraged its growth.
By the early twentieth century, the game flourished in schools and colleges. The high school and college leagues are structured a lot like American leagues only in a bigger way. Every year there are national high school baseball tournaments in the spring, summer and fall. In the spring and summer, representative high schools from around the country converge on Koshien Kyujo in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.
Every aspect of the tournaments, from the opening ceremony to the award ceremony is Televised nationally. The teams in the spring tournament are invited to attend and represent their region. There has been some rumors in the past that school booster clubs have offered the officials money to help with the selection process. Do to this invitation process the tournaments are not always based on talent but politics.
Universities throughout Japan take part in local university leagues. As in high school ball, these leagues are split into spring and summer tournaments. However, the media focus is on local tournaments not national championships. The two most prestigious leagues are located in Tokyo. The Tokyo Roku Daigaku (Tokyo Six Universities) and the Toto (Tokyo Metropolitan) League. The Toto league (and most other Japanese college leagues as well) has a division system. After the league season ends, the last-place team from the upper division has to play a series against the lower division winner. The winner of the series plays in the upper division in the following tournament. The loser is relegated to the lower division.
According to Microsofts Complete Baseball (MCB), Scholastic baseball had and still has the same grip on Japanese fans that college football bowl games or the March Madness basketball tournament has on fans in the U.S.
Although baseball was becoming increasingly popular with many, others were reluctant to adopt the Western sport. According to Whiting, the influential conservative daily Asahi Shinbun ran an editorial series entitled, "The Evil of Baseball," quoting several leading educators who opposed the game. One physician claimed that it was bad for the development of the personality because of "mental pressure," and that throwing a baseball all the time caused lopsided body development.
Matsutara Shoriki, owner of another popular newspaper, argued in favor of baseball; he seemed to be more influential. Shoriki, who later became known as "the great genius-father figure of Japanese baseball," also helped support the game by sponsoring a tour which invited American major league players to Japan to play against Japanese college all-stars. The American players consisted of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Fox, and numerous other American stars. Not surprisingly, the Americans won all seventeen games they played. Shoriki, amazed by the interest of Japanese fans, established Japans first professional team, the Great Tokyo baseball club in December, 1934. Amateur baseball was the only game in Japan until the Shibaura Club was organized in the early 1920s. The Shibaura Club was founded in Shibaura, Tokyo and eventually ended up playing in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture under the sponsorship of the Hankyu railroad. Eventually the club foundered in Takarazuka as well.
In 1934, the Yomiuri Shimbun organized another professional team, Dai Nippon. After a 1935 North American tour, Dai Nippon was renamed the Giants. Soon, other teams were formed. In 1936, Japan took the big step. In April, Japans first professional "season" began at Koshien Kyujo near Osaka. Six teams, not including the Giants, took part in three Spring tournaments played in Koshien, Narumi Kyujo (in Nagoya) and Takarazuka near Osaka. The Tigers won the spring league with five wins and four losses.
From 1936 to 1939, the Tigers were the best team in Japanese pro baseball. It was not until 1939 that their chief rivals, the Giants, began to dominate. In 1939, the schedule was changed from a split season (spring and fall) to a single 96 game season. The next season (1940), the schedule was expanded to 104 games. In 1939 and 1940, the Japanese league consisted of nine teams.
The leagues season changed somewhat after that. Each team played at least 84 games in 1941. In 1942, the war in China spread to the rest of the Pacific. In spite of the continuing escalation of the war, the 1942 schedule went back to 104 games. In 1943, the schedule reverted to 84 games. In 1944, the schedule was drastically reduced to 35 games and only six teams. The 1945 season was never played. Within nine months of the beginning of the Allied occupation, Japans pro leagues were back in business with eight teams playing 105 games each.
By 1936, six other teams had followed the Yomiuri Giants, and the countrys first professional league, the Japan Pro-Baseball league (JPBL) was formed. As baseball in Japan was becoming more organized and popular, war broke out, causing interest to wane because of more important matters. Eventually games were suspended completely because all men were enlisted in the military. According to MCB, the stadiums became ammo dumps or were torn down for land to grow barley.
According to Whiting, as Japan began to rebuild from a devastating defeat in World War II, Allied high command officials recognized baseballs potential for boosting morale and allowed it to resume. In 1950, the rebuilding of teams was supported by large corporations. The JPBL also split into the present two leagues, the central and Pacific, which have six teams each, playing for a spot in the Japan World Series.
By 1955, the professional game was really growing with the help of television. The Tokyo Giants became the most popular team with nine consecutive Japan championships from 1965-1973. The Giants Sadahara Oh had 868 home runs in a twenty-two year career (1958-1980), exceeding both Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in the U.S. According to Whiting, pro baseballs postwar growth in Japan parallels that of their skyrocketing GNP and by the late 1980s it was extremely profitable, drawing nearly twenty million fans a year.
The reserve clause is an antiquated thing that began in 19th century Japan. Basically, players are the property of one team to do with as they wish. They are property of that team for life. So when a players contract is finished, they cannot negotiate with another team, they can only negotiate with one team. This gives the teams a tremendous advantage at the bargaining table because they can simply tell a player that if he does not play for this amount, then he will not play at all for anyone. It is a very monopolistic situation.
Every team wants the good American players, but they want those players to play well yet not overshadow their good Japanese players. This is generally a losing proposition for the foreign player, because if the foreign player does not perform well, the team will question his ability, and if he does play well, then he cannot be the star of the team because he is not Japanese. It is very rare that a foreign player becomes a superstar.
They make more money in Japan because they are more valuable in Japan than they are to an American team. The players that come to Japan are usually role players and dont make as much in the US. The competition is not as stiff in Japan, so the players can use their experiences from the US to their advantage. The American players are resented by the other players, especially if they do not like being in Japan.
They are in a situation where they (US. players) are making a lot of money, yet they are Complaining about their situation. These players are a rarity however. Today, baseball in Japan is one of the most heavily attended sporting events in the country. According to MCB, where America has one weekly sports paper, Japan has seven dedicated solely to sports, which concentrate mostly on baseball. This shows that the popularity of Japanese baseball has grown and continues to grow tremendously.
According to Whiting, a Japanese writer summed up his countrys love for the game by saying, "Baseball is perfect for us, if the Americans hadnt invented it, we would have.
There are currently twelve teams in Japanese professional baseball. They are divided into two, six team leagues: the Central League and the Pacific League. Each team has a farm team in one of the two minor leagues: the Western League and the Eastern League.
In comparing American baseball to the Japanese the rules are essentially the same, even though there are some minor differences in score keeping.
Ideologically, the idea behing the game is a little different. In America the purpose of the game is to do your best by contributing to the team in every way you can. In Japan, the purpose of the game is to contribute to the team by not doing certain things: not showing off, or being individualistic. Showing off would be considered a distraction to the team. This is true of the Japanese culture as well.
In an interview with Jim Allen the Author of Guide to Japenese Baseball and reporter in Japan he explained “that he doesn’t feel Japanese baseball is a superior game, just intrinsically Japanese. There is kind of a sibling rivalry with American baseball.
The Japanese are really impressed with the major leaguers, yet they are also really excited when they can show up the American major leaguers. They are coming from the perception that they are the younger brother of American baseball and that they will always be at a disadvantage.
They will always be less experienced than their older brother, in this case American baseball. In a sense yes it does have that mystique, but with a different definition.
In the US baseball is looked upon as a reflection of what we are. In many ways Japanese baseball is made into a model of what the Japanese are. In America we try to make lessons and draw analogies to baseball as to who we are. Baseball is seen in Japan as a reflection of something the Japanese made in their own image. They do not look to baseball for lessons like in the US. If you want to be a good baseball player in Japan you are a corporate man.”
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