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Welcome! The first recorded Australian baseball match was played on February 21st, 1857, between Collingwood and Richmond, at the Exhibition Grounds in Melbourne. Nearly 150 years later, it is enjoyed by tens of thousands of Australians, young & old, male & female, summer & winter.

The Baseball Guru

About Japan

History

Baseball was introduced to Japan in the early 1870s, by Horace Wilson, a teacher at Kaisei Gakko in Tokyo. In the same decade, Hiroshi Hiraoka, an engineer for the national railways, returned from studying in America. Upon his return, he introduced the sport to his co-workers and established Japan's first organized team, the Shimbashi Athletic Club, in 1878. During the nineteenth century, Ichiban Chugaku (nicknamed Ichiko and now Tokyo University) dominated Japanese baseball and on March 23, 1896, defeated an American team from the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, 29 to 4, in the first recorded international baseball game in Asia.

The game spread quickly to other schools and universities. In 1905, Waseda University became the first of many Japanese teams to travel to the United States to sharpen their skills. The tour was a wonderful learning experience for Waseda and they went on to dominate the Japanese college leagues for decades. Not to be outdone, Waseda's rival Keio University traveled to America in 1911. Games between these two rivals soon became the highlight of Japanese sports.

American teams also travelled across the Pacific to play their Japanese counterparts. As Japanese baseball was primarily an amateur endeavor until the mid 1930s, the touring Americans played lopsided games against university and amateur teams. From 1908 to 1934, American professional teams won 87 of the 88 contests in Japan. Japan's only victory came on November 23, 1922, when the amateur Mita club, led by star pitcher Michimaro Ono, beat Herb Hunter's Major League All-Stars 9 to 3.

The 1934 Major League All-Star tour of Japan changed Japanese baseball forever. The Major Leaguers formed one of the strongest teams in the history of baseball. Led by Babe Ruth, the roster included Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Charlie Gehringer, Earl Averill, Lefty Gomez, Lefty O'Doul and Moe Berg. To challenge this formidable opponent, Yomiuri Shinbun owner Matsutaro Shoriki bought together Japan's most talented players. Although the team contained eleven future Hall of Famers, they lost all 18 contests by a combined score of 189 to 39. The highlight of the tour came on November 20th, when 17-year-old Eiji Sawamura pitched seven shutout innings before surrendering a homerun to Gehrig. Sawamura lost the game 1-0, but struck out nine including consecutive strikeouts of Gehringer, Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx.

Unlike previous Japanese all-star teams, which played just a few games against touring opponents before disbanding, Shoriki decided to keep the team together as professionals. The following year (1935), the team traveled to North America to sharpen their skills. Known as the Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Club, the team played against college, amateur, and minor league teams across the United States and Canada. At Lefty O'Doul's recommendation, Shiriki changed the team's name later that year to the Yomiuri Tokyo Giants.

Following in the Giants' footsteps, other Japanese professional teams were quickly formed and a series of professional tournaments were played in 1936. Japanese professional baseball as we think of it, began in 1937 with one league of eight teams. The first two years were divided into spring and fall seasons. In 1950, the league expanded to fourteen teams and was divided into two leagues with some teams from the original league going to each new league.

During the 1990s, two young stars dominated Japanese baseball: Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Ichiro won seven straight Pacific League batting titles before signing with the Seattle Mariners in 2001. Matsui led the Giants to four pennants before moving to the New York Yankees in 2003.

Current Teams

Teams have nicknames like in the USA, but instead of being called by their cities, they are named after their corporate owners. Teams are allowed to have up to four foreigners on the roster, two position players and two pitchers. Each team has one minor league affiliate, which is part of either the Eastern League or the Western League. They are permitted as many foreigners as they wish on their minor league team.

The Season

Through 2000 they usually played 130-135 games per season. The 2001 season went to 140 games. Not all games end with a win or loss like in the U.S. Major Leagues (MLB). Traditionally, any game tied after 12 innings remains a tie. There is no interleague play except for the all-star games and the Japan Series.

All-Star Games

Japanese baseball does not have one set of "all-stars" who play in one game with a home run derby event warm-up, as we have grown accustomed to in the States. Although they do use fan balloting for eleven players for the Central League squad and twelve for the Pacific League (twelve because they vote for a designated hitter). The managers, then choose 17 and 16 players respectively to fill out the 28 man rosters. The final results are usually given out in the beginning of July. Unlike the U.S., they play two or three all-star games in different stadiums over a two or three day period. And, different players play in some games from other games. However, they do assign their annual "Best Nine Awards," which are given to the best player at each position for each league as voted on by between 100 and 200 experts.

Seeing A Game

It may seem obvious, but Japan is not a sprawling country like America. It does not have enough large cities to accommodate one team per city. Most teams play in or around Tokyo or Osaka. Most stadiums don't even have parking. Fortunately, they are accessible by subway. Because of their relative proximity, fans of each team can see them play live on the road, most of the time. Unfortunately, this means that people living in the countryside would not likely attend games and have no home team. To address this problem, all teams play 10-15 of their home games on the road, where rural dwellers can see the games in person. These small, remote parks do not have electronic scoreboards and often do not have lights to accommodate night games. It is an intimate experience.

Ballparks

Seven of the eleven stadiums (the Giants and Fighters share the Tokyo Dome) were built from 1988 through 1999. Six of them were built with a turf, playing surface. Overall, three of the parks have grass outfields with dirt infields, the rest are turf. All of the parks conform to a symmetrical design. Typical dimensions are 309-320 feet down the lines, 340-350 feet to straightaway right or left, 360-365 feet to the gaps, and 400 to dead center. A typical fence is 13 feet high. They commonly have much wider foul areas than Major League parks, which decreases scoring because it creates more foul outs. Most stadiums have chain link fences separating the fans from the playing field. This obstructs the view of anyone not seated at least ten feet above the field, so box seats are not always preferred.

Style of Play

The first thing you notice is that the ball is smaller and lighter weight than a Major League official ball. Speaking of official balls, the NPB does not have one. Each team gets to select its own official ball. While there is potential for abuse, the balls chosen by each team conform to league specifications. Rest assured, the batter won't be surprised to find he is facing a MLB ball one game and a smaller one the next.

Managers take full advantage of the difference in the parks and equipment. For one thing, there is a lot of bunting. One thing you can count on from any Japanese player who comes to the U.S. is that they will know the fundamentals. Managers spend literally five times as much time drilling the players on bunting, fielding and base running during spring training, than their Major League counterparts.

Material for this page extracted, with permission and thanks, from The Baseball Guru and the Society for American Baseball Research.

About SABR: The Society for American Baseball Research was established in Cooperstown, New York in August of 1971. The Society's mission is to foster the study of baseball, to assist in developing and maintaining the history of the game, to facilitate the dissemination of baseball research, to stimulate interest in baseball, and to safeguard the proprietary interests of its members' research efforts.

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