Asian Baseball History and Culture is Our Passion

On April 13 at 830 pm EST MLB.com writer and author of the new book We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball will join the SABR Asian Baseball Committee to chat about the WBC and his new book, followed by Q&A. All are welcome.

So how can English speakers follow Asian baseball? There are now numerous ways to track professional baseball in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan even if you don’t read the native languages. Let’s look at each country in turn.

Today Thomas Love seagull features Tatsunori Hara in his series on Japan’s top players

Every Monday morning we will post an article from SABR’s award-winning books Nichibei Yakyu: Volumes I and II. Each will present a different chapter in the long history of US-Japan baseball relations. This week Andrew Forbes focuses on the Detroit Tigers 1962 visit to Japan.

Off Base with Howard Cole recently published an excerpted interview with Bobby Valentine from In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball by Robert Fitts

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were the fifth time that baseball was included as a demonstration sport, following the 1912, 1936, 1952 and 1956 Olympiads. The 1964 games, however, were different than the games before them in that more than one game would be played.

Today, Thomas Love Seagull profiles Katsuya Nomura, Japan’s greatest catcher

Every Monday morning we will post an article from SABR’s award-winning books Nichibei Yakyu: Volumes I and II. Each will present a different chapter in the long history of US-Japan baseball relations. This week Rob Garratt tells us about Willie Mays and the San Francisco Giants 1960 visit to Japan.

A recent poll for a TV special saw more than 50,000 people in Japan vote for their favorite retired baseball players. 20 players emerged from a pool of 9,000. In this installment Thomas Love Seagull focuses on Suguru Egawa

Every Monday morning we will post an article from SABR’s award-winning books Nichibei Yakyu: Volumes I and II. Each will present a different chapter in the long history of US-Japan baseball relations. This week Adam Berenbak focuses on Stan Musial, Shigeo Nagashima, and the Cardinals 1958 visit to Japan.

The SABR Asian Baseball Research Committee is excited to host Bill Plunkett in a discussion about Shohei Ohtani and his book L.A. Story: Shohei Ohtani, The Los Angeles Dodgers, And A Season For The Ages. Signup for this exciting zoom event below: