Asian Baseball History and Culture is Our Passion
Posts
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How to Follow Asian Professional Baseball
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.
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Tokyo Giant: The Legend of Victor Starffin Film Review
Victor Starffin was more than a great pitcher. He wasn’t just a Giant on the field, but also a giant off the field. The first 300 game winner in Japan amazed baseball fans all throughout his career. The documentary Tokyo Giant: The Legend of Victor Starffin is about more than just Starffin himself. It is…
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Declaration of Victory: The Meaning and Achievements of the Stanford University Baseball Team’s 1913 Japan Tour
by Yusuke Suzumura Every Tuesday 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. Here Yusuke Suzumura discusses Stanford University’s 1913 tour of Japan. The Stanford University Baseball Team is closely connected to the…
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Illusions of a National Game: The Myths That Built (and Broke) Taiwanese Baseball
by Jerry Chen On April 11, 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and while the rest of the world put professional sports on hold, the CTBC Brothers played the Uni-President Lions at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium to start the world’s first professional baseball game of the year. Taiwan, long neglected—or isolated—by the international community,…
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Restart of Legend: The Waseda-Chicago Rivalry 1910-2008
Every Tuesday 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. In this article Christopher Frey focuses on the long history of the University of Chicago and Waseda University’s ties through baseball.
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‘Tibucil’ is the barometer of Korean baseball’s popularity
by Taein Chun The SPC–KBO Collaboration: The Birth of KBO Bread To gauge the popularity of professional baseball in Korea, you don’t have to rely only on stadium attendance or TV ratings. Just look at the little stickers hidden inside convenience-store bread packs, known as “띠부씰 (Tibucil).” Short for “떼었다 붙이는 스티커 (tear-and-stick stickers),” the term has long been…
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Zoom Interview with NPB Great Leron Lee, October 6, 8pm EST
SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee is excited to host Leron Lee for a zoom chat on October 4, 2025, at 8pm EST. The program will begin with a live interview hosted by Rob Fitts to be followed by Q&A session with viewers.
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Voyage to The Land of the Rising Sun: The Wisconsin Badger Nine’s 1909 Trip to Japan
Every Tuesday 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. Today Joe Niese focuses on the Wisconsin Badger’s 1909 tour of Japan.
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NHK’s Deeper Look Focuses on Japanese Baseball with Rob Fitts
NHK World-Japan’s Deeper Look host Del Irani visited the Yakyu-Baseball exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown to examine the history of Japan- U.S. relations through baseball. In this two-part series, Irani interviews SABR’s Asian Research Committee Chair Robert Fitts about the the long history of Japan-U.S. baseball interaction, baseball…
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The 1908 Reach All-American Tour of Japan
by Robert K. Fitts Every Tuesday 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. In this article Robert Fitts describes the first professional baseball tour of Japan. The “King of Baseball” was on…
SABR Asian Baseball Research Committee Blog 