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  • DEVELOPMENT OF BASEBALL IN SAUDI ARABIA

    DEVELOPMENT OF BASEBALL IN SAUDI ARABIA

    by Carter Cromwell

    Probably few are aware of it, but baseball has a history in Saudi Arabia. Until recently, though, it was like an old, rarely perused book that had long gathered dust in the attic. 

    Not many know that Americans brought baseball to Saudi Arabia in the early 1930s when companies began searching there for oil, which was finally discovered in 1938. Then-king Saud even attended a game in 1954. Children of expat employees of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) played baseball in Dhahran, whose team advanced to the Little League World Series 23 times before interest slackened for a number of years. 

    The 1954 game attended by King Saud
    (Photo courtesy of Nayef bin-Humaid)
    The 1954 game attended by King Saud
    (Photo courtesy of Nayef bin-Humaid)

    But now there is an effort to update the story for a larger audience. Much is yet to be written, but people from the governmental level on down are working to change the narrative. 

    In part, this reflects the pivot toward sports that some Middle East countries have made in recent years, the Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf Tour and Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup football (soccer) tournament being two examples. It also fits with Saudi Vision 2030, the goal of which is to increase diversification in the country economically, socially, and culturally. 

    The Saudi Baseball and Softball Federation (SBSF) was established in late 2019. Baseball United, the Dubai-based professional league that played its initial regular season late last year, is working with the federation to develop the sport, and the Dhahran Youth Baseball Association (DYBA) is rebuilding a program that had gone into decline.

    It is unquestionably a long-term project, but it’s happening.

    Nayef Bin-Humaid is president of the Saudi Baseball and Softball Federation. He lived for 10 years in the United States, mostly near Washington, D.C. His interest in baseball began when he would go with friends to games of MLB’s Washington Nationals. After returning to his home country, he eventually landed in a government job with a project for Vision 2030.

    “I was approached in December 2019 by the Saudi Olympic Committee, which was interested in establishing a governmental body supporting baseball,” Bin-Humaid said. “That would feed into one of the pillars of Vision 2030 in terms of expanding sports activities in the country and, more importantly, expand the game for Saudis.”

    Nayef bin-Humaid
    “Photo courtesy of Nayef bin-Humaid”

    Bin-Humaid was elected president of the federation and got to work immediately, only to be delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    “We started in January 2020, and our first order of business was to find out who was playing the game in Saudi, who wants to play, and what could we do to expand the game within the country,” he said. “We started by going into American and Japanese communities, as well as others that we thought might include people who were interested in baseball. Though baseball is not that popular here, we were surprised to find that there were Saudis who loved the game, wanted to participate, and follow MLB teams closely.”

    Covid-19 soon hit and put a lot of efforts on hold, but the working group was still able to develop a plan and the necessary steps. It connected the Saudi federation with the Asian Baseball Federation and the World Baseball Softball Confederation, while also obtaining seed funding from the Saudi Ministry of Sport. 

    “That enabled us to hire some employees, kick-start a marketing campaign, and get a few other things in motion,” Bin-Humaid said. 

    Jean-Michel Mayeur came on as technical director of the Saudi federation in 2024. The native of France has a long background as a player and coach, directing a baseball academy in Montpellier for nearly 20 years. 

    “I’m excited because I understand the potential here, but it’s going to take a while to develop,” he said. “It’s a big challenge. The main focus now is grassroots development.”

    Bin-Humaid echoed that, saying, “We’re definitely working to develop at the grassroots levels. We’re very lucky to have someone like Jean-Michel who loves the game, is great with kids, and has run an academy. He took on the challenge of coming to a foreign country with the game in its very early stages and help put together a development plan that we can take to schools.”

    The efforts currently focus on a number of areas, including:

    • Working with schools to get baseball instruction into physical education curricula so that more Saudis will be exposed to the game
    • A partnership with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s top professional league to bring some young Saudi players to clinics there
    • Integrating Baseball5 programs into school curricula as a pathway to baseball
    • Establishment of Saudi national teams in baseball, softball, and Baseball5
    • Staging tournaments
    • Working to develop leagues, so players can get consistent competition

    “We’re working hard to get baseball into schools,” Mayeur said. “Getting people interested early on is key. First, we need to teach physical education teachers how to teach baseball. The goal is to have classes during the school days and then after-school activities involving baseball. Baseball5 should help people get interested, too, since you don’t need a ton of equipment or have to train pitchers.”

    Joan Bonhaure, Karim Mejri, and Jean-Michael Mayeur

    Mayeur also noted the need to establish academies; train coaches, players, scorekeepers, and umpires; organize tryouts and tournaments; build more fields that meet regulation standards; establish leagues; and … well, a lot of stuff.

    “The list is long,” Mayeur acknowledged, “but we’ve made progress. We’ve established national teams in baseball, softball, and Baseball5, and having the partnership with the BayStars is really nice. We have four Saudi kids, ages 13-16, there to get instruction and observe the pro team’s practices. We hope to send more in the future, and also have some Saudi teams go there to compete against high school players.”

    Owen Reid of Reid Baseball is an independent consultant who conducts clinics in various countries, many of which – such as Tunisia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Kyrgyzstan – are not on the baseball map. He started holding clinics in Saudi Arabia in 2016 and made more than 30 visits before moving there with his family early in 2025.

    “I’ve seen the game shift from being a novelty to an option, and now it’s more and more becoming an opportunity for families and Saudi kids eager to challenge themselves with something new,” Reid said. “It’s still true that most of the players I work with are expats, but I’ve seen encouraging growth in the number of Saudi ballplayers. And what excites me most is retention.  Once they try it, they often stay with it. Curiosity is turning into commitment.”

    Bin-Humaid said, “We have around 1,000 registered players in the country now. We focus on kids who are interested and show potential. We monitor them and work to keep them in the game, even when they go abroad to university and play. We’ve taken some to camps in places like eastern Europe, France, and the Dominican Republic, in addition to Japan. We hope to carry the torch for advancement of the game in western Asia.”

    He added that there are now baseball coaches in about a dozen high-level private schools, since physical education classes in public schools mostly focus on football (soccer). 

    For his part, Reid has increasingly worked with coaches, as well as players, and said, “By equipping coaches in Saudi Arabia with the tools, language, and standards to create positive baseball environments, we multiply the impact. The more educated and empowered coaches are, the more impact they can have on the next generation of people and ballplayers.”

    Under the terms of its partnership with the Saudi federation, announced in March 2024, Baseball United has the right to establish franchises in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. Baseball United will help promote the game across the region, develop local talent in Saudi Arabia, and design training programs and curricula for players, coaches, and umpires at both the amateur and professional levels. The league will also look to host future tournaments and league games in Saudi Arabia.

    Kash Shaikh, who will leave his role as chairman and CEO of Baseball United effective March 1, has led the organization since its inception four years ago.  He has a personal connection that helps drive his interest in bringing baseball to the region – he lived in Dhahran for three years while his parents worked in the oil industry, and he played Little League baseball there.

    “For the longer term, we have a 15-year partnership to bring baseball to Saudi. This is the most under-developed region as far as baseball goes, so we’re doing as much as possible to help the sport grow. We’re helping with the Saudi national team program – we put a team on the field last fall for the Baseball United Arab Classic. We’re also helping from a resource and financial standpoint, as well as bringing expertise to the training and curriculum programs.”

    Bin-Humaid added, “Baseball United has made a significant commitment to developing the game here. They sponsored one of our tournaments, which involved people from various embassies in Riyadh, and they also committed to sending expert coaches and trainers when we need them.”

    Mayeur also sees Baseball United’s participation as a positive: “The partnership is huge. We need to make baseball fashionable for the kids. Once they get teams in Saudi, it will give people a reason to come watch. We need that kind of thing to push development.”

    Bin-Humaid also noted the importance of the long-standing baseball community in Dhahran. 

    “Luckily, we connected with the baseball community in eastern Saudi – the Aramco people in Dhahran,” he said. “The coaches, parents, and kids there are very much into it.”

    Erich Sutterlin (third from left) and teammates from the Saudi Arabia national team. Photo courtesy of Erich Sutterlin

    Erich Sutterlin, president of the Dhahran Youth Baseball Association (DYBA) and a school teacher in the Aramco community, added, “The federation identified us as an entry point for finding baseball talent in the Kingdom. Several of our players participate in international tournaments under the auspices of the federation and the Saudi Committee. We’re separate from an organizational standpoint, but our players benefit from being involved with their teams.

    “The relationship with the SBSF has led to some interesting developments such as a Baseball5 club at our school, which has helped introduce the game to players from countries that don’t have strong baseball backgrounds,” Sutterlin continued. “And the SBSF has visited schools and encouraged the Saudi players in our leagues to invite their friends so they can learn about baseball.” 

    Getting more Saudis playing the game is a major part of the federation’s mission, of course, and there has been some progress in Dhahran. Sutterlin said that a 12-U team played in a tournament in the Czech Republic in September 2025, finishing second out of 12 teams, and a 15-U team comprised of expats and Saudis competed in a tournament in Italy in November. He noted, however, that “the expat and Saudi kids here don’t go to school together, so it’s more of a challenge to get the Saudis to play. The ones that do participate are often children of ‘mixed’ parentage.”

    Still, there is progress. As Reid remarked, “I see Saudi families returning season to season and ballplayers coming back to the field each time I return to Dhahran.”

    Glenn Makechnie, Sutterlin’s predecessor as head of the DYBA and a geologist with Aramco, said that there are Saudis playing in every age group, and also on the travel teams. “They’re still in the minority, but we’re inclusive of kids at all skill levels, not just the more interested ones. Recently, one team had 11 different nationalities among the 13 players.  And while the number of Saudi participants is low, some of our best players are Saudis.  There are some on our 12-U and 15-U travel teams who are performing very well. 

    “We also collaborate with the Little League in Qatar, which is very active and hosts regional tournaments. Two American high schools there have programs, as well.”

    This comes after baseball interest in the Aramco community trended downward for more than a decade. After the long period of success from 1983-2011, the Dhahran Little League team was shifted to the Asia-Pacific region, which was more competitive. That, combined with a shrinking expat population at Aramco that reduced the pool of potential players and baseball-savvy parents, resulted in less success and dwindling interest in attending the Little League tournament. 

    After the 2017 season, when the program struggled to get nine players to fill out an all-star team, the DYBA’s board of directors let the association’s Little League charter expire. Overall participation fell off, and the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the decline.  The program was completely shut down from the spring of 2020 until the fall of 2021.

    The DYBA Little League just after playing Chinese Taipei in the 2025 Asia-Pacific & Middle East Tournament in South Korea.  Photo courtesy of Erich Sutterlin

    “When we tried to reboot after Covid, we could barely field two teams for a 12-U kid-pitch division,” Makechnie said. “It’s taken a monumental effort from all involved to grow the league back to where it is today. We’ve had great support from parents internally and from external resources such as the SBSF and Reid Baseball.”

    Makechnie said there are parallel programs within the Aramco community – youth baseball supported by Aramco and a chartered Little League initiative that “intertwines with the youth baseball program.” There are approximately 260 young people playing on the various teams, including T-ball, and there are 20-25 girls playing softball, with some of the latter also involved with baseball. In addition, there is a new senior league that utilizes pitching machines, rather than live pitchers. “There aren’t enough older people who can pitch,” he said wryly.

    “We’ve really had to re-think our goals and organizational structure to create meaningful baseball experiences for all our membership,” Makechnie continued. “Even though the North American expat population is decreasing, overall baseball participation is about the same. That’s good in a way, but it also means we have fewer baseball-savvy people helping, so we’ve had to get creative. We’re probably the most unique baseball organization in the world.”

    Now, interest is expanding again, although it hasn’t reached the levels of two or three decades ago. Saudi Arabia returned to international Little League action at the 2025 Asia-Pacific & Middle East Tournament in South Korea, though it failed to advance from pool play. 

    Reid has partnered with the DYBA since 2016, putting on multiple clinics each year, and he worked with this year’s Little League team.

    As for the future, there is a need to continue building more fields, as well as establish leagues. There are perhaps 15 fields in the country now, including several at the Aramco facilities in Dhahran. About half are private, and not all meet regulation standards.

    For the sport to grow and evolve, Reid sees the need for greater access within communities – i.e., more leagues at multiple levels – continued development of coaches, additional facilities that are multi-use and adapted to the hot climate, a clear league structure that provides pathways to greater competitive levels, and role models and greater visibility for the game.

    “The foundation is there, and baseball here continues to build momentum,” Reid said. 

    Bin-Humaid said, “We’re committed to keep pushing forward. We will participate in the Asian Games in Qatar in 2030, and we’ll be the host nation of the Asian Games in 2034. By then, we want to have a team that not only participates but competes.”

    Mayeur added, “We just need time and exposure. If we can show baseball to kids, we can get them interested. We just have to keep going, and things will happen.”

  • No Alibis: The Detroit Tigers’ 1962 Tour of Japan

    No Alibis: The Detroit Tigers’ 1962 Tour of Japan

    by Andrew Forbes

    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.

    For the Detroit Tigers 1962 was a year to forget. They finished the season in fourth place, 10½ games behind the pennant-winning Yankees, with 16 fewer wins than the second-place 1961 Detroit club. The best the Tigers could muster in 1962 was second spot in the United Press International baseball experts’ poll of the season’s “No. 1 disappointment,” a single vote behind Roger Maris, who followed up his historic Babe-besting homer total with “only” 33 in 1962.

    As the Yankees and Giants were renewing hostilities in a rain-soaked World Series, the tired and disappointed Tigers limped off to Asia for a monthlong goodwill tour. As foul weather blanketed the Pacific, a coterie of Tigers trainers, wives, the traveling secretary, and team owner and President John E. Fetzer accompanied a scaled-back squad (just three outfielders and a nine-man pitching staff), first to Hawaii, where they squeezed in two games, and then on to Japan. The schedule called for excursions to Seoul and Okinawa before 17 matches against the best competition Japan could offer. Commissioner Ford C. Frick had planned to join the traveling party in Honolulu, but was held up stateside while inclement weather and stingy pitching stretched the World Series out to seven games over two weeks.

    The Tigers touched down in Tokyo on October 18 and participated in a press conference before heading off to the Imperial Hotel. On October 20 the players, executives, and wives were the guests of Japanese Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira at a cocktail party thrown in their honor. The Americans were formally introduced by Yetsuo Higa, the Hawaiian businessman who, along with the Mainichi newspaper corporation, was instrumental in planning the tour. Tigers President Fetzer gifted Ohira a set of silver cufflinks fittingly adorned with the heads of tigers.

    Commissioner Frick, having finally joined the group in Tokyo, revealed to the press the secondary – or perhaps even primary – reason for his presence, telling the Associated Press that he would meet with Japanese baseball officials to codify regulations surrounding the movement of players between the United States and Japan. “Before I leave we hope to agree on a definite set of rules under which American players can come to Japan,” Frick said, perhaps unintentionally signaling his belief that no Japanese player would ever be skilled enough to play pro ball in America.

    After successful tune-ups in Okinawa (where they “whipped a servicemen’s team,” 9-0, largely on the strength of Jim Bunning’s five no-hit innings) and Seoul (beating up on an all-star team, 8-0, thanks to a three-run shot by Bubba Morton), the Tigers returned to Tokyo and prepared to begin competition against Japanese squads.

    But the Detroiters would not be at full strength. Much of the Tigers’ trouble during the regular season could be chalked up to injuries, with starter Frank Lary (sore arm), outfielders Al Kaline (broken collarbone) and Billy Bruton (sore leg; broken jaw), and first baseman Norm Cash (broken finger) all missing significant time. By the time the team landed in Japan, Bruton was still unable to play, and Kaline was touch-and-go due to torn ligaments in his foot suffered during one of the games at Honolulu. The injury “definitely has slowed me up,” said Kaline. “It’s a real tough problem. But I’ll play with it taped up and do the best I can.” Given the injuries, and the fact that only three regular outfielders made the trans-Pacific journey (with Rocky Colavito remaining stateside to be by his wife’s side as she battled illness), manager Bob Scheffing would be doing a lot of juggling.

    On the eve of the slate’s first game, the Tigers made their first public appearance, taking in a night of entertainment at the Nichigeki Theater in downtown Tokyo. The players and their wives enjoyed a two-hour show by the Nichigeki’s dancers before the boys donned happi coats and took the stage. Scheffing introduced his players to the crowd, and each was presented with a bouquet of flowers. The appearance concluded with the athletes tossing rubber balls into the crowd; those who caught select balls adorned with a Tigers logo would be admitted to the next day’s game free of charge.

    The next afternoon Jim Bunning took the Tokyo Stadium mound for the Tigers in front of 27,000 spectators, including Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko. After the ceremonial first pitch was handled by Japanese Foreign Minister Ohira to US Ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer, the Tigers wasted no time providing their starter some run support. Detroit’s hitters roughed up Daimai Orions starter Tomoo Wako, who did not make it out of the first. The Tigers put up eight runs in the opening frame, including a three-run homer by Jake Wood, to cruise to a 12-1 victory. Bunning contributed 5⅓ perfect innings before giving up four hits and giving way to reliever Terry Fox.

    Neither the Tigers nor the Orions came away unscathed, however. In the sixth inning, Detroit first baseman Norm Cash was struck behind the ear by Daimai lefty Shoichi Ono’s errant pitch, necessitating a hospital visit for X-rays, which showed no lasting damage. “I hope to play tomorrow,” said Cash. And Kaline reaggravated his foot injury in the first inning, toughing it out until the sixth when he was replaced by Bobo Osborne. Meanwhile, in the other clubhouse, Orions manager Mitsuo Uno was relieved of his duties by club President Masaichi Nagata. In his two years as manager, Uno had led Daimai to a 132-136-4 record and a pair of fourth-place finishes, so his employers may simply have seen the lopsided loss as the final straw.

    Scheduled games on Sunday against the Yomiuri Giants and Monday versus a combined team containing members of the Orions, the Kokutetsu Swallows, and the Taiyo Whales were washed out by rain, but the layoff allowed Frick and his officers to hammer out an agreement with their Japanese counterparts. Meeting at the Imperial Hotel, Frick, Tigers owner Fetzer, and AL President Joe Cronin sat down with Japanese Commissioner Yushi Uchimura, Pacific League President Fujio Nakazawa, and Central League President Ryuji Suzuki to formalize a deal that would “prohibit direct trades between Japanese clubs and American players, and vice versa by American major league clubs and Japanese players, without the commissioners’ approval.” In Frick’s view, the pact promised “smooth relations” across the Pacific, though it would take only two years for the commissioner to be proved wrong. The 1964 dispute between the San Francisco Giants and Nankai Hawks over the contract status of lefty reliever Masanori Murakami led Frick to write Uchimura decreeing that “all agreements, all understandings and all dealings and negotiations between Japanese and American baseball are cancelled.”

    The Tigers players also kept busy during the rainy days, as pitcher Phil Regan gave a Bible reading at Kawasaki Baptist Church, while Bunning, Cash, Scheffing, Kaline, and Dick McAuliffe, along with Hanshin Tigers pitcher (and Central League MVP) Minoru Murayama, appeared on the NHK-TV program My Secret.

    The Tigers – including Cash, recovered from his beaning, and Kaline – returned to the field after the two rainouts to face the recently crowned Japanese champion Toei Flyers at Korakuen Stadium. The Flyers outhit and outpitched Detroit, and played sharper defense. Knotted, 3-3, after nine innings, the game was declared a tie in keeping with an agreement struck at the tour’s commencement that forbade extra-inning games. Scheffing, however, complained that he would “prefer to let these exhibition games go into extra innings to settle it one way or another.”

    Things got worse the next day as the Tigers met the Yomiuri Giants in a makeup of their washed-out game, and the Giants “took a liking to the slow curves of right-hander Phil Regan,” and held on for a 3-2 win behind starter Minoru Nakamura, who tossed a complete game. “We have no alibis,” said Scheffing, whose squad now had only one win to show for their first three games in Japan. “We weren’t hitting and their pitcher had good control.”

    It was likely with some relief, then, that the Tigers greeted the opportunity to escape Tokyo and begin the road leg of their excursion, alighting first in Sapporo, where they handled a team consisting of Orions and Giants, 6-2, behind the bat of Bubba Morton and the pitching of Don Mossi. Thence to Osaka did the Tigers fly, where their game against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium was rained out. But the visit did allow John Fetzer to invite their namesake club to their 1963 spring-training camp at Lakeland, Florida, with the American Tigers picking up all expenses accrued in the United States.

    Scheffing’s distaste for tie games might have been a factor in the decision to enter extra innings the next day, a Sunday afternoon at Nishinomiya Stadium. The Tigers and a mixed team of Japanese all-stars were tied, 3-3, after nine, but Detroit exploded for four runs in the 10th, with Flyers rookie hurler Yukio Ozaki the victim.

    Events in Nagoya on November 5, though, might have had the Tigers wishing they’d banked a couple of those runs, as Chunichi Dragons outfielder Shinichi Eto slugged two homers, added a pair of singles, and reached on an error, and the All-Stars (composed of Dragons, Giants, Orions, and Kintetsu Buffaloes) downed Detroit 6-4. Hank Aguirre surrendered five of the All-Stars’ runs, including Eto’s homer on the first pitch of the afternoon. If there was good news for the Americans it was that Billy Bruton’s jaw had healed to the point that he was able to pinch-hit – just in time to strike out to end the game.

    Said Scheffing, “Japanese baseball is a lot better than we were led to believe before we came over here.”

    Blasts by Cash, Kaline, and McAuliffe helped matters on November 6, when improving weather allowed Detroit to play Hanshin in Osaka after the earlier postponement. The American Tigers cruised, 11-4, with Cash contributing four RBIs. Chico Fernandez and Mike Roarke chipped in homers to help the Tigers blank the Nankai Hawks 3-0 on November 7. It appeared the Tigers were beginning to recall that they had led all of big-league baseball in home runs in 1962 with 209. The pleasing trend continued in Tokyo, as Detroit added four more homers – including another apiece for Cash and Kaline – to best a Swallows/Orions/Whales squad, 13-8, in a contest called in the top of the ninth due to darkness. At Hiroshima, homers from Cash, Kaline, and McAuliffe were more than enough to overcome the amassed strength of a Hiroshima Carp/Hankyu Braves/ Hanshin Tigers/Daimai Orions team, 8-1, with Jim Bunning going the distance for Detroit.

    For all their power, the Tigers had not yet hit a grand slam on Japanese soil. Norm Cash fixed that on November 10 at Fukuoka, against a side made up of Orions and Nishitetsu Lions. The clout helped Detroit come from behind to win, 6-4, improving the visitors’ record to 8-2 with a tie.35 The fireworks continued at Shimonoseki against the Taiyo Whales, as Detroit strolled to a 10-0 win that featured homers by Morton, McAuliffe, Cash (his sixth in seven games), and catcher Dick Brown.

    The big hits kept on coming after the Tigers landed in Shizuoka to face a team of Giants and Orions. Kaline notched another homer, and Bobo Osborne’s grand slam in the top of the ninth put the game away for Detroit, 12-7, with the last half-frame called due to darkness. Osborne’s shot was the Tigers’ 27th homer in 13 games on the Japanese tour. The ball left a mark on more than just the scoreboard; spectator Saku Masuda was gifted an autographed ball to go along with a bruise on her shoulder.

    Kaline homered yet again in Utsunomiya against the amalgamated might of the Giants and Orions, but it proved just about all the offense the Tigers could summon in a 6-3 loss, dropping their record to 10-3 with a tie – not shabby, but not the walk in the park they might have expected. Jim Bunning went seven innings but gave up four earned runs in the first and took the loss. Kaline homered again – his seventh – the ensuing afternoon at Miyagi Stadium in Sendai, and it was just enough to beat an all-star agglomeration of Flyers, Giants, and Orions, 4-3.

    An offday preceded the final games of the tour in Tokyo, but it apparently did Detroit little good. On an autumn Saturday afternoon at Korakuen Stadium, Hanshin Tigers ace Minoru Murayama, hurling for the All-Stars, turned in what Japanese baseball officials called “the greatest pitching performance by a Japanese since the late Eiji Sawamura lost a [one-run game] to Connie Mack’s All-Stars back in 1934,” a legendary outing that saw Sawamura strike out Charlie Gehringer, Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx in a row. Surrendering just two hits, Murayama became the first Japanese pitcher to shut out a visiting American big-league team over a full nine innings. The Tigers’ first hit didn’t come until there were two out in the eighth, when Mike Roarke collected a cheap single to left. “We have no alibis for losing,” said Scheffing. “We just couldn’t hit that fella Murayama.” With the loss, the Tigers joined the 1956 Dodgers and the 1960 Giants as the only major-league squads to lose four games in Japan.

    “We gotta be tired,” said Scheffing. “It’s been a tiring trip after a long regular season.”

    The next day brought only moderately better results. Once again facing an All-Japan team, the Tigers registered a 3-3 tie in a game called after 10 innings due to darkness. McAuliffe homered for Detroit; Sadaharu Oh and the Orions’ Takao Katsuragi cleared the fence for the All-Stars. When play ceased, “a band played ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to close the series,” as the game marked the end of the scheduled exhibition itinerary. But officials announced one additional game between the Tigers and Japan’s All-Stars, to be played two days later, “a parting gesture of goodwill.” All proceeds of the bonus game were to be “donated to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics fund,” an “unparalleled” move, according to Japan’s Olympic Committee.

    Billy Bruton homered in the finale, and the Tigers rolled to a 7-2 win. For the purposes of the record books, however, the tour was officially over two days earlier, after the tie game, meaning that Detroit’s 11 wins, four losses, and two ties earned them “the worst record ever for a major league club coming to Japan.” The Tigers – “the big flops this year in the American League” – couldn’t even catch a break at the turnstiles; Detroit’s “total attendance of 383,370 for 17 games in Japan didn’t measure up to the 16-game attendance of the San Francisco Giants’ [441,000] and St. Louis Cardinals’ [430,000] tours in 1960 and 1958 respectively,” though in all fairness it should be noted that the Tigers battled soggy weather just about every step of the way.

    Before departing, Joe Cronin summed up what the American baseball emissaries had discovered in Japan in 1962. “The Japanese might be able to challenge American major league baseball in the next generation of players,” he told the press. “They are really something to see.

    Having been in Japan for over a month, the Tigers had seen enough. The schedule concluded, they flew home to lick their wounds, rest up, and prepare for the 1963 season.

    Continue to read the full article on the SABR website

    No Alibis: The Detroit Tigers’ 1962 Tour of Japan

  • A New League called Baseball United Begins Play in Dubai

    A New League called Baseball United Begins Play in Dubai

    By Carter Cromwell

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Birthed just three and a half years ago, Baseball United took a major step toward adulthood this November.

    Formed to bring professional baseball to a region with little exposure to the game, Dubai-based Baseball United had staged a two-game showcase in November 2023 involving several former Major League Baseball (MLB) standouts; then the Arab Classic a year later that matched the national teams of nine countries; and an exhibition series in February 2025 between two of its teams. 

    But when Karan Patel of the Mumbai Cobras threw a fastball to Pavin Parks of the Karachi Monarchs at 8:21pm on November 14, it marked a significant milestone. It was the first pitch of the first game of the first regular season of the first professional baseball league representing the Middle East and South Asia. And it took place in the first and only pro baseball facility in the region – Baseball United Ballpark. 

    Parks, by the way, hit that first pitch over the left field fence for a home run, and he hit another in the ninth inning as part of a five-run rally that lifted Karachi to a 6-4 victory. 

    “We’ve visualized this for three years, and – as I stand before you now – it looks even better than in my dreams,” Baseball United co-founder and CEO Kash Shaikh told the crowd of approximately 3,000 prior to the opening game. 

    Former major-leaguer Mariano Duncan, who manages the Mumbai team and has been with the league from early on, said, “We’ve finally brought a baseball season to Dubai. There’s a lot more work to do, but I’m happy we’ve been able to take this big step.”

    The November 14 contest began a one-month season in which each of the four teams will play nine games, followed by a best-of-three series for the championship. All the clubs – the Arabia Wolves and Mid East Falcons, along with the Cobras and Monarchs – play at Baseball United Ballpark with games broadcast in several countries and streamed live on YouTube.

    The league is attempting the yeoman’s task of germinating the game in what might seem like infertile soil – creating something from scratch, as Shaikh has said. To do this, Baseball United has worked to develop the fan experience – something always important but especially so in this case since the game is unknown to a large portion of the potential fan base.

    “It’s a long process to really grow the fan base,” Shaikh said. “We’re taking the game where most people don’t know it. This is the most under-developed region as far as baseball goes, so this is going to take some time. We have to do is make sure people enjoy the overall experience.”

    John Miedrich, a co-owner and executive vice president of operations, concurred: “We’re talking about teaching the game, of course, but it’s just as important to teach the fan experience. Baseball is so new to the region that most people don’t have an understanding of the game, but if they have a good overall experience when they attend, there’s a chance they’ll come back.”

    Similar to games in Japan and Korea, the games feature cheering sections on each side with people waving towels, as well as bands in the left field and right field stands. There is music throughout, a dance team that sometimes performs between innings, kids racing mascots around the bases between innings once per game, and a youngster enthusiastically announcing “Play Ball” to the crowd. And perhaps the most unique innovation is having each starting pitcher enter the game from the bullpen while riding a camel.

    The league also features some new rules:

    • If a game is tied after nine innings, a home-run derby, or swing-off, will decide the winner. Each team’s nominated player gets 10 swings to hit as many home runs as possible. If the hitters tie, a sudden-death swing-off occurs. 
    • Each team has a designated runner it can use once per inning, without the man he replaces being removed from the game.
    • As many as three times in a game, the team at bat can declare a “Money Ball”. A  bright yellow ball replaces the regular white one, and if the player at bat hits a home run, it doubles the number of runs scored. If the batter is walked or hit by a pitch, the Money Ball rolls over to the next batter.
    • “Fireball” – If the team in the field calls a fireball and the current batter strikes out, the inning is over, regardless of how many outs there were at the time. Each team is allowed three fireballs per game. 

    “We started the fireball this year because people said we had rules to help the teams at bat but nothing to help the pitchers,” Shaikh said. “Some people like the rules, and others don’t, but we think this makes us stand out a little more.”

    Antonio Barranca, an American and catcher for the Arabia Wolves who played two years in the Atlanta Braves organization, said, “It’s kind of crazy – but fun – to see some things like the new rules and pitchers riding on camels. It makes the league a little different and helps them get their brand out.”

    At a media event the day before the opener, Shaikh pointed out left and right fields to the media members and had to make it clear that the second baseman doesn’t actually position himself on the base. He also explained the “charge” fanfare and the seventh-inning stretch during which fans sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. Then he invited them to play a game of catch with the likes of co-owner and former major league catcher Robinson Chirinos and others. 

    Likewise, the television commentators sometimes explained situations likely not understood by those new to the game. For example: why there is no need to tag a runner on a force play. 

    The population of Dubai is approximately 90 percent expatriate, and more than a few residents come from baseball-playing countries such as the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and others. Baseball also has some similarities to cricket, which has a large, rabid following in countries like India and Pakistan. 

    “To spread the word, we’ve been talking a lot with people from the various embassies, the Philippine softball family; the cricket people from Australia, New Zealand, India, and Pakistan; and others,” Miedrich said. 

    The league has, in part, constructed the team rosters with an eye toward attracting fans of different nationalities. A check of the rosters, shows that, while many of the players are American, there are players born in 23 other countries – from Europe, North America, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and East Asia.

    Seven players have MLB experience, the most prominent being outfielder Alejandro de Aza of the Mid East Falcons. More than 20 players have been in the minor league organizations of MLB teams; more than 40 have played in independent leagues; and at least seven have played in European leagues. 

    Shaikh pointed out that “Mumbai has two players from the Philippines [shortstop Lord De Vera and outfielder Ian Mercado], as well as six from India. Karachi has four Pakistanis – look out for Musharraf Khan, a 6-7 pitcher – and there are 14 Japanese players on the Mid East Falcons.” 

    The Japanese contingent includes former Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) stars Munenori Kawasaki, Hiroyuki Nakajima, and Shuhei Fukuda; others with NPB experience; and Manato Tanai, an 18-year-old shortstop who was the fifth pick in the 2024 NPB draft and is considered one of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars’ better prospects. Kawasaki is 44 years old, Nakajima 43, and Fukuda 36. Kawasaki spent five seasons in MLB with Seattle, Toronto, and the Chicago Cubs.

    Hiroyuki Nakajima

    “The Falcons are quickly becoming a fan favorite in Japan,” Shaikh said on a recent game broadcast,[i]“with 60 percent of the roster composed of Japanese. It’s a great mix of veterans and young prospects.” 

    Three other Japanese – outfielder Yo Kanahara and pitchers Yudai Mizushina and Shotaro Nakata – earned their spots by winning a reality show competition produced by Japan’s Tokyo Broadcast System (TBS) network, which also broadcasts the games.

    “The show started with 300 players, and just the three were chosen,” according to Chiharu Yamamura, Baseball United’s senior director of Japan Operations. “I worked with TBS on the series, and they want to do it again next year – maybe even export the show format to other countries.”

    Several of the Japanese played leading roles in Mid East’s first game November 19. Kazuki Yabuta and Shotaro Kasaharacombined with Mizushina and former major leaguer Severino Gonzalez to pitch the league’s first no-hitter in a 2-0 victoryover Karachi. Kawasaki had two hits, including a double that led to the Falcons’ first run, and Kanahara scored both runs as the designated runner. 

    Through December 2, Kawasaki and Nakajima were each averaging .353 and Fukuda .188. Tanai showed off a good arm, but had just two hits in his first 15 at bats before going 3-3 with two walks against Mumbai on December 2. Yabuta had an 0.63 earned-run mark  after 14 1/3 innings along with 23 strikeouts and four walks, and Kasahara had pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Haru Yoshioka, a 19-year-old BayStars prospect, had a 2.45 ERA through 3 2/3 innings, and Shuto Sakurai, who has pitched in NPB for both Yokohama and Rakuten, was 1-0 and had struck out nine batters in six innings. 

    “Kawasaki has been incredible – such an ambassador for the game,” Shaikh said. “He’s 44 now but still in great shape, and I see him at the cricket fields [next to the ballpark] teaching the young kids.”

    Munenori Kawasaki

    Mid East manager Dennis Cook, a former MLB pitcher who also runs the Polish national team with Arabia manager John McLaren, said Kawasaki “is a little long in the tooth, but he can still play. He, Nakajima, and Fukuda are fundamentally sound, won’t strike out a lot, and will put the ball in play.” 

    Baseball United is betting that a long-term, grass-roots approach will eventually bear fruit, but getting to this point has been no easy task.

    “This whole project was exciting because it was an empty canvas here, but it was daunting because it was an empty desert,” Shaikh said. “I had an idea of [the size of the task] beforehand but didn’t know the level it would take in training and so forth. And I didn’t realize how much government relations there was to do – with the federations, tourism councils, and government officials. That’s been a crazy part of the journey. 

    “I knew it would be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s been even harder.”

    Duncan, the Mumbai manager, said he’s been associated with Baseball United since the early days and that he got Hall-of-Famer Barry Larkin involved. As a co-founder, Larkin is senior vice president and leads player development strategies and initiatives. 

    “I was asked to help find investors, and Barry was the first person I thought about,” Duncan said. “Knowing that he’d been involved internationally as coach of the Brazil WBC (World Baseball Classic) team, I thought he’d be the perfect guy.”

    For his part, Larkin said he had been to India a number of years ago as part of a government program during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. 

    “I worked a lot of baseball tryouts, camps, and clinics in New Delhi,” Larkin said. “I didn’t see many baseball-specific skills there, but I noticed that there was a lot of athleticism. I said to myself that if I ever got a chance to come back to this region and do something, I’d do it.”

    Larkin said he went to Shaikh, whom he had known from some previous promotional projects, and Dubai was eventually chosen as a base of operations “because it’s more centrally located.”

    More investors joined over time. Shaikh, Larkin and fellow Hall-of-Famers Mariano Rivera and Adrian Beltre are co-founders and sit on the board of directors along with Chirinos. The former players listed as co-owners also include Albert Pujols, Elvis Andrus, Felix Hernandez, Nick Swisher, Ryan Howard, Bartolo Colon, Hanley Ramirez, Matt Barnes, Shane Victorino, Luis Severino, Jair Jurrjens, Andrelton Simmons, Didi Gregorius, Starling Marte, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Robinson Cano.

    As for progress, Shaikh points to accomplishments such as the events held in 2023, 2024, and early 2025; partnering with media outlets such as TBS in Japan, PTV, the national broadcaster in Pakistan, and Zee Entertainment Enterprises in India, both of which will broadcast all this season’s games live; signing up sponsors, including some from the U.S. and Japan; and getting the ballpark built.

    The league said that three million viewers watched the international broadcast of the February 2025 series between the Wolves and Falcons and that 17 linear and digital broadcast partners carried the games, with viewership in more than 100 countries. 

    Appearing on the broadcast of a recent game, Shaikh said that the broadcasts of the opening game attracted approximately seven million viewers. “That’s an MLB All-Star Game-level [of viewership],” he said, “and it’s going to continue adding up.”

    Another data point is views of the games streamed over YouTube. The 11 games through December 2 attracted approximately 163,000 views, with per-game views ranging from a low of 7,200 to a high of 24,000.

    The ballpark is a story in itself. The original plan had been to play on a modified cricket pitch, but scheduling became an issue, as other events sometimes had priority and bumped baseball to other dates. 

    “We were the red-headed stepchild,” Shaikh said wryly. “We realized that we couldn’t have a season without having our own stadium.”

    So he and his team built Baseball United Ballpark next to a soccer/rugby stadium and a cricket ground – in just 38 days.

    “A year ago, this was all dust and dirt,” Shaikh said proudly with a sweep of his arm. “Now, it’s our Field of Dreams here in the desert.”

    Its dimensions are identical to those of Yankee Stadium, and it has top-quality lighting with seating for approximately 3,000 fans. If it becomes necessary, the current stands can be expanded higher, and there is room down the lines to add more sections. The stands, as well as the food and drink setups, can be stored when not in use.

    Except for the mound, the field is covered with artificial turf, the same as used by the NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Carlos Mirabal, Baseball United’s director of baseball operations, did much of the work on this, leveraging contacts he made in Japan during the six seasons he pitched for NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters.

    “We have to wash the turf to keep the dust off, but we’ll use a lot less water than if we had natural grass,” Mirabal explained. “The area around the mound is a combination of mud from Pakistan and the U.S. Most of it is Pakistan mud, but the area around the rubber and where the pitchers land is American mud because it’s softer.”

    Karim Ayubi, an outfielder and Curacao native who has played in the Boston Red Sox organization since 2021, said, “This is a very impressive setup. It surprised me. The turf is good because it’s soft enough and doesn’t get as hot during the days as some turfs do.”

    So, going forward . . . 

    “We want to make sure everyone gets playing time and experiences this journey,” former major league shortstop Jay Bell, who manages the Karachi team, said. “Ultimately, we’re here to represent baseball and help it expand – that’s more important than anything.”

    Larkin said, “We want to be a very competitive league; that’s the main thing. Regardless of whether the level of play is rookie league, Class A, AA or whatever. We want our players to get exposure and have chances to play at higher levels. Like the two kids from the Philippines. There is no pro ball there, so maybe playing here will give them a shot somewhere else. Or [Pavin] Parks – maybe he turns out to be a Kyle Schwarber type of guy.”

    Jacob Teter, an outfielder/first baseman formerly in the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros organizations, looked at this as being an opportunity, as well. “It’s really great to see them bring baseball to a place that doesn’t have it and give guys like me a chance to play and show what we can do. I’ve never been to this part of the world, but I get to come here and play baseball. That’s pretty cool.”

    Lou Helmig, a first baseman/outfielder and German national who spent time in the Philadelphia Phillies system and last year was in the U.S. independent leagues, said, “I love this. It’s a new opportunity to make things happen.”

    As for next season, Shaikh said “the plan is to have two additional teams and for each team to play 15 games. If we can get another venue, we might lengthen the season to two or two-and-a-half months. The dream scenario is to play during most of the November – February time frame and in multiple locations, but there is a lot to figure out with logistics and politics.”

    In March 2024, Baseball United announced a partnership with the Saudi Baseball and Softball Federation that gives the league an unlimited term to host games and tournaments in Saudi Arabia and includes rights to new Baseball United franchises that will represent Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. But there is much to work out before that happens. 

    “A limiting factor there is getting partners to help build ballparks,” Shaikh said. “The Saudi sports scene is experiencing massive transformation now in a lot of areas – the 2034 World Cup will be there – and pretty much all the venues are under construction or on lockdown, so we’ve been slower about moving into Saudi.”

    For the moment, the primary goal is to put the existing operations on solid footing.

    “We’ve come further in three years than anyone expected,” Shaikh said. “The challenge now is to build momentum over the course of this season. Our goal is sustainability, and these next two years are really important.”

    NOTES: Miedrich said Baseball United has development programs in India and Pakistan and that the one in Pakistan is near the city of Peshawar, in territory heavily influenced by the Pakistani Taliban. Taliban members sometimes watch baseball training sessions while carrying weapons and wearing bandoliers. Because of tribal custom, the players must wear long pants during workouts, regardless of the temperature . . . With the ballpark’s field almost entirely covered with artificial turf, there is no dirt around the bases or in the batters’ boxes. It was amusing to see hitters automatically start to smooth out the dirt as they approached the plate – only to realize that there was none . . . A dance team performed between innings. While these are almost always comprised entirely of women, there were two men on this eight-person team, and a number of fans remarked on it . . . Of the four umpires, two were from the Czech Republic (Zdenek Zidek and Frantisek Pribyl) and two from Mexico (Jair Fernandez and Humberto Saiz). Zidek has experience umpiring in the U.S. affiliated minor leagues . . . There is no place at the ballpark to store a regular (metal) batting cage – colloquially called a “turtle” – so Baseball United uses an inflatable one. 

    END TEXT

    Unless otherwise noted:

    • All quotes from Kash Shaikh are from a Zoom interview that took place September 9, 2025, and from in-person interviews September 14-16, 2025.
    • All quotes from Barry Larkin, John Miedrich, Mariano Duncan, Jay Bell, Dennis Cook, Chiharu Yanamura, Lou Helmig, and Karim Ayubi are from in-person interviews September 14-16, 2025.
    • Quotes from Antonio Barranca are from a telephone interview September 15, 2025.
    • Quotes from Jacob Teter are from a telephone interview September 16, 2025.

    In addition, the author consulted baseballreference.com and baseballunited.com.

    [i] Go to the top of the eighth inning – starting 2:35 into the broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QAPf9g7Z-E&t=9747s.

  • Join Rob Fitts at Japan Society on December 9 at 7pm for a discussion about Japanese baseball.

    Join Rob Fitts at Japan Society on December 9 at 7pm for a discussion about Japanese baseball.

    Author Robert Fitts will talk about his new book In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball and highlight key differences between the American and Japanese games. A cocktail reception and book signing will follow.

    Fitts is the author of 11 books on Japanese baseball and is the curatorial consultant to the Yakyu-Baseball exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

    Tickets are available through the Japan Society.

    https://boxoffice.japansociety.org/events/0199e8ae-4d8f-7b6a-41cf-e9b813b50fb8?fbclid=IwY2xjawOQcptleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFNQnM5c1RHYXZpdHBPUEFDc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgiyOvqNCEUuSmXKiSp7Ub4aExJGhbF68dP9_VV_yBOjtp-vMA3sWpvmue_T_aem_3bZ__i9eGExwT1CFT7BBUA

  • Rethinking the Philadelphia Bobbies 1925 Tour in Japan: ‘Embarrassment to the Nation’ or ‘Great Success’?

    Rethinking the Philadelphia Bobbies 1925 Tour in Japan: ‘Embarrassment to the Nation’ or ‘Great Success’?

    by Kat Williams

    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. This week  Kat Williams discusses the Philadelphia Bobbies 1925 doomed visit to Japan.

    “Crack! The ball hits the bat. Smack! That ball hits Edith Houghton’s waiting glove at short who quickly throws to first to get the batter and all in a twinkling of an eye. These women play the game in a manner that would no doubt delight the heart of many a manager who ever saw them play.”

    Leona Kearns of the 1925 Philadelphia Bobbies in Japan. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ggbain-38869)

    Writing about a baseball game between the Passaic Girls and the Lansdale Chryslermen, this unnamed reporter was shocked to see women play baseball with talent and dedication. “It was surprising to watch the brand of ball that these girls can play,” he continued. “They take their baseball in a serious way and all the jeering of the “wise guys’ who stand on the sidelines and do the looking on cannot daunt them.” Even the crowd’s “jeers soon turn to cheers when they see the girls in real action.” The reporter’s shock at the women’s quality of play was not a new phenomenon. Rather, it echoed hundreds of other local news reports about female baseball players written in sports pages during the early 1920s. Why so shocked? Did they not read each other’s work?

    Perhaps it was a lack of public interest in women’s baseball that kept reporters from recognizing a growing trend? But that wasn’t the case. Even reports of large crowds and fervent fans did not stick in the minds of sports reporters. Approximately 1,500 fans showed up to the Lansdale, Pennsylvania, game, roughly 20 percent of the town’s population. Meanwhile, in Maple Shade, New Jersey, the largest crowd of the season came to watch the “famous invading lassies,” the Philadelphia Bobbies, play the local baseball club. In that game, shortstop Edith Houghton had five hits, including two doubles and a home run. By this time, the late 1920s, Houghton had been widely written about. She was a standout on the Philadelphia Bobbies team that toured Japan in 1925 and was so well-known that fans in small towns clamored to see her play. There was public interest. Still, in story after story, sports reporters seemed shocked to see women playing baseball at a high level.

    Were they skeptical of other reporters’ assessment of good baseball? Some of the language was kind of over the top. In a Philadelphia Inquirer article, “The Quaker City Maids of the Diamond,” Gordon Mackey hailed the play of Edith Houghton and Edith Ruth. “Both members liked to play baseball and they COULD play the game—make no mistake on that score.” In a baseball barnstorming tour their play was legendary but, “like Alexanders in skirts or Hannibals in bloomers, they longed for other worlds to conquer after they had cleaned up most of the alleged sterner sex in duels of the diamond in 1925.” Houghton “could play shortstop in a way that would make Joe Boley toss his glove in the air and yell, “bravo,’” and Ruth was “the holder of the initial sack and how she can go after those quick throws and hug that base is nobody’s business.” Team play was also lauded with the same exaggerated language. “What an infield. They work with the rhythm and snappiness that is characteristic of any big-league team.” That over-the-top language—Hannibals in Bloomers and shouts of bravo!—made the players appear aberrant. There is almost a freakshow quality to the enthusiastic description.

    Reporters’ continued surprise at women’s good play was most certainly related to the more common descriptions of women’s baseball which emphasized the players’ femininity.” For decades reporters introduced female players as “neat,” “attractive in their uniforms,” and as “spectacles.” They simply skipped over a discussion of their play and instead focused on their appearance, their “dainty hands,” and how it must have been hard for them to hold the glove. They marveled at their “feminine strength” and how hard it must have been to play against “professional strength.” They were used to writing about women who were, in their eyes, not very talented and unwilling to get dirty or to take the game seriously. A report about the Hollywood Bloomer girl team began, “A bevy of beauties from Hollywood, California took time out from powdering their noses and gave a picked team of the Coca Cola Greys the battle of their lives. … The ladies put up a good game but couldn’t stand up under the strain.” Even when their play was good and the individual talent exceptional, reporters were still likely to describe games as “an unusual tussle,” played by nine “fair maidens.” Most women had been described in these terms for decades. Just because they donned a baseball uniform did not mean that would change.

    To reporters and to many men who played, managed, or promoted baseball, there was a set of expectations, standards for play, and a distinct language used to discuss the game and its male players. There were no such expectations or standards for women. As a result, women’s play was judged against that of men, making it difficult for them to be seen as talented players. So they were not. Because it was unfathomable to even think of women in actual baseball terms—a slugger, a hurler, or aggressive on the basepaths—a whole other language emerged to describe women’s baseball. Reporters sprinkled some baseball terms in among talk of their physical appearance—”The longlegged beauty on the third base bag sure can play the hot corner.” And because women were used to being described this way they did not resist. They just kept playing.

    Women’s insistence on playing and the dilemma of reporters tasked with reporting on their games ultimately combined to establish a separate set of standards and expectations for female baseball players. And over time, two separate baseball spheres, one for men and one for women. From our twenty-first-century perspective, we could claim that these gender-specific standards worked against women who sought legitimacy as baseball players. It could be argued that creating separate baseball spheres took agency or control away from women. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Existing in separate spheres was not new to women. They lived, worked, and studied under a different set of standards than men. So it was likely no surprise to them that the same would happen within the game of baseball. As they had always done, though, women never stopped pushing against the boundaries forced upon them. They learned the game, played it, and from within their baseball sphere, they defined for themselves what baseball meant. They set their own standards and, most significantly, they defined baseball success in their own terms. As it was for men, winning games, playing well, and making money were all part of women’s definition of success, but that was only the beginning. Baseball was an opportunity, a new experience, and a location where women could excel in an endeavor previously off-limits to them. Playing the game provided women with a chance to see the country and ultimately the world. It allowed them to make their own money and to realize a sense of independence. To many players, success was found in the opportunities baseball afforded them and not only in the box score.

    There are many examples to illustrate the ways in which women embraced their separate baseball sphere and used it to their benefit, but none is more engaging than the story of the Philadelphia Bobbies and their 1925 barnstorming tour of Japan. The Bobbies’ tour provides an opportunity to show how women not only embraced their separate baseball sphere but used it to challenge traditional definitions of baseball success and to define for themselves how and where they fit into the narrative of baseball. The tour shows how one set of baseball standards were used to plan, guide, and then judge the tour, and how another set, the ones defined and accepted by the women themselves, provide a completely different interpretation. One side saw the tour as an unmitigated disaster, while the other saw it as a great success.

    Continue to read the full article on the SABR website

    Rethinking the Philadelphia Bobbies 1925 Tour in Japan: ‘Embarrassment to the Nation’ or ‘Great Success’?
  • Korean Players Who Experienced the “Third Baseball League”

    Korean Players Who Experienced the “Third Baseball League”

    by Jongho Kim

    Many Korean baseball players have challenged overseas leagues from the past to the present. Public attention has mostly focused on those who entered American or Japanese baseball. However, some players have taken on challenges in lesser-known leagues. The topic of this article is the “third baseball leagues” outside the U.S. and Japan, specifically the Mexican League and Latin American winter leagues, as experienced by Korean players.

    Korean Players in the Mexican League

    The summer league commonly known as the “Mexican League” has a history of 100 years, but in Korea, it has little recognition or popularity. Even so, as many as seven Korean players have played in Mexico. The first “Mexican leaguer,” and the Korean player who spent the longest time there, was Won Kuk Lee.

    Won Kuk Lee during his playing career

    Born in Seoul in 1948, Lee was a right-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball. In high school, he threw pitches close to 150 km/h (about 93 mph), drawing attention from Japanese scouts.

    He moved to Japan in 1965 and joined the Tokyo Orions (now Chiba Lotte Marines) in 1966. However, he pitched in only one game in Japan. In 1968, the Orions sent him to the U.S. for training. He joined the Single-A Fresno Giants under the San Francisco Giants, later moving through the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers farm systems, but was released in 1970.

    Through a friend’s recommendation, he learned about the Mexican League and flew to Mexico in 1972. That year, with Piratas de Sabinas, he posted an 11–11 record and a 3.27 ERA. In 1973, he went 16–13 with a 2.30 ERA, showing his full potential. In 1974, he became a founding member of Mineros de Coahuila (now Acereros de Monclova) and remained a rotation starter until 1980. He wrapped up his Mexican career with Petroleros de Poza Rica in 1982 and returned to Korea in 1983 at the age of 35.

    Over 10 years, he recorded 336 games, 149 wins, 128 losses, a 2.81 ERA, and 1,126 strikeouts, numbers still remembered in Mexico. In 1983, he briefly joined the KBO’s MBC Blue Dragons (now LG Twins), going 1–1 with a 4.42 ERA before retiring.

    Seventeen years later, Kyung Hwan Choi (now a baseball commentator) became the first Korean hitter in the Mexican League. A left-handed outfielder, he signed with the California Angels (now Los Angeles Angels) in 1995 and played in the minors before joining Sultanes de Monterrey in 1999. He later played for Algodoneros de Unión Laguna before moving to the KBO in 2000.

    At the same time in 1999, three other Koreans entered the Mexican League: Wonseong Ma (RHP, Rieleros de Aguascalientes), Sangyeong So (RHH OF, Langosteros de Cancun), and Gilnam Hong (RHP, Guerreros de Oaxaca). All were former OB Bears (now Doosan Bears) second-team players who continued short careers in Mexico after being released.

    The last KBO player to challenge the Mexican League was Jinwoo Kim, a pitcher with the Kia Tigers, who appeared for Sultanes de Monterrey in 2019. In 2025, Gyeongju Kim, a Korean pitcher from an American independent team, joined Piratas de Campeche.

    Recent Korean player Gyeongju Kim in the Mexican League

    Korean Players in Latin American Winter Leagues

    Latin American winter leagues are held from October to January in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. These short leagues are often filled with free agents hoping to reach MLB or Asian leagues, or current players seeking to maintain game sharpness during the offseason.

    Korean teams generally dislike sending players abroad in winter due to concerns about injuries or fatigue. As a result, Koreans in these leagues are usually MLB or minor league players.

    Only two KBO players have played in winter leagues: Youngsik Kang (LHP) and Junhyeok Heo (RHP) of the Lotte Giants, who briefly joined Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League during the 2007–08 season.

    Korean player Ji-man Choi in the Dominican Winter League

    Other examples include:

    • In 2009, Hyangnam Choi (RHP), then with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes (LA Dodgers affiliate), pitched for Algodoneros de Guasave in the Mexican Winter League.
    • Ji-man Choi (C/1B, LHB), before reaching MLB, played in two winter leagues: Tigres de Aragua in Venezuela (2014–15) and Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Republic (2015–16).
    • In 2017, two Korean MLB veterans joined Dominican teams: Jung-ho Kang (INF, Pittsburgh Pirates) with Águilas Cibaeñas, and Byung-hyun Kim (RHP, ex-MLB) with Gigantes del Cibao.

    These stints were short-lived, but they represented turning points in their baseball careers abroad. They also left behind a lesson for younger players: “In baseball, there are always countless paths.”

  • September 4, 2025 Zoom Presentation: Baseball is Hot in Korea!

    September 4, 2025 Zoom Presentation: Baseball is Hot in Korea!

    Hunhee Cho and Eunwoo Jung will present How GenZ’ers in Korea Sparked a New Era of 10 Million Baseball Fans

    Join us on September 4, 2025 at 8 pm EST for SABR’s Asian Baseball Research Committee Monthly Zoom Presentation.

    Baseball is hot in Korea!
    With nearly 11 million fans annually, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is surging in popularity, especially among Gen Z Koreans. This post-pandemic boom has sparked new attention from researchers and industry watchers alike.

    In this virtual presentation, Hunhee Cho and Eunwoo Jung will share findings from their quantitative and qualitative studies examining this cultural and sporting shift. Their research offers fresh insights that may also hold relevance for Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

    A live Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite your questions and reflections.

    To participate you must pre-register.

    Register in advance for this meeting:
    https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/aMG-DoSQQF2cLP4etHZF-A 

    After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

  • Lend-Lease Athletes: John Britton & Jimmie Newberry

    Lend-Lease Athletes: John Britton & Jimmie Newberry

    by Adam Berenbak

    This post is a summary of a talk, titled “Lend-Lease Athletes: John Britton & Jimmie Newberry, Post-Integration Negro Leagues, and Japanese Pro Baseball at the end of the US Occupation” to be given at the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, July 26th, 11AM, during the weekend that Ichiro Suzuki will become the first Japanese born player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

    Amid the celebration of Ichiro as the first Japanese baseball superstar to be enshrined in Cooperstown, I thought it important to recall two pioneers at another intersection of multiple baseball firsts – involving the Negro Leagues, Japanese pro ball, Jewish baseball and Major League Baseball. While their story isn’t new, Induction weekend seems like the right time to revisit these two amazing athletes.

    Before Jimmie Newberry and John Britton made history as the first African American ballplayers to suit up in Nippon Professional Baseball (Jimmy Bonner, a veteran of Black independent teams, pitched several games in the earliest iteration of pro ball in Japan for Dai Tokyo in 1936), they each put together solid careers in the Negro American League, primarily with the Birmingham Black Barons. Both were looking for work after the 1951 Season when Bill Veeck provided an opportunity.

    In March of 1951, Bill Veeck, then owner of several minor league clubs including Oklahoma City and Dayton, had scouted several Japanese players (all from the Mainichi Orions of Japan’s Pacific League), including Kaoru Betto and Hiroshi Oshita, but with his eye specifically on pitcher Atsushi Aramaki. Already plotting to sweep in to purchase the St. Louis Browns in July of that year, Veeck had not shed his propensity stretching the rules of the game and thumbing his nose at tradition and sought to bring a Japanese pro to the majors. On Dec 28, 1951, (at the NY opening of the Saints and Sinners Club), Veeck met with Teijiro Kurosaki, GM of the Orions, himself on a scouting trip to find American ballplayers, to discuss purchasing Aramaki’s contract for the Browns. 

    He could not seal the deal. By early 1952 Abe Saperstein (a minority stockholder in the Browns) was charged with developing contractual relationships with Japanese teams that would lead to the acquisition of Japanese stars to play in the US. Saperstein not only had relationships with Newberry, Britton, the Black Barons and the NAL, but was in regular contact with Japanese business interests as he planned several Japanese tours with the Harlem Globetrotters (who Veeck had helped promote through 1951). What unfolded was a relationship with the Hankyu Braves.

    The Treaty of San Francisco ended the US Occupation of Japan on April 28, 1952, and on that day Veeck announced that he had reached an agreement with the Braves that would include loaning the newly acquired (to their minor league system) slugger John Britton and pitcher Jimmie Newberry from the Browns. Despite Veeck’s statement of diplomacy, the eventual goal was to open ties to the extent that NPB teams would negotiate the contracts of stars like Aramaki (who would go on to the Japanese Hall of Fame). Additionally, the timing was conspicuous, as contract negotiation would be much more feasible in a post-occupation world. Having brought 42-year-old Satchel Paige to the majors when he ran the Indians, Veeck was no stranger to controversy in pursuit of victory. As Veeck was also infamous for his promotional antics with the Browns, which would include the Eddie Gaedel incident, his motivation for fielding Japanese born players in the US remains murky. Whether it was a gimmick, a true attempt at competitive advantage, or a way to mine cheap labor, is unclear. It could be all three. Veeck’s reputation, as well as Saperstein’s problematic relationship with supporting and exploiting marginalized athletes (see Rebecca Alpert’s “Out of Left Field”) provide valuable context to what would be a first step in post-war international baseball contract negotiation. 

    Jimmie Newberry and John Britton had both been stars of the Birmingham Black Barons and veterans of the Negro League World Series, as well as former teammates of Willie Mays. Both would end up as Pacific League All Stars in 1952, and Britton would stay for a second season with the Braves, paving the path for Larry Raines and Jonas Gaines. He is probably the only person to face both Satchel Paige and Victor Starffin (he hit a home run off the latter). Neither Newberry nor Britton would make the Majors, for the Browns nor any other team.

    John Britton, 1952 Yamakatsu bromide

    Both of these pioneers have their own SABR bios, and their story appears in several well-known books on baseball in Japan (including “Wally Yonamine” by Rob Fitts), so there is not much in the way of new scholarship here. However, it’s interesting to note that several reports appearing in overseas newspapers refer to the two as “Lend-Lease” ball players, a journalistic embellishment referring to the famous policy in which the US lent weapons, goods and food to support the war effort at ostensibly no cost, but with provisions for eventual debt repayment. The act pre-dated Pearl Harbor by six months, an oversized event perhaps bookended by the official end to the occupation.

    The term seems to be unintentionally inciteful. Beyond the obvious reference to Veeck’s machinations, and elements of diplomacy and international trade & support in a kind of battle (i.e. sports), “Lend-Lease” as a term can be seen as reflective of how professional baseball players, and especially marginalized ballplayers, including Japanese and Black ballplayers, were seen as property or commodities. This resonates especially with the history of slavery and racism imbedded in the African American baseball experience. The fact that both Newberry and Britton not only excelled but laid the groundwork for the success of future Black athletes in Japan is a testament to overcoming the “Lend-Lease” perspective. However, “lend lease” also reflects the reality of their situation as more and more Negro League teams began to disband, and baseball jobs were hard to come by. The fear of many Black sportswriters (including Joe Bostic) regarding how integration would affect the future of the Negro Leagues was no doubt a part of the reticence of Japanese clubs to deal with Major League Baseball. This seems even more instructive in light of the failure of Veeck or Saperstein to promote them to the Browns, or to lure Japanese talent to the US. 

    Jimmie Newberry, 1952 Yamakatsu bromide

    In part, one might attribute some of Newberry and Britton’s success to cultural differences. Time and time again there are stories of African American ballplayers, before and after integration, who found a more hospitable reception in the cities and states of South & Central America, escaping the racism these men endured as they traveled the US. While some racist imagery can be found of Newbery and Britton’s stay in Japan, and there has always been a noted resistance for the majority of Japanese pro baseball to welcome foreigners (especially Americans), both players found a similarly hospitable reception and enjoyed their time in the country. In addition, this occurs at the end of the US occupation, a time of complex feelings towards the US in Japan, although in the world of baseball an overwhelmingly receptive one to western culture.

    Though ultimately unsuccessful, in the immediate sense, as an avenue to build a contractual bridge between Japan and the US as a way for Japanese players to head west, this episode was an important step in both forging a path for greater acceptance of Black and US born ballplayers as well as establishing the diplomatic framework for the relationship between NPB and MLB teams – one that would eventually lead to Masanori Murakami, Hideo Nomo, Ichiro and beyond.