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  • An Introduction To NPB Baseball Cards

    An Introduction To NPB Baseball Cards

    by Dave McNeely (npbcardguy)

    This great introduction to current Japanese baseball cards was published on SABR’s Baseball Card Research Committee’s Blog earlier this week,. We have decided to repost it here as background for our zoom chat with Tatsuo Shinke the CEO of Mint Sport Cards to be held on Wednesday, January 28 at 8:30 pm EST. Please see the Asian Baseball blog for more information.

    https://sabrasianbaseball.com/2026/01/02/the-japanese-baseball-card-industry-january-28-830-est-zoom-talk-with-tatsuo-shinke-ceo-of-mint-sports-cards-in-japan/

    Baseball has been played in Japan for over 150 years and professionally for the past 90.  There are known to be baseball cards depicting the sport in Japan as early as 1900 although little is known about many of the pre-World War II cards simply because few of them survived the war.  The post-war era featured an explosion in baseball card production that has continued to this day.

    Doing a search for “Japanese Baseball Cards” on Ebay will give you a huge number of results and it can be kind of overwhelming trying to make some sense of what you’re looking at.  How many card companies are there?  How many different sets are there?  Are Yomiuri and Hanshin places in Japan?  This post will attempt to answer some of these questions by giving an overview of the current state of the Japanese card market.

    Baseball In Japan

    Let’s start by giving a little bit of background information about professional baseball in Japan.  Generally when people talk about baseball in Japan, they are talking about Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Japanese equivalent of MLB.  NPB consists of 12 teams in all that are split into two separate six team leagues – the Central League and the Pacific League.  The Central League teams are the Yomiuri Giants, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.  The Pacific League teams are the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, the Chiba Lotte Marines, the Saitama Seibu Lions, the Orix Buffaloes and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.  The team names may seem a little confusing but the thing to remember is that all the team names contain the name of the company that owns the team (Yomiuri, Yakult, DeNA, Chunchi, etc) and several of the team names also feature either the city, prefecture (more or less the equivalent of a state) or region (think something like the “mid-Atlantic” but with a formal definition) that the team plays in (Chiba, Tokyo, Saitama, Tohoku, etc)..  

    Each team has a “70 man” roster which usually has fewer than 70 players on it.  28 of those players are on the top team’s roster (also known as ichi-gun which literally means “first troop”)  Of the 28, only 25 are active for any particular game. The remaining players are on the farm team (also known as ni-gun or “second troop”).  Each team has only one farm team.

    Most teams also have a handful of players who are not on the “70 man” roster.  These players are called “development” or “ikusei” players.  You can identify these players by the fact that they have three digit uniform numbers.  These players are allowed to play in farm team games but must be signed to the “70 man” roster to play at the top level.  A couple teams have enough development players to field an unofficial third team (“san-gun”) which will play corporate or independent league teams.  Every year there are a handful of players who “graduate” from being development players – the most famous one is probably Kodai Senga.

    Each fall NPB holds a draft for eligible players graduating from high school or college.  Players from the corporate and independent leagues can also be drafted if they haven’t previously been drafted in NPB.  There are two parts of the draft – a “regular” phase for players who will end up on their team’s “70 man” roster and an “ikusei” draft for development players.  

    Some Japanese Baseball Card Conventions

    Before we get too far down the road, we should mention a couple conventions of Japanese baseball cards.

    There is usually the same number of “regular” player cards for each team in each flagship set (one major exception is BBM’s Fusion set).  So if a set has 216 cards with no subsets, you’ll know that each team has 18 cards in the set.  If the subset is not for the previous year’s statistical leaders or award winners or the All Star lineup, it will also be evenly divided between the 12 teams.  Same for insert cards.  It’s kind of a nice change of pace from MLB sets with 30 Yankees and 5 Royals.

    For baseball card purposes, the players who are taken in a given year’s draft are referred to as rookies the following year.  For example all the players who have the “rookie” icon on their 2024 baseball cards were taken in the 2023 draft.  This is NOT the same as how NPB treats rookie status which is whether a player has exceeded a certain amount of playing time.  This is why the rookie cards for both 2023 “Rookie Of The Year” award winners were in 2021 (since both players were drafted in 2020).

    It is extremely rare for there to be baseball cards of college players and unheard of there to be any for high school players.  Any card you see of a high school player (or, more likely, a star player from their high school days) on Ebay is likely a “collector’s issue” and not an official card.  There are cards for corporate league and independent league players so it IS possible to find “pre-rookie” cards for certain players, but it’s not common.

    Because NPB teams treat their farm teams as an extension of the top teams, there are no separate “minor league” team sets for the NPB farm teams or the equivalent of the Topps Pro Debut set.

    One major way that NPB card sets differ from MLB sets is that it is extremely rare for a player to be depicted on a team other than the one he is on when the set goes to press.  It helps that players move much less frequently in NPB than they do in MLB but I have seen Japanese card companies pull cards from production when a player has been traded.  

    Japanese Baseball Card Makers

    There are currently four companies with a license to produce NPB baseball cards.  We’re going to run them down in order of how long they’ve been making cards.

    One quick note before we get started.  I’m going to mention the sets that each manufacturer typically releases each year but take that with a grain of salt.  Sometimes the companies will abruptly change what their releases are.  BBM, for example, published boxed sets for the All Star games and the Nippon Series annually for over 20 years before suddenly stopping in 2013.

    Calbee

    2024 Calbee Series One #018 (Tomoyuki Sugano)

    Calbee is a Japanese snack company that has been distributing baseball cards with bags of potato chips since 1973.  There was a lot of variety in the size of Calbee’s sets in the early years (and even what constituted a “set”) but things settled down somewhat in the late 90’s where Calbee would issue their “flagship” set in two or three series each year.

    Calbee’s sets are generally fairly small, and seem to be shrinking in recent years.  Their sets have been in the neighborhood of 160 cards in the past three years.  As a result, their sets feature most of the top players in NPB but not as many of the lesser players.  Whether or not the set includes many rookie players is very hit or miss as well.

    Calbee doesn’t offer any autograph or memorabilia cards with their sets.  “Hits” are the “Star” insert cards, especially the parallel versions that feature gold facsimile signatures.  It’s also possible to pull a “Lucky Card” which can be mailed to Calbee and exchanged for something.  There have been times when the prize has been a special baseball card or cards but frequently it’s simply a card album.

    It’s somewhat expensive to get unopened boxes of Calbee cards shipped overseas for the simple reason that the packs of cards are still attached to bags of potato chips!  While a typical box including 24 bags of chips that each have a pack of two cards doesn’t weigh a whole lot, it’s larger than you’d think.  And it’s very questionable if the expense is worth getting only 48 cards.

    BBM

    2024 BBM 1st Version #193

    BBM stands for “Baseball Magazine”.  BBM’s parent company is Baseball Magazine Sha which has been publishing sports magazines and books since the 1940’s but they didn’t start publishing baseball cards until 1991.  They were the first Japanese baseball cards that resembled American cards, with packs containing ten cards and issuing a factory set for their flagship set.  There are fewer cards to a pack these days and they haven’t issued a factory set for their flagship set since 1993 but they are unquestionably the largest card company in Japan.

    BBM issues a myriad of sets each year but I’m only going to highlight a small subset of them.  Their draft pick set – Rookie Edition – usually comes out in late-February and features all the players taken in the previous fall’s draft, both the regular and “ikusei” phases.  This is typically where a Japanese player will have his first ever baseball card.  The size of the base set is driven by the number of players drafted but is usually around 130.  Hits in this set are mostly facsimile signature parallels, some of which are numbered.  There are autographed cards available although I think they are mostly redemption cards which may be difficult to exchange from overseas.  

    BBM issues their flagship set in three parts – 1st Version comes out in April, 2nd Version comes out in August and Fusion comes out in November. It’s not quite like Topps’ Series One, Two and Update. The design of the “regular” player cards is different between 1st and 2nd Version (although 2nd Version has a “1st Version Update” subset using the same design as the 1st Version cards) while the Fusion set uses yet another card design and is kind of a review of the regular season (although it also has a “1st Version Update” subset).  The total size of the base set for the flagship set is around 600 cards although many players have multiple cards.  Because of that though, BBM’s flagship sets usually include not just the top stars but most of the regular players for each team.  The 1st Version set will also contain cards for all the rookies (i.e. the previous year’s draft picks) from all the team’s “70 man” rosters (so none of the ikusei players).  Hits for all three sets include the ubiquitous variety of facsimile signature parallels (including numbered ones) as well as a fair number of autographed cards and a handful of memorabilia cards.

    BBM also issues a “comprehensive” team set for each of the 12 teams.  What I mean by that is a set that will contain a card for every player on the team’s “70 man” roster or essentially everyone in the organization except the development players.  The base sets for these sets contain 81 cards – generally there’s 60-ish “regular” cards for the team’s manager and the players and then 12-15 subset cards to fill out the set.  The sets are typically issued between March and July.  Hits for the team sets are mostly some special serially numbered insert cards along with autograph and/or memorabilia cards possibly – it depends on the team.  For example, the Yomiuri Giants don’t allow their players to do autographs in card sets so the Giants team sets don’t have autographs.  

    BBM issues a “high end” set called “Genesis” every September.  The base set for this set contains 120 cards but no one is interested in this set for the base set.  This is the set that BBM has the most autograph and memorabilia cards associated with.  Besides the autograph and memorabilia cards, Genesis also has a plethora of numbered parallel cards.

    Epoch

    2024 Epoch NPB #101

    Epoch is a Japanese toy company that was founded in the 1950’s but didn’t do their first card set until 2000.  That might be stretching things a bit as it was actually a set of stickers that could be pasted into albums.  It would be another nine years before they issued their next set which was done in conjunction with what was then called the All Japan Baseball Foundation and is now the National Baseball Promotion Association or OB Club.  For the next few years, Epoch would release a handful of sets, usually in partnership with the OB Club and featuring retired (OB) players.

    Starting in 2015, Epoch started issuing sets with active players and in 2018 they got serious about competing with BBM, debuting a flagship set along with “comprehensive” team sets for a subset of the teams.  They’ve tweaked their offerings somewhat since then though.  And as was the case with BBM, I”m only going to highlight a couple of their sets here.

    Their flagship set is called NPB and is generally released in May or June.  The set had included 432 active players every year between 2018 and 2023, sometimes accompanied by 12 cards of retired players which may or may not have been short-printed.  The set has shrunk in size over the past two years, however, with the 2024 set dropping to 336 cards of active players plus the 12 retired players and the 2025 edition further shrinking to 240 cards.  Like BBM’s flagship sets, Epoch’s set is large enough to include both the star players and the more average ones.  The NPB set will also include cards of all the non-ikusei rookies.  Hits from the set include numbered parallels and inserts along with autographed cards.

    Epoch issued “comprehensive” team sets in 2018 and 2019 but in 2020 they shifted to team sets that only had 30 or 40 players in them.  Originally their team sets were dubbed “Rookies & Stars” but since 2022 they’ve been called “Premier Edition”.  Epoch only does these sets for a subset of the teams, although they appear to be adding more teams each year.  The sets will contain most of the starters for the team (including the stars obviously) along with (again) the team’s rookie class which may include “ikusei” players depending on the team.  The hits in the boxes include a variety of serially numbered parallels and inserts along with autograph cards.  

    Topps

    2024 Topps NPB #49

    While Topps has been publishing baseball cards in the US for over 70 years, they are relatively new to the NPB market.  They announced their NPB license at the beginning of October of 2021 and put their first set out two months later.  Because they’re so new it’s difficult to say for sure what their usual sets are.  

    They’ve issued a 216 card flagship set each year that uses a similar (but not necessarily identical) design as their MLB flagship set.  The set has more rookie cards than Calbee generally does but has never contained the year’s entire rookie class.  Hits have generally been a plethora of different parallels but they’ve recently started adding autographs.  For a while, the autographed cards were not for current NPB players but instead for both current and retired Japanese MLB players such as Ichiro, Hideki Matsui and Shohei Ohtani (although the players are depicted in their NPB uniforms).  They have started adding current NPB players more recently.

    Topps has also issued a Chrome set each year.  The first two iterations of this set were essentially a “Chrome” parallel of the flagship set although since then the set’s been different – a new checklist containing some different players and all new photos.  Hits again are parallels and autograph cards.

    Topps also issued NPB versions of their Bowman set in 2022 and 2023; their 206 set in 2023 and 2024; their Stadium Club set in 2024 and 2025; and their Finest set in 2025.  They’ve issued four sets a year since 2022 with only two in their initial year.

    So far, Topps has issued all of their NPB sets via packs.

    Both Epoch and Topps offer on demand cards for NPB.  Epoch’s are called Epoch One while Topps uses the Topps Now moniker for their Japanese cards as well.  It is extremely difficult to get these from overseas as neither company will ship these cards outside the country.  

    What I’ve listed here aren’t all the sets that these manufacturers put out but they’re most of the perennial ones and probably the most straightforward sets.  There are cards besides the ones from these companies but they are much more difficult to find from overseas.  Most if not all of the teams issue cards through their fan clubs and often give cards away with meals at the ballpark.  Like in the US, there may be cards given away with food products at stores and sometimes those cards are done in conjunction with BBM or Epoch.  

    There’s also usually some collectible card game (CCG) set available although the manufacturer seems to change every few years.  Bushiroad issued a CCG called DreamOrder in 2024 and 2025 but I’m not sure if they’re continuing this year.  Bandai is apparently issuing a CCG soon called “Fanstars League”.  Bandai had previously issued a CCG called “Owners League” in the 2010’s and both Takara and Konami have issued ones in the past.  

  • The 1953 Eddie Lopat All-Stars’ Tour of Japan

    The 1953 Eddie Lopat All-Stars’ Tour of Japan

    by C. Paul Rogers III

    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  C. Paul Rogers III tells us about the 1953 Major League All-Stars visit to Japan.

    Eddie Lopat was a fine, soft-tossing southpaw during a 12-year baseball career with the Chicago White Sox and most famously the New York Yankees. Called the Junkman because of his assortment of off-speed pitches, Lopat was also something of a baseball entrepreneur. He not only ran a winter baseball school in Florida, but, after barnstorming in Japan with Lefty O’Doul’s All-Stars following the 1951 major-league season, was very receptive to Frank Scott’s plan to put together a star-studded assemblage of major leaguers to again tour Japan after the 1953 season. Scott, a former traveling secretary of the Yankees who had since become a promoter, proposed calling the team the Eddie Lopat All-Stars. By 1953, after O’Doul’s 1949 breakthrough overseas trip to Japan with his San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, postseason tours to the Land of the Rising Sun had become more common. In fact, in 1953 the New York Giants also barnstormed in Japan at the same time as did Lopat’s team. For the Lopat tour, Scott secured the Mainichi Newspapers, owners of the Mainichi Orions of Japan’s Pacific League, as the official tour sponsor.

    Lopat and Scott spent much of the 1953 regular season recruiting players for the tour, including a somewhat reluctant Yogi Berra. Unbeknownst to Yogi, he was already a legend among Japanese baseball fans. At the All-Star Game in Cincinnati, a Japanese sportswriter who was helping Lopat and Scott with their recruiting was aware of Berra’s reputation as a chowhound and told Yogi about the exotic foods he would be able to consume in Japan. Yogi was skeptical, however, and wondered if bread was available in Japan. When the writer and Lopat both assured Yogi that Japan did indeed have bread, he signed on for the tour.

    Under the prevailing major-league rules, barnstorming “all-star teams” were limited to three players from any one team. With that constraint, a stellar lineup of major leaguers signed on for the tour including, in addition to Berra, future Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Robin Roberts, Eddie Mathews, Bob Lemon, Nellie Fox, and Enos Slaughter. All-Star-caliber players like Eddie Robinson, Curt Simmons, Mike Garcia, Harvey Kuenn (the 1953 American League Rookie of the Year), Jackie Jensen, and Hank Sauer committed as well, as did Gus Niarhos, who was added to serve as a second catcher behind Berra. Whether a slight exaggeration or not, they were billed as “the greatest array of major league stars ever to visit Japan.”

    Lopat and his Yankees teammates Mantle and Berra were fresh off a tense six-game World Series win over the Brooklyn Dodgers in which all had played pivotal roles. Lopat had won Game Two thanks to a two-run eighth-inning homer by Mantle, while Berra had batted .429 for the Series. A casualty to the tour because of the long season and World Series, however, was the 21-year-old Mantle, who, after battling injuries to both knees during the year, needed surgery and was a late scratch. Lopat quickly added Yankees teammate Billy Martin, who had hit .500 with 12 hits and eight runs batted in in the Series to win the Baseball Writers’ MVP Award.

    The Lopat All-Stars were to first play four exhibition games in Colorado and began gathering at the famous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs on October 6. Baseball had a no-fraternizing rule then and many of the players looked forward to getting to know ballplayers from other teams and from the other league. The Phillies’ Robin Roberts, who was known for his great control on the mound, remembered spotting fellow hurler Bob Lemon of the Cleveland Indians in the bar at the Broadmoor and going over to introduce himself. Lemon asked Roberts what he wanted to drink and Roberts said, “I’ll have a 7-Up.”

    Lemon didn’t say anything but pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered Roberts one. Roberts said, “No, thanks, I don’t smoke.”

    Lemon chuckled and said, “No wonder you don’t walk anyone.”

    The Lopat team’s opposition in Colorado was a squad of major leaguers put together by White Sox manager Paul Richards and highlighted by pitchers Billy Pierce and Mel Parnell, infielders Pete Runnels and Randy Jackson, and outfielders Dave Philley and Dale Mitchell.

    The big-league sluggers quickly took to the rarefied Colorado air as the teams combined for nine home runs in the first contest, a 13-8 victory for the Lopat All-Stars over the Richards group on October 8 in Pueblo. The 21-year-old Mathews, coming off a gargantuan 47-homer, 135-RBI season with the Braves, slugged two circuit shots (including one that traveled 500 feet), as did the Cubs’ 36-year-old Hank Sauer, the Cardinals’ 37-year-old Enos Slaughter, and, for the Richards team, Detroit catcher Matt Batts. Two days later, the Lopats blasted the Richards team 18-7 in Colorado Springs before the four-game series shifted to Bears Stadium in Denver for the final two contests. The results were the same, however, as the Lopat team won in the Mile-High City 8-4 and 14-8, the latter before a record crowd of 13,852, as fourtime American League All-Star Eddie Robinson of the Philadelphia A’s and Mathews both homered off Billy Pierce and drove in four runs apiece.

    Mathews went 7-for-8 in the two Denver contests and posted Little League-like numbers for the whole Colorado series, driving in 17 runs in the four games, while the veteran Slaughter had 12 hits, including two homers, two triples, and three doubles.

    The Lopat All-Stars then flew to Honolulu for more exhibition games after a brief stopover in San Francisco. On October 12 and 13 they played a pair of games in Honolulu against a local team called the Rural Red Sox and it did not take long for disaster to strike. In the first inning of the first game before a jammed-in crowd of 10,500, Mike Garcia of the Indians was struck in the ankle by a line drive after delivering a pitch. Garcia, who had won 20, 22, and 18 games the previous three seasons, was unable to push off from the mound after the injury and had to leave the game. Although Garcia stayed with the team for most of the tour, he was able to pitch only sparingly in Japan.

    Despite the loss of Garcia, the major leaguers clobbered the locals 10-2 and 15-0. After the second game, first baseman Robinson, who had homered in the rout, was stricken with a kidney-stone attack and was briefly hospitalized. He quickly recovered and resumed the tour for the All-Stars, who had brought along only 11 position players.

    On October 14 the Lopat squad flew to Kauai, where they pounded out 22 hits and defeated the Kauai All-Stars, 12-3, on a makeshift diamond fashioned from a football field. World Series MVP Martin was honored before the game and given a number of gifts, including an aloha shirt and a calabash bowl. He celebrated by smashing a long home run in his first time at bat and later adding a double and a single. The homer sailed through goalposts situated beyond left field, leading Robin Roberts to quip that it should have counted for three runs.

    The big leaguers next flew to Hilo on the Big Island, where on October 17, 5,000 saw them defeat a local all-star-team, 8-3, in a game benefiting the local Little League. But much more serious opposition awaited them back in Honolulu in the form of a three- game series against the Roy Campanella All-Stars, a team of African American major leaguers headed by Campanella, the reigning National League MVP, and including stellar players like Larry Doby, Don Newcombe, Billy Bruton, Joe Black, Junior Gilliam, George Crowe, Harry “Suitcase” Simpson, Bob Boyd, Dave Hoskins, Connie Johnson, and Jim Pendleton.

    The Lopats won the first game, 7-1, on the afternoon of October 18 over an obviously weary Campanella team that had flown in from Atlanta the previous day, with a plane change in Los Angeles. Jackie Jensen, then with the Washington Senators, was the hitting star with two home runs, while the Phillies’ Curt Simmons allowed only a single run in eight innings of mound work. By the next night, Campy’s squad was in much better shape and defeated the Lopat team 4-3 in 10 innings behind Joe Black.

    Roberts pitched the first nine innings for the Lopats with Yogi Berra behind the plate. In one at-bat, Campanella hit a towering foul ball behind the plate. Campy actually knocked the glove off Yogi’s hand on the follow-through of his swing. Berra looked down at his glove on the ground and then went back and caught the foul ball barehanded.

    Roberts picked up Yogi’s glove and handed it to him, asking him if he was okay. Yogi said, “That friggin’ ball hurt like hell.”

    Over the years Roberts wondered if he had somehow made that story up, since he never again saw a bat knock the glove off a catcher’s hand. Over 30 years later, he saw Berra at an Old-Timers game in Wrigley Field in Chicago and asked him about it. Yogi said, “That friggin’ ball hurt like hell,” the exact thing he had said in 1953.

    On October 20 Campanella’s squad won the rubber game, 7-1, behind the three-hit pitching of Don Newcombe. Nellie Fox displayed rare power by homering for the Lopats’ only run, while George Crowe hit two homers and Junior Gilliam one for the Campanellas.

    The Lopat team stayed at the famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach and had such a great time in Hawaii that many didn’t want to leave. Many of the players had brought their wives but some like Eddie Mathews, Billy Martin, and Eddie Robinson were single and so enjoyed the Honolulu nightlife. Not surprisingly given his before and after history, Martin got into a dispute with a guard at a performance of hula dancers attended by the entire team and sucker-punched him. Fortunately for Martin, no charges appear to have been brought.

    The Lopat squad did have a schedule to keep and flew on a Pan American Stratocruiser to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, arriving at 1:05 P.M. on October 22. They could scarcely have anticipated the frenzied reception they received. Although the New York Giants had been in the country for a week and had played five games, thousands of Japanese greeted the plane. After being officially greeted by executives from the trip sponsor, Mainichi, and receiving gifts from beautiful young Japanese women, the ballplayers climbed into convertibles, one player per car, to travel to the Nikkatsu Hotel, which would be their headquarters. The trip, which would normally take about 30 minutes, took almost three hours because of the throngs of fans lining the route and pressing against the cars as Japanese mounted and foot police were overwhelmed. Eddie Mathews likened it to the pope in a motorcade without police or security while it reminded Robin Roberts of a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

    That evening the Americans were guests at a gigantic pep rally in their honor at the Nichigeki Theater, where Hawaiian-born Japanese crooner Katsuhiko Haida introduced each player. American Ambassador John M. Allison also hosted a reception at the US Embassy for both the Lopats and the New York Giants, who had just returned to Tokyo from Sendai.

    Eddie Lopat All-Stars vs. Mainichi Orions, October 23, 1953 (Rob Fitts Collection

    The Lopat squad’s first game was the following afternoon, October 23, against the Mainichi Orions in Korakuen Stadium before 27,000. The Orions, who had finished fifth out of seven teams in Japan’s Pacific League, had the honor of playing the initial game due to its ownership by the Mainichi newspapers. Jackie Jensen won a home-run-hitting contest before the game by smacking six out of the yard, followed by Futoshi Nakanishi of the Nishitetsu Lions with three and then Berra, Mathews, and Hank Sauer with two each. Bobby Brown, stationed in Tokyo as a US Army doctor, was seen visiting in the dugout with his Yankee teammates Lopat, Berra, and Martin before the contest.

    The US and Japanese Army bands played after the home-run-hitting contest, followed by helicopters dropping bouquets of flowers to both managers. Another helicopter hovered low over the field and dropped the first ball but stirred up so much dust from the all-dirt infield that the start of the game was delayed.

    The game finally began with Curt Simmons on the mound for the Americans against southpaw Atsushi Aramaki. The visitors plated a run in the top of the second on a single by Sauer, a double by Robinson, and an error, but the Orions immediately rallied for three runs in the bottom half on three bunt singles and Kazuhiro Yamauchi’s double. The Orions led 4-1 heading into the top of the ninth but the Lopats staged a thrilling rally to tie the score behind a walk to Mathews, a two-run homer by Sauer, and Robinson’s game-tying circuit clout.

    Garcia, who had relieved Simmons in the seventh inning, was still pitching in the 10th but after allowing a single, reaggravated the leg injury suffered in Hawaii. He was forced to leave the game with the count of 1 and 1 against the Orions’ Charlie Hood, who was a minor-league player in the Phillies organization. (Hood was in the military stationed in Japan and had played 25 games for Mainichi during the season.) When Garcia had to depart, Lopat asked for volunteers to pitch. Roberts, sitting in the dugout, said he would and went out to the mound to warm up.

    During the game Roberts had told Bob Lemon next to him that he was familiar with Hood from Phillies spring training and that he was a really good low-ball hitter. Then, on his first pitch, Roberts threw Hood a low fastball which he ripped down the right-field line for a game-winning double. Lemon ribbed Roberts for the rest of the trip about his throwing a low fastball to a low-fastball hitter. In one of baseball’s little coincidences, Roberts and Lemon would both be elected to the Hall of Fame on the same day in 1976, 23 years later.

    The Lopat squad’s loss in the opener was only the third ever suffered by an American team of major leaguers in a postseason tour of Japan. The All-Stars were certainly embarrassed by losing to a mediocre team and afterward Roberts told the Japanese press, “Look, it’s a goodwill trip and so this was some of our goodwill. You won the first game, but you won’t win anymore.”

    Continue to read the full article on the SABR website

    The 1953 Eddie Lopat All-Stars’ Tour of Japan
  • The Light and Shadow of the Kiwoom Heroes, Called the MLB Academy

    The Light and Shadow of the Kiwoom Heroes, Called the MLB Academy

    by Jongho Kim

    Kiwoom Heroes are a club with a unique character within the KBO League. In their history, they are the only self-sustaining team in the KBO without a parent corporation. Even so, they have produced as many as five Major League players in a short span of time. This article introduces Kiwoom Heroes and tells the stories of how they sent their core players to the big leagues.

    A Poor Club, the Heroes

    In 2008, the Heroes were newly formed by taking over the players and coaching staff of the “Hyundai Unicorns” baseball club, which had been dissolved the year before. On paper they were a new expansion team, but people in the baseball world and the fans regarded the Heroes as the successor to Hyundai. The Heroes based themselves in the capital city of Seoul, but the fan base of Seoul was already shared between two founding year clubs from 1982, the LG Twins and the Doosan Bears. Because of this, the Heroes’ fan base came to be made up mainly of underdog oriented fans whose loyalty was not tied to the home region and fans in the southwestern part of Seoul, such as Guro District, Geumcheon District, and Yangcheon District, which are relatively close to the home stadium.

    Mokdong Stadium, the former home ballpark of the Nexen Heroes

    Gocheok Sky Dome, the current home ballpark of the Kiwoom Heroes

    Other KBO baseball clubs are operated as subsidiaries of large corporations. Even when a club takes a loss, the parent company adds hundreds of billions of won each year to the team’s finances as support. By contrast, the Heroes operate as a business entity themselves. Therefore, the club must gather its operating funds by recruiting sponsors from various companies. The fact that the Heroes have no parent company has, in an ironic way, made it easier for them to sign large-scale sponsorship contracts. For example, large corporations like Lotte or Samsung, which have many subsidiaries in a wide range of industries, are reluctant to have companies that compete with their subsidiaries appear as sponsors of their baseball clubs. The Heroes, however, have been able to recruit partner companies from a variety of industries as sponsors. The club divides its sponsors into six tiers, including Main Partner, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and General Partner. Depending on the tier, sponsors receive priority in placing their advertisements in visible spots such as on helmets, jerseys, and caps, and on the outfield fences of the ballpark. As of 2025, 49 companies are participating as sponsors of the Heroes.

    2025 Kiwoom Heroes sponsorship status from the Heroes official website

    The largest source of income for Kiwoom is its naming sponsorship agreements. The sponsor at the very top tier, the Main Partner, fills this role. Over the years, many companies have provided funds and promoted their brands by entering into naming sponsorship agreements. Woori Tobacco in 2008, Nexen Tire from 2010 to 2018, and Kiwoom Securities from 2019 have each represented the club with their names. The reason the team is currently called Kiwoom Heroes is that Kiwoom Securities agreed to pay the club fifty billion won over five years. In this way, the present-day Heroes stand in a situation that is completely different from the days when the Hyundai Unicorns, backed by the support of the large Hyundai conglomerate, were one of the most powerful teams in the league.

    Nexen-Kiwoom Heroes uniforms

    The Background of Producing Major Leaguers

    Even so, compared to other clubs, the Heroes’ financial condition has not been good, and they have had to tighten their belts every year. The easiest method for the club to secure cash has been selling players. From the early days of the club, the Heroes sustained themselves by transferring starting players through trades or free agency and using the transfer fees and compensation money they received. For example, when they sent away prospects Won-sam Jang, a left-handedpitcher drafted in the Hyundai Unicorns era, and Jae-gyun Hwang, a right-handed hitting infielder, the Heroes received transfer fees of three point five billion won, and two billion won, respectively. 

    In 2015, when right-handed hitting outfielder Han-joon Yoo, who had hit 20 home runs the year before, and right-handedrelief pitcher Seung-lak Son, a former saves leader, moved as free agents to expansion team KT Wiz and the Lotte Giants, the Heroes received a total of two point four billion won in compensation from those two teams. The club gained revenue, but Heroes fans had to watch their own players display their talents for other teams, which left a bitter feeling. In the end, the production of Major Leaguers was also not a matter of choice but a necessity for the club to survive. Posting fees for overseas transfers are much higher than domestic transfer fees. Because of that, the club encouraged its players all the more strongly to go to the United States. The vacancies left by departing starting players were filled by new players, and the club chose a strategy of “developmental rebuilding,” in which they raised these players as starters and then transferred them again. A representative example of this is the line of shortstops that the team has produced in order, from Jung-ho Kang to Ha-seong Kim to Hyeseong Kim. 

    The fact that the club gave many opportunities to rookies and maintained a relatively free team atmosphere also contributed greatly to the production of Major Leaguers. In fact, when Jung Hoo Lee won the KBO Rookie of the Year award in 2017, he said in an interview, “I am grateful to the manager for giving many opportunities to someone like me who was lacking.” When Ha-seong Kim received the Golden Glove Award in 2019, he said, “I am grateful to the club for creating an environment where rookies can run around freely.” After the 2025 season, one of the team’s core players, infielder Sung-mun Song, also declared that he would attempt to move to the United States, and the Heroes are now taking on the challenge of producing their sixth Major Leaguer.

    Jung-ho Kang, Byung-ho Park, Ha-seong Kim, Jung Hoo Lee, Hyeseong Kim
    (Posting fees and contract amounts were four years, 11 million dollars, four years, 12 million dollars, four years, 28 million dollars, and a three-plus-two-year deal worth 22 million dollars, respectively.)

    The Shadow of the Heroes

    However, behind this virtuous cycle, there have also been controversies. Although the departures to MLB were presented as success stories, the fundamental way the club operates has not changed significantly. Instead of reinvesting the posting fees in the club’s infrastructure, the Heroes have often cut spending further and chosen cheaper methods, even when signing players. In many cases, they have filled spots that could not be filled with their own prospects by signing players who had been released by other teams. Among such acquisitions, only a few, such as left-handed hitting outfielder Yongkyu Lee, who had been with the Hanwha Eagles, right-handed pitcher Changmin Lim from the Doosan Bears, and right-handed hitting infielder Sunjin Oh from the Lotte Giants, managed to play meaningful roles. The club’s philosophy has also shown itself clearly in the recruitment of foreign players. The Heroes signed left-handed pitcher Andrew Van Hekken for $250,000 in 2012, right-handed pitcher Jake Brigham for $450,000 in 2017, right-handed hitting outfielder Jerry Sands for $100,000 in 2018, and left-handed pitcher Eric Jokisch for $500,000 in 2019, all on relatively low-costdeals. By good fortune, these players became among the best in the league, but not all foreign players turned out that way. Many of the foreign players signed by the Heroes were frequently replaced because of injuries or poor performance. 

    Even after the club’s finances returned to the black, the Heroes still showed a stingy attitude toward investing in players, and some fans, tired of this, have steadily turned away from the club. On top of this, the Heroes have tried to scoop up even talented amateur players. Since the 2020s, it has become common for the club to trade mid-level players in order to receive draft picks. Through this, the Heroes have obtained more rookies than other teams. However, many Heroes fans express dissatisfaction with the attitude of sacrificing the present while looking excessively only to the future. Then, is the development of the prospects they acquire going well? Recent moves suggest that this is not the case. Right-handedpitcher Jae-young Jang, who joined the club with a huge signing bonus of 900 million won, an unusually large amount for Kiwoom, eventually converted to hitting due to control problems. Yun-ha Kim, known as the nephew of former Major Leaguer Chan Ho Park, has recorded only one win in two seasons and is struggling in the first team. Catcher Dong-heon Kim, who was drafted with a pick obtained by sending away the team’s starting catcher Dong-won Park, missed an entire year after undergoing elbow surgery. 

    The pillars of the team have left, and as lineups have been filled with players lacking experience, the team’s overall strength has weakened. An even bigger problem is that the second team, which should be the channel for developing players through systematic training, is also weak. The strategy of using rookies immediately in the first team has, in an ironic way, become a cause of weakening the second team, which is responsible for player development. The Heroes often use rookies in the first team in the same season they are drafted. For rookies, it may feel good to get immediate opportunities, but problems of overuse, injuries, and game quality inevitably follow. Even so, with no clear alternatives, a system in which players are developed “by force” in the first team has become fixed. 

    In the 2025 opening game, eight rookies were registered on active rosters across the ten teams in the league, and three of them belonged to the Heroes. The fact that the Heroes neglect their second team has become known not only to insiders but also to fans. The Heroes’ second team has changed its training base three times, leaving the old Goyang Wondang Baseball Stadium used by the Hyundai Unicorns second team, moving to Gangjin in South Jeolla Province from 2010 to 2013, then to Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province from 2014 to 2018, and finally returning to Goyang in 2019. In particular, the Gangjin Baseball Stadium in South Jeolla Province, which served as the second team’s training ground from 2010 to 2013, is about 400 kilometers, roughly 248 miles, away from Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul, making it the height of inefficiency. The poor conditions of the stadium and the inadequate meals for second team players became recurring sources of controversy. 

    In recent years, as KBO clubs have realized the importance of their second teams, they have begun to build new ballparks and invest heavily in player development. The Heroes, who have lacked sufficient financial resources from the beginning, have not been able to even consider such investments. A club that barely has enough to operate the first team has no room to pay attention to the second team, and in the second team, there are no players ready to be called up to the first team, creating a vicious cycle. As these various problems piled up, the Heroes have finished in a distant last place for three consecutive years since 2023. The limits of the low-cost, high-efficiency baseball that the Heroes pursued are now being exposed. Even so, the club is in a situation where it puts its energy only into trading players and collecting prospects, instead of investing in the reinforcement of the roster. Recently, KBO clubs have discussed revisions to the salary cap system. The subject was to create not only an upper limit but also a lower limit in order to induce a certain minimum level of investment. At the KBO board meeting held on September 23, 2025, the league decided on a maximum lower limit of 6.06538 billion won and plans to implement the system beginning in 2027. Many see this as a measure aimed at the Heroes, who invest relatively little. Despite many disadvantages, such as being a self-sustaining club and having a shallow fan base, the Heroes have reached the Korean Series three times and have become the original club of five Major Leaguers. Free from the need to consider a parent company’s interests, the Heroes once created miraculous stories and brought a fresh breeze to the league. Now, however, the Heroes are closer to being the “ugly duckling” of the league than to their past glory. The club’s other nickname, the MLB Academy, can be read as a survival strategy that has been turned into marketing rather than a pure badge of honor.

  • The School in Korea That Has Produced the Most MLB Players: The History of Gwangju Ilgo

    The School in Korea That Has Produced the Most MLB Players: The History of Gwangju Ilgo

    by Taein Chun

    Gwangju Jeil High School, known as Gwangju Ilgo, is located in Gwangju Metropolitan City in the southwestern region of Korea and is the school that has produced the greatest number of Major League Baseball players in the country. In the early 2000s, Jae Weong[c1]  Seo of the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, Byung-hyun Kim of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox, and Hee-seop Choi of the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers reached the MLB stage one after another. Although the three played for different teams, they shared the distinction of being Gwangju Ilgo alumni, and they were called the Gwangju Ilgo Trio as they demonstrated the international competitiveness of Korean baseball. In the mid-2010s, Jung-ho Kang of the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first KBO hitter to move directly to MLB, opening a new path. In 2025, Kim Sung Joon signed with the Texas Rangers as the next emerging player. A total of five Gwangju Ilgo alumni have signed with MLB organizations, the most among Korean high schools. The school also ranks among the highest domestically for producing KBO league players, with 119 Gwangju Ilgo graduates appearing in first division games as of 2024.

    1924, The Spark of Anti-Japanese Spirit That Began on a Baseball Field

    Baseball at Gwangju Ilgo was not simply a sport from the beginning but a symbol of resistance and pride. The baseball team, founded in 1923, is one of the oldest in Korean high school baseball. In June of the following year, the baseball team of what was then Gwangju Higher Common School defeated a Japanese select team called Star by a score of 1 to 0 in an exhibition match. In colonial Korea, the victory of Korean students over a Japanese team was a rare moment of national joy. The field filled with cheers as players and spectators celebrated together, shouting manse. The atmosphere changed abruptly when Star’s manager, Ando Susumu, stormed onto the field in protest, causing chaos as spectators and players clashed, and the Japanese cheering section also joined. Japanese police intervened, and Ando claimed that he had been struck in the forehead by a spike, identifying nine Gwangju players as the attackers. They were immediately detained. Outraged students launched a schoolwide strike that lasted three months. This incident marked the first organized student protest against colonial rule and served as a catalyst for the 1929 Gwangju Student Independence Movement. A monument to the movement still stands on the school grounds. Before national tournaments, Gwangju Ilgo players bow their heads before the monument, renewing their resolve never to give up. This tradition grew into the team’s philosophy, and their strong fundamentals and concentration reflect this spirit.

    Gwangju Ilgo students reenacting the starting point of the Gwangju Student Independence Movement

    1980, The Silent Time That Baseball in Gwangju Protected

    If Gwangju Ilgo in the 1920s contained an anti-Japanese consciousness, then its baseball in the 1980s walked alongside the era of democratization. In the spring of 1980, citizen protests for democracy against the military regime took place in Gwangju. This event, which is called the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, became a major turning point in modern Korean history. At the time, some Haitai Tigers players were still students, and that generation experienced up close the confusion and sacrifice that engulfed the entire city. The atmosphere of that time, when soldiers fired guns at citizens, left a deep impression on the team’s attitude. The more their home city, Gwangju, fell into turmoil, the more the Haitai Tigers players banded together and comforted the hearts of citizens with strong teamwork and hustle play. Former Haitai Tigers player Chae-geun Jang was in Gwangju on May 18. He remembers it as follows. “There were helicopters, soldiers, and the sound of gunfire. At night, we turned off the lights and stayed quiet. I even remember seeing bodies on the street.” Jang said that when May came, fans and players naturally spoke about those memories. For several years afterward, due to political instability, home games were not held in Gwangju around May 18. The government, concerned about large crowds in the Gwangju area around the May 18 memorial, requested that the Korea Baseball Organization adjust its schedule. As a result, throughout the 1980s, the Haitai Tigers had to play games in other regions around May 18. Only in 2000, the twentieth anniversary of the democratization movement, was a home game in Gwangju finally held again on May 18.

    In 1986, the military regime instructed the KBO to move the May 18 game in Gwangju to another region

    Even so, Haitai did not waver. Beginning with their first Korean Series championship in 1983, they went on to win four consecutive titles from 1986 to 1989, five championships in the 1980s, and four more in the 1990s, establishing what came to be called the Haitai dynasty. At the center of this dynasty were core players from Gwangju Ilgo such as Dong-yeol Sun, Lee[c1]  Kang-chul Lee, and Jong-beom Lee. With solid fundamentals and concentration as their weapons, they led the team and helped raise the overall standard of Korean professional baseball. In this way, baseball in Gwangju took root as a source of regional pride.

     

    The Characteristics and Development Environment of the Gwangju Region

    The intense baseball passion in Gwangju began during the golden age of the Haitai Tigers in the 1980s and 1990s. Haitai’s repeated championships became a source of pride for the region, and baseball took firm root as Gwangju’s representative sport. From this period on, parents increasingly tried to raise their children as baseball players, and Gwangju came to be recognized as a city where one could succeed through baseball. Gwangju is a mid-sized city with a population of around 1.4 million. In general, in a city of this size in Korea, maintaining elementary, middle, and high school baseball teams in a stable way is difficult, but Gwangju is an exception. Baseball teams at schools across the region operate on a steady basis, and youth baseball teams are also active. This environment has led to a youth baseball culture in which many players set Gwangju Ilgo as their target school. In addition to Gwangju Ilgo, there are other prestigious baseball schools in the city,such as Jinheung High School and Dongseong High School, the former Gwangju Commercial High School. These schools also have experience winning national tournaments, but in terms of the concentration of player resources and students who hope to advance, Gwangju Ilgo stands at the top. Former KBO technical committee chair In-sik Kim evaluated the situation by saying that while Busan divides its talent between Kyungnam High and Busan High, in Gwangju, the player pool is concentrated at Gwangju Ilgo. Gwangju Ilgo recruits players not only from Gwangju but from all across South Jeolla Province, and promising prospects from middle schools in the area, such as Mudeung Middle School and Chungjang Middle School, as well as nearby cities including Naju and Suncheon, also join the program. As a result, internal competition becomes very intense, and players who pass through that competition show a high level of fundamentals, physical conditioning, and game focus.

    Founding members of the Haitai Tigers

    Industrialization and economic growth in Korea have taken place mainly in the capital region, meaning Seoul and Gyeonggi, and in the Gyeongsang region, including Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, and the surrounding provinces. In contrast, the Honam region has had a relatively weaker economic base. Because of this, baseball has been seen as a realistic career path through which one can raise social status by effort and performance. In such an environment, when parents made decisions about their children’s future, they often favored sports, especially baseball. This culture has continued across generations up to the present. Gwangju Ilgo still supports the roots of Korean baseball today. Even as generations change, the philosophy of valuing fundamentals and mental strength has not changed. From its founding in 1923 to MLB advancement in 2025, Gwangju Ilgo has been both the place that has created the present of Korean baseball over a century and the site where its future is being prepared.

  • The 1913-1914 Chicago White Sox-New York Giants World Tour

    The 1913-1914 Chicago White Sox-New York Giants World Tour

    by Stephen D. Boren and James Elfers

    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 Stephen D. Boren and James Elfers discuss the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants stop in Japan during their 1913-14 world tour.

    On January 27, 1913, John McGraw of the National League champion New York Giants and Charles Comiskey, owner of the American League Chicago White Sox, announced their plans for a world tour to be held after the 1913 World Series. The tour would be modeled after the 1888-1889 “Great Baseball Trip Around the World” when A.G. Spalding’s Chicago National League Club, led by captain Adrian “Cap” Anson, and a team selected from the National League and American Association by John M. Ward traveled the globe playing in New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, (Egypt, and Europe. When Comiskey heard of the Spalding world trip he supposedly stated, “Someday I will take a team of my own around the world.”

    The tour would begin in Cincinnati and the teams would barnstorm across the country until they reached Vancouver, British Columbia, on November 19. From there, they would sail to Japan, China, the Philippines, Australia, Ceylon, Egypt, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom, before returning to New York on March 6, 1914. Comiskey’s close friend Ted Sullivan, a former manager and minor league executive, was named the advance scout to organize the tour, and sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu, Japan, and Australia. While Spalding’s tour had supposedly broken even, Sullivan felt that this one would make money. A few months later, Comiskey’s advance agent, Dick Bunnell, sailed for Europe to complete the arrangements on that continent.

    In June 1913, after White Sox manager James Callahan “called on President Woodrow Wilson to explain the proposed world tour … Wilson expressed his approval not only because he said he considered himself a base ball fan, but because he thought the movement might result in the creation of an international league.” Wilson also thought the tour might help advance international peace and amity.

    Many New York players were not enthusiastic about the proposed tour. The original plan required each person to personally put up $1,500 for expenses and for all to share equally in the profits. The players thought it would be a great trip but too expensive. The sponsors understood the players’ reluctance to make the financial commitment. McGraw initially refused to discuss the trip until the Giants were sure of winning the pennant and thus a share of the World Series money, until on July 29 he held a team meeting and for the first time officially informed his players of the world tour. He showed them the financial arrangements and received a large number of positive commitments, from Christy Mathewson and Chief Meyers among others. Meanwhile, Comiskey and Callahan began contacting players from other American League teams in case their players refused to go under the proposed conditions.

    On September 24 Charles Comiskey announced that 75 people would go on the World Tour. Each player would be required to post $300 to guarantee his appearance on the ship but once on board, the money would be refunded. For such an unprecedented tour with so many passengers, great logistic and fiscal planning was needed, and both Comiskey and McGraw were prepared to write checks of $100,000 to defray additional expenses.

    On October 7 Harry M. Grabiner, Comiskey’s personal representative, announced that he was finalizing the plans for the massive around-the-world trip. He said he expected the tour to be the largest sporting event ever. Preliminary reports from foreign countries suggested that baseball would be a worldwide topic before the players returned home. Grabiner said he had multiple requests for exhibition games from American Western cities. The tour was advertised like a circus with long billboard posters. Arrangements were made to film the games in foreign cities, as well as life on the ship and receptions with foreign monarchs and ambassadors.

    The tour left Chicago on the night of October 19 on a special train of five all-steel cars including an observation car and a combination baggage and buffet car. This traveling hotel was the party’s home as they barnstormed across the Midwest and West Coast, playing 31 games in 27 cities, before sailing for Japan from Vancouver a month later.

    By the time the teams reached Vancouver, their rosters had shrunk. Christy Mathewson and Chief Meyers decided not to accompany the teams across the Pacific. To even the squads, the White Sox loaned Urban “Red” Faber to the Giants. The final Giants roster consisted of pitchers Bunny Hearn (Giants), George Wiltse (Giants), and Faber (White Sox); catcher Ivey Wingo (Cardinals); first baseman Fred Merkle (Giants); second baseman Larry Doyle (Giants); third baseman Hans Lobert (Phillies); shortstop Mickey Doolin (Phillies); and outfielders Lee Magee (Cardinals), Jim Thorpe (Giants), and Mike Donlin (Giants).

    Of the 11 “New York” players, there were only three pitchers. There were no backup infielders, outfielders, or catchers. Counting Mike Donlin, who did not play in the major leagues in 1913 (he did return to the Giants in 1914), there were only six actual members of the New York Giants, and of those six, only Merkle and Doyle were regulars. Hearn had been in only two games (1-1 record) and Wiltse had not won a single game.

    In the end, few of the White Sox players were willing to go. Of the 13 players on the roster, only six were White Sox and one was manager Callahan, who had played in only six games all season. There were three pitchers but no backup infielders. The official “White Sox” roster consisted of pitchers Jim Scott (White Sox), Joe Benz (White Sox), and Walter Leverenz (St. Louis Browns); catchers Andy Slight (Des Moines, Western League) and Jack Bliss (Cardinals); first baseman Tom Daly (White Sox); second baseman Germany Schaefer (Washington Senators); shortstop Buck Weaver (White Sox); third baseman Dick Egan (Brooklyn Robins); and outfielders Tris Speaker (Red Sox), Sam Crawford (Tigers), and Steve Evans (Cardinals). Jack Bliss had previously been to Japan as a member of the 1908 Reach All-Americans.

    Besides the 24 players, the party included McGraw; Comiskey; umpires Bill Klem and Jack Sheridan; Chicago secretary N.L. O’Neil; A.P. Anderson (manager of the tour); Dick Bunnell (manager and director of the tour); Ted Sullivan (author and lecturer); and Chicago newspaper writers Gus Axelson (Record-Herald) and Joseph Farrell (Tribune). There were also wives, McGraw’s personal physician, Dr. Frank Finley, several children, and other friends.

    On November 19, 1913, the tourists boarded the RMS Empress of Japan in Vancouver and began their journey across the Pacific. For 17 days, the passengers endured tossing seas, driving rains, and even a typhoon. Most of the players suffered from seasickness and some, like Tris Speaker and Red Faber, could barely eat. On December 6 they finally arrived in Yokohama, three days behind schedule. Prior to their arrival, only three American college squads and one professional team had traveled to Japan. The lone professional team, the Reach All-Americans, consisted mostly of minor-league players with a smattering of undistinguished major leaguers. McGraw and Comiskey’s clubs would showcase major-league stars to the Japanese fans for the first time.

    Continue to read the full article on the SABR website

    The 1913-1914 Chicago White Sox-New York Giants World Tour
  • Check out the new video The Story of Nomomania!

    Check out the new video The Story of Nomomania!

    The Los Angeles Dodgers have just released a fantastic video on Youtube called The Story of Nomomania. With great game footage and exclusive interviews with Hideo Nomo, Peter O’Malley, Mike Piazza, and Don Nomura, I think fans will truly enjoy watching.

  • MID-DECADE MILESTONES IN U.S.–JAPAN BASEBALL RELATIONS (1875–2025) 

    MID-DECADE MILESTONES IN U.S.–JAPAN BASEBALL RELATIONS (1875–2025) 

    by Bill Staples, Jr.

    A 150-Year Journey Through the Game That Bridges Nations

    Ichiro Suzuki’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on July 27, 2025 is a milestone worth celebrating—and an opportunity to reflect on the progress of U.S.–Japan baseball relations. From Ichiro’s enshrinement to the sandlot games played by Japanese school children during the 1870s, the history of baseball between the U.S. and Japan is a rich narrative of cultural exchange, perseverance, diplomacy, and innovation.

    With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to use Ichiro’s 2025 achievement as a springboard to explore key mid-decade milestones (years ending in five) in the U.S.–Japan baseball journey. Let’s look at how the sport evolved from a foreign curiosity into a shared national passion—and ultimately, a bridge between two nations.

    Let’s begin in the present and work our way backward.

    NOTE: The full version of this article with all illustrations and links is available on Bill Staples, Jr’s blog, International Pastime.

    https://billstaples.blogspot.com/2025/04/mid-decade-milestones-in-usjapan.html

    2025
    Ichiro Suzuki     was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025, receiving 393 out of 394 votes (99.75%) in his first year on the ballot. This made him the first Japanese-born position player elected to Cooperstown, though he fell one vote shy of unanimous selection—a distinction held by Mariano Rivera in 2019. In anticipation of his enshrinement, the Hall of Fame created a new exhibit titled Yakyu | Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game. The exhibit will open in July 2025 and remain on display for at least five years. Learn more at: https://baseballhall.org/yakyu.  

    2015
    Ichiro, now with the Miami Marlins, begins symbolically “passing the torch” to Shohei Ohtani, who is in the second year of his professional career with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. The 2015 season marks Ichiro’s first appearance as a pitcher, setting the stage for a rare and unexpected future Hall of Fame connection between Ichiro and Ohtani—two Japanese-born players who both pitched and hit a grand slam during their MLB careers. Ichiro hit just one grand slam, while Ohtani has hit three (as of this post), and intriguingly, all of them against the Tampa Bay Rays.

    2005
    Tadahito Iguchi     becomes the first Japanese-born player to compete in and win a World Series, contributing to the Chicago White Sox’s historic run. (Note: Hideki Irabu received a World Series ring as a member of the 1998 and 1998 New York Yankees but did not play in any postseason games). Check out Iguchi’s SABR Bio.

    1995
    Hideo Nomo     joins the Los Angeles Dodgers, earning Rookie of the Year, an all-star game start, and igniting “Nomomania.” His success breaks open the modern pipeline between NPB and MLB and reshapes the perception of Japanese players on the global stage. Check out Nomo’s SABR Bio.

    1985
    Pete Rose     breaks Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record using a Mizuno bat. After visiting Japan in 1978, Rose teamed up with sports agent Cappy Harada to sign a sponsorship deal with Mizuno in 1980. Rose’s partnership with Mizuno marked a significant moment in sports history, symbolizing Japan’s growing influence in global sports and helping to establish Japanese manufacturers as credible names in American dugouts and MLB clubhouses.

    1975
    The Chunichi Dragons, led by manager Wally Yonamine, and the Yomiuri Giants, led by manager Shigeo Nagashima, conduct spring training in Florida. Meanwhile, American-born manager Joe Lutz and Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn contribute to Japanese baseball by joining the Hiroshima Carp. Lutz becomes the second U.S.-born manager in NPB history after WWII, following Hawaii-native Yonamine. However, Lutz’s time with the Carp is short-lived, as he steps down just weeks into the new season. Spahn continues his role with the Carp and states that he prefers working in Japan compared to the U.S.

    Joe Lutz, Hiroshima Carp 1975

    1965
    Masanori Murakami     finishes his rookie season with the San Francisco Giants after debuting in 1964, becoming the first Japanese-born player in MLB. His success inspires generations of Japanese players to dream of American stardom.

    Masanori Murakami

    1955
    After a season in the minor leagues and facing lingering post–World War II anti-Japanese sentiment, California native Satoshi “Fibber” Hirayama chose to continue his professional baseball career in Japan, signing with the Hiroshima Carp. That same season, the New York Yankees toured Japan, and afterward, former Japanese pitching star and Hawai‘i native Bozo Wakabayashi was hired as a scout for the team. However, Yankees manager Casey Stengel resisted the idea of signing Japanese players, citing concerns about adding new talent to an already talent-heavy roster.

    Fibber Hirayama with Casey Stengel, 1955

    1945
    In the aftermath of World War II, baseball became a source of healing and pride for Japanese Americans unjustly incarcerated behind barbed wire. At the Gila River camp in Arizona, the Butte High Eagles stunned the defending state champions, the Tucson High Badgers, with an 11–10 extra-innings victory. Coach Kenichi Zenimura called it “the greatest game ever played at Gila.” After graduating, Eagles second baseman Kenso Zenimura relocated to Chicago, where he attended the East-West All-Star Game at Comiskey Park and watched Kansas City Monarchs standout Jackie Robinson during his lone season in the Negro Leagues.

    Kenichi Zenimura at Gila River in 1945

    1935
    The founding of the Tokyo Giants paved the way for the launch of the Japanese Professional Baseball League in 1936. During the team’s groundbreaking U.S. tour, four players — pitchers Victor Starffin and Eiji Sawamura, infielder Takeo Tabe, and outfielder Jimmy Horio — attracted interest from American professional clubs and may have received contract offers. However, the 1924 Immigration Act rendered Japanese-born players ineligible to sign with U.S. teams. Only one player—Hawaii-born Horio—was eligible under U.S. law. He signed with the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League for the 1935 season but returned to Japan the following year to join the Hankyu Braves in the new professional league.

    Jimmy Horio with Sacramento in 1935

    1925
    Sponsored by the Osaka Mainichi newspaper, a semipro team called Daimai was formed and sent on tour in the United States, where they faced American universities and semi-pro clubs, including the Japanese American Fresno Athletic Club (FAC). In early September, the FAC played a doubleheader at White Sox Park in Los Angeles—the first game against Daimai, and the second against the L.A. White Sox, the premier Negro Leagues team in Southern California. Behind the strong pitching of Kenso Nushida, FAC edged out the White Sox 5–4, setting the stage for rematches in 1926 and parallel tours of Japan in 1927. White Sox manager Lon Goodwin rebranded his team as the Philadelphia Royal Giants for the Japan tour, ushering in a new era of international baseball exchange.

    Catcher O’Neal Pullen and pitcher Jay Johnson of the Philadelphia Royal Giants in 1927. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

    1915
    The Hawaiian Travelers, a barnstorming team made up of Chinese and Japanese Americans from the Hawaiian Territories, toured the U.S. mainland in the early 20th century. Two Japanese players, Jimmy Moriyama and Andy Yamashiro, joined the team under assumed Chinese identities, playing as “Chin” and “Yim.” The Travelers impressed fans and opponents alike with victories over top Negro League clubs such as the Lincoln Giants and Brooklyn Royal Giants—both teams now designated as major league caliber by SABR. After a return tour, Yamashiro, still using the name Andy Yim, signed with the Gettysburg Ponies of the Class D Blue Ridge League in 1917, quietly becoming the first Japanese American to join an integrated professional team—though history recorded him only under his adopted identity. Meanwhile, an Osaka newspaper, Asahi Shinbun, sponsors a national tournament for high school teams that eventually becomes one of the most popular sporting events in Japan (known today as the Koshien Tournament).

    The Hawaiian Travelers in 1914

    1905
    The 1905 Waseda University baseball tour was the first time a Japanese college team traveled to the United States to compete, playing 26 games along the West Coast and finishing with a record of 7 wins and 19 losses. The team was led by Abe Isō, a Waseda professor, Unitarian minister, and politician who saw baseball as a powerful tool for international exchange and cultural diplomacy. Although Waseda struggled on the field, the tour was a landmark moment in U.S.–Japan relations, helping to lay the groundwork for future athletic and cultural connections between the two nations. Meanwhile, John McGraw of the New York Giants gave a tryout to a Japanese outfielder known as “Sugimoto.” However, shortly after Sugimoto’s arrival at spring training, discussions in the press about enforcing the color line surface. In response, Sugimoto chose to leave the tryout of his own accord.

    1905 Waseda University Baseball 

    1895
    Dunham White Stevens    , the American Secretary of the Japanese Legation in Washington, was described as “a baseball crank” and persuaded Japanese Minister Shinichiro Kurino to join him at several games. This gesture reflected one of the earliest examples of diplomatic engagement through sport. Meanwhile, Japanese American ballplayers were competing in amateur leagues in Chicago, and by 1897, a promising outfielder—identified in the press only as the cousin of wrestler Sorikichi Matsuda—was reportedly scouted by Patsy Tebeau, manager of the major league Cleveland Spiders.

    1887 Allen & Ginter trading card of Sorakichi Matsuda

    1885
    Sankichi Akamoto    , a young Japanese acrobat and baseball enthusiast, played the game in America, blending cultural performance with sport. His presence foreshadowed the dual role many Japanese athletes would later assume—as both competitors and cultural ambassadors. Around the same time, at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Japanese student Aisuke Kabayama competed on the school’s tennis and baseball clubs, eventually earning a spot on the varsity baseball team the following season. His participation is believed to be the earliest recorded instance of a Japanese-born player in U.S. college baseball.

    The Akimoto Japanese Troupe, circa. 1885. Robert Meyers Collection

    1875
    The seeds of Japanese baseball began to take root in the early 1870s, as people of Japanese ancestry played the game on both sides of the Pacific. In 1873, Albert G. Bates, an American teacher in Tokyo, organized what’s considered the first formal school-level baseball game in Japan. According to Japanese sports historian Ikuo Abe, the game occurred on the grounds of the Zojiji Temple in Tokyo (image below). Tragically, in early 1875, Bates died at just 20 years old from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning while visiting a public bathhouse.

    “View of Zōjōji Temple at Shiba,” by Yorozuya Kichibei (1790-1848), Minneapolis Institute of Art