Japan and Baseball

[Anonymous]

As with the Americans, the Japanese have a love for" Amerias's Pasttime." The two league system in Japanese baseball is similar to our American and National leagues . The American league has a designated hitter and the National league doesn't.

[Anonymous]

One of the most legendary baseball stadiums in Japan is Koshien, which is near Kobe. I was fortunate enough to go there for a game while I was in Japan. When I arrived, I was shocked to see a large plaque honoring Babe Ruth's visit -- I hadn't had any idea that he had been to Japan or played any games there! Here is a link to the Koshien homepage, though it's in Japanese.
http://www.hanshin.co.jp/koshien/

[Anonymous]

I am an avid baseball fan (so looking forward to new Dodger ownership!) and yes the New York Yankees visited Japan in 1934 (with the baseball greats: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig). What a big event that must have been -- they, of course, sailed over for their visit.

It has always interested as to where baseball has taken hold....Japan is one spot and actually a few players have also
come from Korea. Then on the other side of the world....baseball is king in the Dom Repub and in Venezuela.
Pat Lamkie

[Anonymous]

I went to the LA Olympics in 1984 to see the baseball exhibition. The game I saw was Japan vs Canada (I think). There were so many differences as the teams warmed up, especially with Japan. It seemed everyone couldn't throw the ball around enough. In the US, when a grounder occurs, the first baseman always gets the ball to the Third baseman so HE can give it to the pitcher. Always. The Japanese guys threw it to EVERYONE at least twice! In the second inning the second baseman was getting excited I suppose and threw the ball so far over the first baseman it landed 6 rows in. And this was just tossing the ball around after an out! Crazy stuff, but not so crazy if you were a Canadian: The Japanese pitcher struck out the side in the first inning.
edited by mcjones on 1/12/2012

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Japan's interest in baseball began as early as 1873. It was introduced at Kaisei Gakko which is currently Tokyo University by an American teacher, Horace Mann. Initially, baseball was played in universities, high schools, and even middle schools at an amateur level. It was not until after World War II that baseball became a popular professional sport in Japan. It is interesting to know that there are currently two major leagues modeled after the American baseball league in Japan. I was not quite sure what the difference was between the two leagues, but I understand the Central League plays without a designated hitter and the Pacific League plays with a designated hitter.

[Author]

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