Powered
by major leaguers Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan
won the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, showing it deserves
to be considered among the top baseball countries in the world.
Matsuzaka, now with the Red Sox, was crowned the Classic MVP
after compiling a 3-0 record with a 1.38 ERA.
In international competition, Japan has won medals in three
of the last four Olympic Games, taking a silver medal in 1996
and bronze medals in 1992 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006, Japan
also won the first two Konami Cup Asia Series, a round-robin
tournament among the winners of the professional leagues of
Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and a team of China baseball
All-Stars.
According to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, baseball
was introduced to Japanese students by Horace Wilson, a professor
of English and mathematics at Tokyo University, in 1872. It
continued to grow in popularity among high school and college
students into the twentieth century. In 1931 and 1934, all-star
teams headed by American legends Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth
played a series of games against local teams in Japan. In
1936, a five team Japanese professional league was organized,
which was discontinued eight years later due to World War
II. After the war, baseball resumed play at both the school
and professional levels. In 1950, a two league system developed—the
Central and Pacific leagues—leading up to the first
Japan Series between the two league winners.
Each league currently consists of 6 teams, known by their
corporate owners or sponsors rather than, as in the United
States, the cities or regions they play in. Currently, the
Pacific League plays a 136-game schedule and the Central League
plays 146 games, with 36 inter-league games, culminating in
a playoffs and the 7-game Japan Series. Notable differences
from play in the United States are that the strike zone is
generally larger, the ball slightly smaller and wound tighter,
and a game ends in a draw if the scored is still tied after
12 innings. Each team is limited to three foreigners. As can
be seen in the video below, Japanese fans are often louder
and more animated than those in the states:
Sadaharu Oh amassed a total of 868 home runs over 22 seasons
with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, surpassing Hank Aaron’s
record 755 home runs in 1977. Oh also led the Central League
in batting 5 times, won 2 triple crowns, and 9 league MVP
awards. Oh still holds the Japan single season home run record
at 55, which has been challenged by Randy Bass’s 54
homers in 1985 and tied by Tuffy Rhodes in 2001 and Alex Cabrera
in 2002. When these players faced teams managed by Oh late
in the season, pitchers refused to throw hittable pitches
to them to preserve Oh’s record. Although some dispute
his home run crown because of Japan’s smaller ballparks,
Oh’s 868 home runs remains the world record.
In
1987, Sachio Kinugasa of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp played
in his 2,131st consecutive game, surpassing Lou Gehrig’s
record, on his way to 2,214 straight games. Kinugasa’s
mark later was passed by Cal Ripken, Jr., who went on
to play in 2,632 games in a row for the Baltimore Orioles.
Since Masanori Murakami debuted with the San Francisco Giants
in 1964, there have been 34 Japanese-born players in the major
leagues through 2006, including such stars as Hideo Nomo,
Hideki Matsui, and Ichiro Suzuki. But the exchange of players
between the United States and Japan has not been a one-way
street. After his career with the Dodgers ended, pitcher Don
Newcombe’s debut in 1962 started a long-line of major
leaguers to play in Japan. Other major leaguers who have played
in Japan include Larry Doby, Frank Howard, Bill Madlock, Bob
Horner, Cecil Fielder, Kevin Mitchell, and Alfonso Soriano.
Randy Bass holds the highest single-season batting average
in Japan with a .389 average in 1986.
Despite the popularity of professional baseball, the most
popular baseball event in Japan is the All-Japan High School
Baseball Tournament. Founded in 1915, the tournament consists
of regional finalists from local tournaments involving more
than 4,000 schools. It regularly draws almost a million spectators
to Hanshin Koshien Baseball Stadium near Osaka each August.
Widely considered the best pitcher in Japan when the Red Sox
signed him in 2006, Daisuke (pronounced “Dice-K”)
Matsuzaka first earned national fame in this Koshien tournament
when he threw an astonishing 250 pitches for Yokohama High
School over 17 innings in a complete game victory over powerhouse
PL Gakuen. Two days later in the final game, he had 11 strikeouts
in hurling a no-hitter over Kyoto Seisho. Watch his 14 strikeouts
in a game on June 8, 2006 for the Seibu Lions below.
Powered
by major leaguers Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan
won the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, showing it deserves
to be considered among the top baseball countries in the world.
Matsuzaka, now with the Red Sox, was crowned the Classic MVP
after compiling a 3-0 record with a 1.38 ERA.
