In 1872, a 29-year-old professor of English at Tokyo University introduced baseball to Japan. The professor, named Horace Wilson, was a native of Gorham, Maine. Now, 135 years after a New England native brought baseball to Japan, they’re returning the favor by sending one of Japan’s best players to New England. While Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox certainly seem like a match made in heaven, the relationship between the two is one built on the shoulders of over a century of struggles and animosities. Even with all of the obstacles with America’s national pastime in Japan, the game has perhaps flourished more in Japan than it has in the United States. While American literature was making references to baseball as far back as the turn of the 19th century, there wasn’t a completely professional baseball team until the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869. On the other hand, only 52 years after baseball was first introduced to Japan, the country already had two professional baseball teams. That’s pretty good considering that admission wasn’t charged for games in Japan until 1907 due to a principal that it would be inappropriate to charge money for something that the players themselves enjoyed so much. It seems as if baseball was made for Japan. In the current day, while America’s number one televised sporting event is the Super Bowl, Japan’s number one televised event is the Koshien, a baseball tournament… for high school players.
While many Japanese took to America’s national pastime relatively quickly, they weren’t so quick to play the game in in it’s country of origin. The reasons for such reluctance are rather complicated, and many of the details surrounding them are still unclear to this day. In 1908, professional American baseball teams toured Japan for the first time. Since Japan didn’t establish their own professional teams until 1920, the competition was rather lopsided. It may have discouraged many Japanese players from attempting a transition to professional American leagues. There also is a significant culture and language barrier that is unique to prospective Asian players willing to come to America. Eiji Sawamura was one of the first players that an American team ever attempted to bring to America. An American scout was impressed by the then 17-year-old’s pitching ability when in 1934 he baffled an American All-Star tour which included players such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. The scout then asked Sawamura to “sign an autograph” on what was really a contract to play in America. Only Sawamura wasn’t fooled. He refused to sign and later went on to become the Cy Young of Japan. Later came World War II which severely hurt relations with the Japanese, at the same time causing a sharp increase in anti-Japanese sentiments. America’s relations with Japan wouldn’t improve until the Korean War.
Eventually, America would end it’s occupation of Japan and American teams resumed their usual tours of the country. A decade later, Major League Baseball saw it’s first Japanese player in 1964. Relief pitcher Masanori Murakami, as well as a few other young Japanese players were sent to America to play in the farm system of the San Francisco Giants. On September 1st, 1964, the San Francisco Giants called up Murakami from the minors in the middle of a pennant race. When they did so, he became the first Japanese player ever to compete in the major leagues. And thus began an international conflict that would set back the transition of any more Japanese players for another 30 years. Impressed by Murakami, the San Francisco Giants bought his contract. The Japanese team that sent Murakami to America however was rather displeased as they intended only for him to gain experience in the farm system before returning. Under threat of never being able to return to Japanese baseball, Murakami decided to return to Japan. The San Francisco Giants however had already bought the relief pitcher’s contract and so they insisted on Murakami returning. After a lengthy dispute between Japan’s professional baseball league, Nippon Professional Baseball, and Major League baseball, a compromise was reached. It was agreed upon that Murakami would play for the Giants in the 1965 season and then could return to Japan. That’s exactly what happened. Murakami managed an ERA of 3.75 over 74.1 innings with the Giants and struck out 85 batters in the process. Afterwards, he returned to Japan.
After the Murakami scandal, the chances of a Japanese player coming to the Major Leagues became remote. Still, American teams continued to tour Japan. Beginning in 1986, an All-Star team of American players has toured Japan every two years. In 1992, American teams began playing exhibition games against Nippon Professional Baseball teams. The idea of a Japanese player coming to the majors wasn’t revisited until the strike-shortened major league season of 1994. Partly driven by the desire for publicity, Japanese-American sports agent Don Nomura convinced pitcher Hideo Nomo to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 1995 season. Japanese fans however were furious when Nomo retired in order to come to the major leagues. Public outcry ensued and many attempts were made to prevent one of Japan’s best players from leaving Nippon Professional Baseball. Even Nomo’s own parents went to the Japanese press, asking their own son to stay in Japan. Still, Nomo came to the major leagues in 1995 and what he did for the Dodgers opened the door for many Japanese players after him. Had Nomo failed at his transition to the majors, it could have set back any further attempts for decades. However, when Hideo Nomo managed to become the 1995 National Rookie of the Year, it quickly changed the tone of Japanese baseball fans from rage to pride. Nomo’s success forever changed Japan’s attitude towards their players coming to the majors.
From then on, the story of Japanese players coming to the major leagues is probably rather familiar. Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball agreed on a posting system that would prevent Japanese players from “retiring” without their teams being compensated. Ichiro Suzuki was the first position player to come to the major leagues in 2001. He was followed by Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Hideki Matsui and many more. Going into the 2007 major league season, 3 Japanese players were put up for bidding under the posting system. They were Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa and Akinori Iwamura. All three were signed by American League East teams. The Red Sox even signed a second Japanese pitcher, although Hideki Okajima was signed as a free agent.
Running Away: This winter I wrote an article discussing the baserunning trends of the Red Sox over the past few years. In it, I speculated that they would be more mobile on the base paths in 2007 and so far the prediction seems to be ringing true. In January, I noted “there was in fact a marked difference in the Red Sox base running patterns last year. Last year, Red Sox stolen base attempts went up from 57 in 2005 to 74 in 2006. Red Sox sacrifice attempts went up from 21 in 2005 to 33 in 2006 and the runners Francona set in motion went up from 79 in 2005 to 95 in 2006. Both of those former numbers were highs for the Red Sox for as far back as I can trace. With the additions of Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia to the everyday lineup, one would have to think that they’d improve by even more.” Through the first 22 games of 2007, the Red Sox have stolen 12 bases and have only been caught twice. One of the unsuccessful attempts was due to a botched hit and run attempt. Julio Lugo leads the team with 8 stolen bases, which is also good enough to rank him second in the league. Lugo so far has been a legitimate leadoff man, stealing 8 bags, distracting pitchers, making sure not to make outs on the bases and scoring 16 times.
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