Many years ago, I read (and reviewed) one of the best Japanese books about baseball that I have ever read, which was written by Keio University professor Dr. Masaru Ikei. Not long thereafter, as I was browsing Amazon, I came across this one. The title was intriguing enough, so I decided to flag it and buy it when I ran out of other books to read. Book exhaustion never came – and never will – but last summer, I gave up on my idea of not buying any more new books. This one arrived and sat on my shelf for a solid 7 months. This past January, I went to a baseball research forum in Tokyo, and actually got to meet Ikei-sensei. He had some great anecdotes to share with me, particularly about some of the communication foibles between interpreters and the American players they were responsible for.
Some of those tales were also in this book, so I enjoyed reading them and remembering our lunchtime conversation earlier in the year. Anyways, on to the book. What type of content is in it, and how is it helpful for inquisitive fans of Japanese baseball and cultural history? Here is a breakdown of what each chapter is about, plus some of my own notes/impressions. Keep in mind, this book was written in 1991, in the years before Japanese players started to make an impact on the global stage, and before the internet made us all privy to everything about everything.
Chapter 1: High School Baseball: What was true then is still true today, though perhaps to a lesser extent. The entire nation stops working and watches these games. People who have moved to the big city and given their lives over to the Tokyo Machine can pause, remember their hometowns, and cheer for the prefecture they once called home.
Chapter 2: Sandlot Baseball: Ikei-san lived several years in America and joined a sandlot baseball club, so he was able to share his own experience while comparing it with how things go down in Japan. Fees, game rules, approaches to developing youth baseball, and more, were clearly shared.
Chapter 3: Baseball Maniacs: I am not sure if any of these exhibitions are still around – I kind of doubt it – but 33 years ago, Ikei-san visited some personal collections (old programs, cards, etc.) from the early days of baseball in Japan. He was able to get some new insights into particular tournaments and how they impacted fans at the time.
Chapter 4: Japanese Managers: This chapter looks specifically at the success and different approaches of three big-name managers in baseball history: Shigeru “I’m not Ippei’s Grandfather” Mizuhara, the master of competition, Osamu Mihara, the magician, and Kazuhito Tsuruoka, the big boss. It was interesting to read about their differing approaches and how their techniques were passed on to their players, who are now (at the time of publication) becoming managers themselves.
Chapter 5: Foreign Players in Japan: As you can imagine, there are a lot of great anecdotes about how players succeeded (and didn’t), and that communication and cultural misunderstandings played a huge factor. Ikei-san focuses a lot of the story of Randy Bass, and how he was improperly dismissed in 1988 because of issues with his son. Probably the best chapter in the book.
Chapter 6: Baseball Journalism: Origins of radio broadcasts, NHK’s involvement, and a breakdown of how each sports paper devotes space to baseball (and other sports, and erotica) on a daily basis, particularly during the off-season when there are fewer baseball stories.
Chapter 7: The Draft: How, when, and why was the draft implemented? (The idea came from the NFL!) How has it evolved over the years? What were some of the major problems with it? This chapter devotes and appropriate amount of print to the Suguru Egawa story, which involves our Hanshin Tigers, too, though it is primarily a Yomiuri Giants scandal.
Chapter 8: Umpires: Issues with umpires, and how they are trained, developed, promoted, and paid in both Japan and the USA. Great chapter and leads nicely into another book which I shall soon review, which was written by a former umpire.
Chapter 9: Baseball Operations: Looks particularly at three franchises, each of whom underwent a major shift in the 1970s or 1980s. Seibu moved from Fukuoka to Saitama, Nankai moved to Fukuoka around 15 years later, and Orix took over the Hankyu Braves… how and why did they all move? What are some of the organizational principles? Fascinating read.
This one rivals the other Ikei book as far as I am concerned. I gained so much knowledge from it and will keep it in my reference library for years to come. It is awesome that this book touches upon a lot of what Dr. Robert Fitts is currently researching and planning to release as a book sometime in 2025: Inside Japanese Baseball. I am very excited about this project, as it is, in some ways, a modernized English version of this masterpiece. I have had the privilege of acting as interpreter for Dr. Fitts as he conducts interviews with people in all kinds of professions. Be on the lookout for it!