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Foreword by Allan Bud Selig. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Japanese baseball, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is proud to publish Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan.




Over 100 baseball teams from the United States and Hawaii have crossed the Pacific to play baseball in Japan. Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan is the first book written in English that focuses on these international tours.
Discover in this book, how:The female Philadelphia Bobbies team tour ended in tragedy
Babe Ruth tried to prevent World War II
Lefty O'Doul helped reunite the US and Japan through baseball
A Native American baseball team was cheated and stranded 5000 miles from home
A Negro League team helped start Japanese professional baseball
Japanese Americans used baseball to build a bridge between the two cultures
Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson finished their careers in Japan




These, and many other stories, introduce readers to the fascinating world of Japanese baseball.
Volume One focuses on tours between 1907 and 1958. During this time period, many of the sport's greatest stars-including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson-played in the Land of the Rising Sun. These tours helped spread the game across the globe, spawned thousands of individual friendships, and helped bring nations together through the mutual love of baseball.


Volume One contains individual chapters written by leading members of the Society for American Baseball Research on all 15 professional squads that traveled to Japan before 1960 as well as four collegiate and eight amateur/semipro teams. Each chapter is accompanied by game results and, when available, player statistics.