Adjust Font Size: A A       Guest settings   Register

History of Japanese Baseball?

Discussion in the Pro Yakyu History forum
History of Japanese Baseball?
Does anyone know where I can find a history of Japanese baseball?

Mahalo
Comments
Re: History of Japanese Baseball?
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Aug 11, 2006 3:49 PM | YBS Fan ]

I assume you want it in English. If so, I'd strongly recommend "You Gotta Have Wa" (ISBN 0-679-72947-X) by Robert Whiting. Some of it is a bit dated now, but the history is perhaps the best you'll find in English.

"Remembering Japanese Baseball" by Rob Fitts is a more recent book that features talks with former Pro Yakyu stars. He interviewed both foreigners and Japanese players, giving an incredible picture from several perspectives, sometimes of the same historical event. This is a history as remembered by the players who were there, and very hard to put down.

Other books in the Book Reviews section of this site contain some history, but those are the two major ones.

If you can read Japanese, there is a companion to the Encyclopedia that came out a year or two ago. Since I had bought the Encyclopedia the year before, I couldn't justify getting another one just to get the history book that came with it.

Baseball Magazine Sha also publishes "Mooks" (a magazine/book combination) that cover various historical aspects. I have several of them on a number of topics (Trade History, Draft History, Tigers of the 1970s, Great Records, etc.).
Re: History of Japanese Baseball?
[ Author: Guest: Jim Albright | Posted: Aug 11, 2006 11:30 PM ]

Also, I've covered various aspects of Japanese baseball history in articles you can access from this page [Baseball Guru].

Jim Albright
Re: History of Japanese Baseball?
[ Author: Guest: Al Hoffman | Posted: Sep 22, 2006 10:44 AM ]

Also by Robert Whiting and a bit older (mid 1970s) is "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" which gives a good history from the post WWII thru the mid '70s.
Re: History of Japanese Baseball?
[ Author: Guest: RPearce | Posted: Jun 3, 2007 1:40 PM ]

Hi, just wanted to add to this old thread that, in addition to all of these excellent suggestions, I also found Robert Obojski's "The Rise of Japanese Baseball Power" quite good (though older), especially with regard to the earlier years.
About

This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.

It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.

Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder

Search for Pro Yakyu news and information
Copyright (c) 1995-2024 JapaneseBaseball.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.