Remembering Japanese baseball : an oral history of the game / Robert K. Fitts ; with a foreword by Robert Whiting.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fitts, Robert K., 1965-

Series:

Writing baseball

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baseball--Japan.

Baseball.

Baseball players--Japan--Biography.

Baseball players.

Japan.

Baseball players--United States--Biography.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxxiii, 233 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, [2005]

Summary:

Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game transports us onto diamonds and into dugouts on the other side of the globe, where the vigorous sportsmanship of the game and the impassioned devotion of its fans transcend cultural and geographic borders and prove that baseball is fast becoming an international pastime.

Called Yakyu, baseball has been played in Japan since the 1890s but has only recently gained a substantial global following. Robert K. Fitts chronicles the nation's distinctive version of the sport as recounted by twenty-five of its ballplayers. Fitts's careful choice of subjects represents the experiences of a mix of American and Japanese players-including stars, titleholders, and members of the Japanese Hall of Fame. Informal, candid, and remarkably specific, these recollections describe teammates and opponents, corporate owners and loyal fans, triumphs and frustrations, collectively capturing all the spirit and emotion engendered by the game from decidedly personal vantage points. Throughout, readers glimpse the unique traits of baseball in Japan and discern how the game has evolved since its inception as well as how it differs from its American counterpart.

An unparalleled introduction for an American audience, Remembering Japanese Baseball is augmented by photos of its twenty-five interviewees and a timeline demarking milestone moments in the game's Japanese history. Robert Whiting, author of You Gotta Wa! and The Meaning of Ichiro, provides the foreword.

Contents:

Introduction : the Japanese game

Japanese baseball timeline

Tsuneo "Cappy" Harada

Hirofumi Naito

Wally Yonamine

Futoshi Nakanishi

Takashi Iwamoto

Dick Kashiwaeda

Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama

Glenn Mickens

Gene Bacque

Masanori Murakami

Daryl Spencer

Gordie Windhorn

Don Blasingame

Gene Martin

Clyde Wright

Leron Lee

Masaaki Mori

Greg "Boomer" Wells

Brad "Animal" Leslie

Rick Lancellotti

Ralph Bryant

Orestes Destrade

Jack Howell

Alonzo Powell

Eric Hillman.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0809326299

0809326302

OCLC:

56682971