YAKYU | BASEBALL

Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch talks with MLB Network's Brian Kenny about a new exhibit entitled Yakyu/Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game that will open in July 2025. 

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced a new exhibit exploring the wide-ranging exchange of baseball between Japan and the United States, which will open in July 2025. 

The Hall of Fame digitized eight millimeter black-and-white film taken by Jimmie Foxx and his wife, Helen, during a 12-city, 22-game tour that took place in November and December of 1934. 

In this episode of the Hall of Fame Connections series, we draw the line from the sport’s first unassisted triple play to Shohei Ohtani.

Tradition states that Horace Wilson introduced the game in Japan in 1872.

Waseda University became the first Japanese team to visit the United States in April 1905.

Waseda’s visit helped establish baseball as an integral part of Japanese American Culture.

The most famous tour was the one US major leaguers made to Japan after the 1934 World Series.

The earliest Americans to play on Japanese teams opened the door for future players to set records and milestones in NPB.

More than 75 Japanese-born players have played in Major League Baseball.

A new wave of standout Japanese players have chosen to pursue their MLB dreams in recent years.

From the 1934 tour of Japan. 

From the 2023 WBC.

1925 Philadelphia Bobbies tour. 

Used 1964 - 1965 when he played with the San Francisco Giants

From his 1996 no-hitter. 

2004 MLB Japan All-Star Series.

The Museum has a number of artifacts and photographs that catalogue the adventures and experiences of American ball players traveling to play in Japan.

Players from the United States and Japanese national women's baseball teams stopped by the Hall as part of their weekend participation in the Cooperstown Women's Baseball Classic.

Footage of a 1934 journey to the Far East filmed by Jimmie Foxx.

The Tokyo Dome boasts an American baseball record. It has hosted more regular season Major League Baseball games than any venue outside of North America.

A crowd of 40,524 gave Murakami a standing ovation as he walked to the Shea Stadium pitcher’s mound on Sept. 1, 1964, becoming the first Japanese player to appear in a big league game.

Sadaharu Oh is widely regarded as the best hitter in the history of Japanese professional baseball. He played 22 seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, from 1959 to 1980, for the Yomiuri Giants as a first baseman. Oh was a left-handed hitter with prolific power and a unique approach to hitting.

As American participation in the Korean War wound down baseball would again see itself as a bridge between cultural divides.

Leona Kearns was willing to travel the world for the chance to play baseball. In 1925, that meant harrowing travel that eventually would result in one of the game’s great tragedies.

Baseball’s popularity in Japan is deeply rooted in the amateur game, which is prevalent among children who play in youth leagues, and adults who play for industrial teams.

The term battery is one not used much anymore in American baseball. However, the term is still used readily in Japan. In Battery it is referred to several times as the most important part of the team.