Books on Pro Yakyu?

Well, that's a great start.

The books I know best are in my old FAQ (6th question down). I would very much like to hear about any others, and/or see some book reviews of what you all think of these.

Incidently, I've heard that Whiting is now in the process of writing a sequel to You Gotta Have Wa. It has been some 10 or so years since it came out. It's the book I always recommend to people who want to know abou Pro Yakyu, but always with the caveat "It's a bit dated."

Japanese Baseball SuperStars Hall of Fame & Meikyukai Player Profiles was published last year (2001) by Robert Fitts (of RobsJapaneseCards fame) and Gary Engel.

The title pretty much tells it all. The book covers the players who have been inducted into the Japanese Hall of Fame and/or are members of the Meikyukai, a "club" of players who have reached certain plateaus in batting and pitching. Reading about many of these past players is fascinating. There is also a short write up on a number of other superstars that have been omitted for one reason or another (like the 15 year wait after leaving Pro Yakyu) from the Hall of Fame.

Each player has a short write up on him and his contributions to Pro Yakyu. Instead of a photo of each player, there is a baseball card of him, along with information of more cards. (I'm not a collector myself, but it should help those who are interested.) There is also a short table of each player's career totals at the end of each page.

Both dead tree (paper) and CD-ROM (Acrobat format) are available. I've got the CD-ROM version on my computer for quick reference, should I need to look up something on a star of the past. It's especially useful to put a face and some Romaji (the Western alphabet) to the Kanji of names I see referred to in many of Chiba-san's articles (Shukan Baseball).

The Brian Maitland book "Japanese Baseball A Fan's Guide" which I mentioned elsewhere is available online from its publisher at www.tuttlepublishing.com for U.S. $12.95. I don't know if this includes shipping. The book was published almost 11 years ago and is therefore quite out of date. It contains discussions of history, strategy, fans, stadia, records, American players, MLB tours, Japlish baseball terms, methods of purchasing game tickets and Japanese press and broadcast outlets.