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
9 innings – FIRST GAME EVER WITH JAPANESE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS IN ATTENDANCE – Korakuen Kyujo (Stadium), Tokyo – 6/25/1959 – Central League - Yomiuri Giants 5 Osaka Tigers 4 – fans included 124th Japanese Emperor Showa (Hirohito) and Empress Kojun (Nagako Kuni) – sayonara (walk-off) home run by Shigeo Nagashima won game in bottom of 9th.
? innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN CHINA – Baseball Grounds, Canton - ?/??/1836 – Boston Union Club vs. English Club.
3 innings - FIRST GAME EVER IN AUSTRALIA - Carlton Gardens Exhibition Grounds, Melbourne, State of Victoria – 2/21 or 28/1857 – Collingwood 350 Richmond 230 – rules called for a run to be counted each time a baserunner reached a new base.
4 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN HONG KONG – Cricket-Ground, Hong Kong - 11/20/1869 – Amateur – Meig’s American Squadron Team defeated Wilson’s American Squadron Team by one or two runs.
? innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN JAPAN – Kaisei Gakko (Tokyo University) - ?/??/1873.
9 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN NEW ZEALAND - Potter’s Paddock (later Tranway Company’s Grounds at Epsom), Auckland – 12/10/1888 – Spalding World Tour – Chicago White Stockings 22 All-America 13 – 4500 fans.
5 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN SRI LANKA - Galle Face Green, Colombo, Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) – 1/26/1889 – Spalding World Tour – Chicago White Stockings 3 All-Americans 3 in 2:00 – finished at 6:00 PM.
? innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN KOREA – YMCA Woondong-jang (Stadium), Seoul – ?/??/1905 – Rev. Gilbert Gillette’s YMCA League.
9 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN PHILIPPINES – Manila – 10/2?/1910 – U.S. Marines of Manila 4 University of Chicago Maroons 0.
9 innings– FIRST GAME EVER WITH AUSTRALIAN HEAD OF STATE (GOVERNOR-GENERAL) IN ATTENDANCE – Melbourne Cricket Grounds, Melbourne - 1/7/1914 – Charles Comiskey/John McGraw World Tour - New York Giants 12 Chicago White Sox 8 – fans included Governor-General Lord Thomas Denham.
9 innings - FIRST GAME EVER IN INDIA – Calcutta (later Kolkata) – 11/1/1942 – US Army vs. Amateur – Negro US Army 11 Calcutta 3.
10 innings – NEW JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT CAMP AND ARIZONA HIGH SCHOOL RECORDS – Gila River Internment Camp 28 Ballfield, Arizona – 4/18/1945 – Butte High School Eagles of Gila River Internment Camp 11 Tucson High School Badgers 10 - 2000 fans.
21 innings – FIRST EVER GAME IN GUAM (probably not, but first game I have been able to document) - Third Marine Division (later Trimble) Field - 5/6/1945 – 41st US Navy Construction Battalion Seabees 2 US Navy Air Base 1 – 1000 fans.
9 innings – FIRST EVER GAME PLAYED BY NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS TEAMS - Honolulu, Hawai'i - 2/9/1946 – US Navy Central Pacific Championships – Saipan 2 Kwajalein 0.
9 innings – NEW GAME EVER WITH IRAQI KING IN ATTENDANCE – Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York - 8/13/1952 – National League - Dodgers 5 Giants 4; then Giants 8 Dodgers 4 – fans included 3rd Iraqi King Faisal II who did not realize that in Ebbets Field it was considered bad form to cheer when Giant Bobby Thomson hit a home run.