World War II

Eiji Sawamura served in the Imperial Japanese Navy were he was killed in action. Sawamura was the most famous pitcher in Japan during the pre-war years of Japanese baseball.

At the age of 18, he struck out 9 batters that included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmy Fox during a Major League all star tour game in 1934. The feat made him a national hero. In his honour, the award for the best picher in called the Sawamura award.

I had read a very touching story about how Sawamura threw the ball around on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in the winter of 1944, then boarded an airplane that wasn't scheduled to return. It was the kind of story that legends are made of. According to "Japanese Baseball SuperStars Hall of Fame & Meikyukai Player Profiles" by Robert Fitts and Gary Engel,

The most consistently quoted information is that [Sawamura's death] occurred on December 2, 1944 aboard a transport ship off the coast of Taiwan.

The same book (and many other sources) also mention that many of the American all stars he faced in 1934 said that Sawamura's fastball was over 100 mph. There were several rumors that he was offered positions on Majors League teams then and when the Japanese squad toured the U.S. in 1935.

Sawamura threw the first (Japanese) professional no-hitter on September 25, 1936. He went on to throw four in his short 105 game career (63 and 22, 1.74 ERA).

Sawamura was offered a contract with the St. Louis
Cardinals and the deal almost went through until Sawamura was reportedly talked out of it at the last minute. Given that Sawamura was later killed in WWII, one wonders how those who talked him out of it felt.

Fast forward about 25 years and Cardinals manager Solly Hemus expressed interest in making a run at Shigeo Nagashima. Kind of ironic, then, that the Cardinals ultimately end up with the mediocre So Taguchi, who will probably be going back to Japan after this season.

I can't answer anywhere near all your questions, but I can give a start. The 1945 season was cancelled due to the war, and the 1944 season was quite short. They lost several players who are in their HOF (though I wonder if all but Kageura and Sawamura are there because they were good players killed in WWII, rather than players of other historic significance): Sawamura, Masaru Kageura, Masaki Yoshihara, Yukio Nishimura, and Miyoshi Nakegawa. Two other players listed in Bauer's book died in WWII, Kazuo Kito and Yuki Nakane. Kito had a chance at a HOF career without the war, IMO. Victor Starffin, a Russian emigre who fled the Bolsheviks, was detained by the Japanese authorities at some point during 1944-45, if I recall correctly. Beyond that, there may have been war injuries which affected players who survived the war. Suffice it to say that Japanese baseball was hurt by WWII far more than American baseball was, especially in the short term.

Jim Albright

Yoshihara is the name of the player. The HOF had the spelling wrong.

Too many. Unlike many of the American counterpart, ballplayers weren't exempt from being sent to the frontline (with the exceptions of legends such as Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Warren Spahn). Out of 9 teams that existed in the pre-War era, it is estimated that 69 players perished as a soldier in WWII. There is a memorial with their names in front of the Korakuen Stadium. The names of these players are listed here (Japanese)

It is unfortunate that the 2 greatest player in the pre-war NPB died fighting in WWII. Eiji Sawamura of the Giants and Masaru Kageura of the Osaka Tigers. Kageura was unquestionably the best all around player in Japanese baseball history. The legendary Tigers' captain was an ace pitcher and a third baseman, and batted 4th in the line-up. He had the league's best ERA in Fall 1936 with 0.79, RBI champ in Spring of 1937 and 1938, and a batting champ in the Fall of 1937. After losing to the Giants in 1936, it was Kageura who made sure that didn't happen again in 1937, bringing home the championship banner to Osaka. The Tigers' team prepared against Sawamura by bringing in their pitchers severals steps down the hill. There is a picture of Kageura is here.

Another great player who perished during WWII was Giants' catcher Masayoshi Yoshiwara, a fierce competitor and the defensive cornerstone of the pre-war Giants' dynasty. He was so competitive that he would chase the fly ball to the wall, bang his head while catching it, and leave the blood and tissue smear from his forehead stuck to the brick wall. He was also a high school buddy and a battery mate (Kumamoto High School) of the great Giants' first baseman Tetsuharu Kawakami, who was a pitcher in high school and later managed the V9 Giants of the '60s and '70s. In fact, Yoshiwara was the primary player scouted by the Giants, but Yoshiwara insisted that he would not join the team unless Kawakami was signed together with him.

[Admin fixed link on Jun 17, 2003 2:03 PM, JST]

Correction: Masaki Yoshiwara (not Masayoshi). Miyoshi Nakagawa was known as the best defensive firstbaseman of the pre-war era. I saw the footage of him fielding and he was truely amazing. He does look like the best defensive firstbaseman of all era. His nickname was "takoashi" (octopus leg) because his long leg gets sucked into the first base as he caught the ball.

Correction: Yoshihara.

Information about Japanese players who died around the time of World War II can be found at:

http://baseballinwartime.freeservers.com/japanese_baseball.htm

thanks,

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