Featuring the Books of Rob Fitts
& Japanese Baseball Cards
Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan Volume I, 1907-1958
Winner of the 2023 SABR Research Award
Paperback / PDF
Over 100 baseball teams from the United States and Hawaii have crossed the Pacific to play baseball in Japan. Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan is the first book written in English that focuses on these international tours. Volume One contains individual chapters written by leading members of the Society for American Baseball Research on all 15 professional squads that traveled to Japan before 1960 as well as four collegiate and eight amateur/semipro teams. Each chapter is accompanied by game results and, when available, player statistics
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Available in both paperback and pdf.
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The Pioneers of Japanese American Baseball
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Paperback / PDF
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This illustrated history introduces readers to the fascinating heroes of early Japanese American baseball from the visiting students of the 1870s to the barnstorming professional teams of the early 20th century. The 70 full-color glossy pages contain nearly a hundred vintage photographs and present the teams and players that helped make baseball an integral part of Japanese American culture.
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Available in both paperback and pdf.
It is best viewed in color
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An Illustrated Introduction to Japanese Baseball Cards
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eBook / PDF Book
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NOW in PAPERBACK!
This lavishly illustrated color book introduces the history and types of Japanese baseball cards from their beginnings in the 1890s until the present-day.
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Available in both paperback and pdf forms.
It is best viewed in color
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Issei Baseball
Winner of the 2021 SABR Research Award
Author-signed Copies Now Available
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Issei Baseball is the story of the pioneers of Japanese American baseball- young men who barnstormed across the American Midwest in 1906 and 1911, breaking down racial stereotypes and bringing the two cultures together through the shared love of the game.​
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Mashi
Mashi: The Unfulfilled Baseball Dreams of Masanori Murakami Japan’s First Major Leaguer is the story of an unlikely hero who gets caught up in a clash between American and Japanese baseball and is forced to choose between fulfilling his dreams in the U.S. or fulfilling his duty in Japan—a decision that he regrets to this day.
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Banzai Babe Ruth
Winner of the 2012 Seymour Medal
Banzai Babe Ruth is the story of the doomed attempt to reconcile the United States and Japan though the tour of Major League all stars in 1934 and the efforts of fanatical ultranationalists to drive the nations apart. The story contains international diplomacy, espionage, attempted murder and, of course, baseball.
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Wally Yonamine
Often called the Nisei Jackie Robinson, Wally Yonamine was the first ethnic Japanese to play professional football in the U.S. and the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after WW II. In both environments, the young Hawaiian had to adapt to unfamiliar cultures and overcome prejudice against his Japanese-American ancestry. ​
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Remembering Japanese Baseball
Winner of the 20o5 SABR Research Award
Remembering Japanese Baseball is the first oral history of baseball in Japan published in English. It features the narratives of 25 men who played in Japan from 1948 to 1996. Through their stories, readers will understand the history of Japanese ball and see how the game changed over time.
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