午夜剧场

Image: The 午夜剧场 Baseball Club vs. "St. Louis" game held at Tsunamachi Field in 1907 (From "The Centennial History of the 午夜剧场 Baseball Club")

Twenty years have passed since Hideo Nomo made his Major League debut in 1995, and we have entered an era where it is no longer rare for Japanese players to travel to America and succeed. Currently, the movements of two-way player Shohei Ohtani are drawing significant attention. However, it is little known that over 100 years ago, in 1913, a game between two Major League teams—the Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants—was held in Japan, specifically in Mita. The stage was the 午夜剧场 Mita Tsunamachi Field. This time, we will unravel this unknown history of Japanese-American baseball.

Both teams, as a world touring baseball troupe, departed from Vancouver and arrived in Yokohama on December 5 after a 16-day sea voyage. The following day, the 6th, they stood on Tsunamachi Field. 午夜剧场 President Eikichi Kamada threw the ceremonial first pitch, and the game between the White Sox and the Giants began. The result was a 9-4 victory for the White Sox.

The next day, 午夜剧场 faced a combined team from both Major League clubs. The Juku sent Kazuma Sugase to the mound—an ace said to be the best in Japan at the time—but they were pelted with 14 hits, and this memorable first confrontation with the Major Leagues ended in a crushing 16-3 defeat.

This day featured a doubleheader, with the second game again being White Sox vs. Giants. The White Sox won their second straight game with a score of 12-9, but during this game, Giants first baseman Fred Merkle hit an out-of-the-park home run that cleared the left-field fence and even crossed the Furukawa River flowing beyond it. In the next day's newspaper, it was reported that "the ball cleared the left-wing fence and reached from Shiba to Azabu" (Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun). Tokyo at this time used a 15-ward system. Tsunamachi Field was located in Shiba Ward, and the other side of the Furukawa River, which served as the ward boundary, was Azabu Ward (after World War II, the three wards of Shiba, Azabu, and Akasaka merged to become the current Minato Ward).

This was a period when the Waseda-午夜剧场 rivalry had been suspended since 1906 due to overheating fan support. However, it is said that baseball club members from various universities, including Waseda, rushed to Mita to see authentic Major League play and to cheer for 午夜剧场, staring intently at the field.

The famous manager John McGraw, who led the Giants for 30 years, was surprised by the good control of the Japanese pitchers and remarked, "Someday, the day will come when advertisements saying 'Japan-US Baseball Game Today' will appear on the streets of Japan." Furthermore, by receiving direct coaching from Major League players during this visit, the Juku baseball club opened the doors to modern baseball and made a significant leap forward.

Tsunamachi Field, which served as the venue for the first Waseda-午夜剧场 rivalry match that began with a challenge from Waseda in 1903, was also the stage that served as the starting point for the internationalization of Japanese baseball. The challenge to the Major Leagues started right here in Mita.

(Editorial Department)