Bambino in the Land of the Rising Sun
If you spend any length of time in Sendai, sooner or later you will hear the story: that there used to be a baseball stadium on Yagiyama where the city zoo now stands and that in the 1930s Babe Ruth hit a home run there. That all took place exactly 75 years ago this month, and baseball historian Robert Fitts has launched a terrific new blog allowing you to follow the travels of the major league all-star team that barnstormed across Japan in 1934. In fact, as of this morning’s entry, the team has just arrived in Sendai to thaw out after a frigid day game in Hakodate, Hokkaido.
Assuming all of my friends in Sendai over the years were telling the truth, tomorrow’s entry should include news of a home run belted by a certain member of the New York Yankees. And next week we’ll encounter one of the legendary moments of Japanese baseball history: 17-year-old Sawamura Eiji striking out Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmy Foxx consecutively.
