Los Angeles herald., 1905-04-28
JAPS WILL PLAY
STANFORD TEAM
WASEDA UNIVERSITY AND CAR
DINAL MEET TOMORROW
MIKAD0'S MEN SHOW FORM
First international Baseball Game
Played in alfornia-Japanese
Expected to Put Up
Fast Game
MIKAD0'S MEN SHOW FORM
Special to The Harald.

special 10 The H2rdld.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, April
2i.-For the first time in athletic his
tory California is to be the scene of
an International collegiate baseball
series Tomorrow on the Stanford
campus, the team of Waseda Univer-
sity, Japan, will cross bats with the
cardinal. The playing of the match is
being looked forward to with interest
by all lovers of the national pastime.
In baseball American sons have al
ways been preeminently superior to
foreign players, and it is hard to be-
,, lieve that the time has come when
this ascendenCy is to be seriously
challenged.
The little brown men have been prac-
tcing for the past few days before
crowds of spectators, who have gazed
in en-mouthed wonderment at their
clever fielding and base running. 1t
is no joke at all-the Japs can play
baseball! The majority of the men
are larger than the ordinary japanese.
and are 1.-the and strong. The infield
is especially fast and the outtield works
well. Team work Is developed to n
high degree. The only apparent weak
ness of the brownies" is at the bat.
They meet the ball squarely but with
little force and the longest hits are
usually good for only two bags At
sacrificing, the team as a whole are not
effective, but there are two or three
who have the art down pat.
The lineup of the Waseda team is
as follows: Catcher, NJ. Yamawaki;
pitcher, A. Kono; first base, S. Izumi-
tani; second base, K. Oshikawa: third
tase, S. Suzama; short stop. *. Hashi-
do (captain); left field, T. Suzuki; CEN
ter field, NJ. Obara; right field, *. Shi-
shiuchi
The Stanford lineup will be as fol-
lows: Catcher, Scott; pitcher, Sales;
first base, Presley; second base, Bell:
third base. Fenton; short stop, Trow-
bridge (captain); left field, Chalmers;
center field, Colbert; right field, Dudley.
Planned for Decade
The history of theevents which finally
brought Waseda here to play Stanford
is an interesting one. In 1894 Iso Abe,
manager of the Waseda team, a gradu-
ate Of Trinity college, Connecticut
landed in England from America on his
way to oxford, where he intended to
become student. On the very day
cf his arrival, Yale met oxford i'm an
International track meet. Abe was very
much impressed, and recognizing the
value of international collegiate con-
tests, he then determined that he would
some day bring Japanese team to
America. After his graduation at OK
ford he received the chair of sociology
and ethics at Waseda, University of
Toxic. There he laid his long
cherished plan before Count Okuma,
eX-prime minister of Japan and found
er of the university, who heartily ap-
proved Of the idea, but told him that
before he could make such a trip Wa
seda must win the championship Of
Japan. At that time there was no
baseball team at Waseda, although
the game had been played in Japan
for almost twenty years, Alone and
unaided Abe set to work to build up
team from what little material he
could gather together, By last fall
he had rounded out nine which
wrested the championship of Japan
from Keo college in two hard fought
games and was judged worthy to make
the long trip to America.
Should the team make a good show
ing in the series with Stanford. it will
schedule a series with the University
of Chicago. The Stanford players ex-
press themselves as confident of vic
tory, although they expect a hard
game.
The acme OF perfection. Las Palmas ci-
sars.