The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1918-09-21
BASEBALL is RAMPANT IN JAPAN
They're Simply Daffy Over Game Island, Kney Finds
They're Simply
BY BURTON k>ISELY
Copyright, 1918. Newspaper Enter
prise Association)


is the national game OF Japan.
Outside OF wrestling. and wrest-
ling is a sport rather than "A game.
This testifies TO two things:
On Japan's fondness for things
American.
gu The fact that the Japanese are
the Americans of the Orient, with "A
mental makeup Very similar in its
own way to the American tempcra.
ment.
When tho Toxic high school be.
came undisputed college baseball
champions of Japan this summer by
a final decisive victory over Keio
university 10000 people saw the
match.
They saw brand OF baseball I'M
excelled in American university cir.
Giles. A handful OF American col.
leges-those which specialize in base
ball--might beat the First Higher
High School OF Toxic. The average
American college team. the smaller
schools where baseh9ll is poor sec.
ond to football and is even subsrdi.
nate to track athletics, would have
stood no chance"
Like Yankee Slang
The score against keio. as Mr.
X. Tsurumi. business manager OF the
First Higher High School team.
naively commented on reioining me
after the game. was -four 10 skunk"
japanese students work harder
than most American students High
or education means more to them for
the simple reason that It is so much
rarer. so much harder to get. But
IL there is one thing OF which stu
dious Mr.. X. Tsurumi is prouder
than any other II Is his ability to use
American baseball slang.
So, although -four to skunk"
struck me as being a foul ball. II
was a home run In his eyes.
Baseball diamonds are one of the
prominent features of parks and
recreation grounds in Toxic and 9TH
er Japanese cities and towns.
The youngsters play ball in the
streets. They play it on the school
grounds. They play 1t after work
and on holidays on the "sandlots
They play 1t in college.
Second to Togo
There are kid eams." "sandlot
teams, shop teams store teams
everything but big professional
leagues. Japan bids fair soon to be
the paradise of the sporting editor
Uncle Sans national game is so
thoroly acclimated and aturalized in
Nippon that the boy In the "provin-
cial" city will ask: do you have
baseball too. in American" But not
so the city or college player. He
knows his sporting guide as well as
the players in the American stove
league.
And Christy Nathewson and John
McGraw are second only to Admiral
Togo in his esteem.
The Toxic high schoolKeio game
was n fast contest on hard dia-
mond The high school teams only
advantage was a lovel.headed south
paw who tanned" II Keio batters.
In base running, fielding,
coaching and strategy, i'm every
thing from the pitchers wind-up
and the substitution of runners
TO the advice Of the infield to
make him hit. old boy" it was
American baseball of the 1918
model, played with American
dash and br.lliancy.
Eetter Each Year
The time drags little more be.
tween innings, and the spectators en-.
thuse less frequently and less exuber.
antly-that's all. Japanese college
teams have held their own with
American mines whenever they have
met-and they are playing "A better
brand Of ball each year.
II is "A noteworthy fact that base.
ball, which has so thoroly dominated
America that bat and ball would
be the most suitable national coat
of arms, has failed to gain any firm
foothold in Europe. but still has
taken Japan by storm.
Men work at what they have to
work at to earn their bread and but.
ter. But when they play. they play
at what they like best to do. There
fore their play describes them.