the yokohama athletics club

time for some japanese history. back in the day when the west was forcing its way into japan all the foreigners had to do all their trade through one of several open ports. at the open port of yokohama the british had established an athletic club for the gentlemen residing there. now back in the day a country was partially judged on the strength of it's sportsmen. back in the day, japan had no sports. they had tea ceremonies and flower arranging. so in order to try to apear more modern and stuff japan adopted a good number of foreign sports and started trying to build a reputation. one of the most quickly adopted games was baseball.

the ichiko high school quickly established itself as the best baseball team in japan and by the early 1890's had bested all the other schools in japan and was looking for better competition. naturally, their views went to the foreign gentlemens club in yokohama that they had heard so much of but never seen. the foreigners were all stuck in one area and the local japanese weren't allowed inside the foreign compound. in 1891 the ichiko team issued their first challenge to the yokohama club and were promptly rejected. the foreigners said that the japanese had no skill, were half their size, and were no match for the history of european sport's clubs. for the next 4 years the ichiko team issued a yearly challenge, and were finally granted a match on the 5th year.


the day before the game it started raining and looked like the match would have to be canceled. the ichiko team wired the foreign team asking for a rescheduling but the gentlemens club said that with their busy schedules they wouldn't be able to have another game for at least a month. late that night the rain started to wane and the gentlemens club sent a message saying that the game was on. the highschoolers made the 3-4 hour bus trip to yokohama with about a hundred friends for support, but since the athletic field was inside the foreigner encampment the friends weren't even allowed to watch the game. needless to say the japanese team was pretty rattled after the rain incident and finally being able to play their long anticipated game. they made several mistakes in the first inning and let the yokohama team score 4 runs in the first inning. the foreigners thought that the game would soon be over and that this would prove the japanese inferiority in the world of sport.

however, this was not to be. the japanese took the field in the second inning and showed what they had learned in highschool. i didn't write down any of the individual innings, but the final score was ichiko 29 yokohama gentlemens club 4. yes, they didn't score another run the entire rest of the game. the foreigners were shocked and immediately demanded a second match 2 weeks later. apparently they found time in their busy schedules. this time the yokohama team actually practiced and pulled in a few ringers for the game. ichiko came back with even more supporters this time, even though they still weren't allowed to watch. final score: ichiko 32, yokohama 9.

two weeks later there was a third match, only this time at the ichiko school field in tokyo. the japanese students were finally able to watch their team play and hundreds turned up for the game. by now the series of games had attracted quite a lot of national fame and a large number of government officials also showed up for the game. the yokohama team had also gotten serious and pulled in a good number of sailors and navy personal for their team. this was starting to become a matter or international pride. final score: ichiko 22, yokohama 6.

the fourth and most important game was to take place of the 4th of july. the american flagship had shown up for the game and brought a former major league player with them in addition to their usual arsenal of enlisted players. in addition, the ichiko team had just finished their final exams (which are hell for high schoolers) and hadn't practiced together for weeks. final score: yokohama associated foreigners team 14, ichiko 12. the foreigners finally won a game.

from 1897 to 1904 9 more games were played with ichiko winning 8 of them. the combined scores for all the games was ichiko 230 yokohama 64. this is why high school baseball is so feverishly popular in japan.