November 11, 1934
The Japanese bore the losses with dignity. Although they played their hearts out, they had not really expected to win. Instead, they viewed the series as a learning experience and the Major Leaguers as teachers. Nonetheless, before Saturday’s game at Meiji, Ichioka suggested that they mix the squads in Sunday’s match.
Another sell-out crowd watched Bing Miller’s stars take on the Ruth Team on the afternoon of November 11. Six Americans and three Japanese played on each side with the Ruth Team (Warstler, Hisanori Karita, Ruth, Foxx, Averill, Kumeyasu Yajima, Berg, pitcher Clint Brown, and Haruyasu Nakajima) batting first. Joe Cascarella took the mound for Miller’s team (McNair, Isamu Fuma, Miller, Gehrig, Gehringer, Fujio Nagasawa, Jimmy Horio, Hayes, and Cascarella). Despite the inter-squad teams, fans still watched a lopsided game as Ruth’s team crushed Cascarella with 23 hits and 13 runs.
Get your facts correct!! Frank O'Doul is the father of baseball in Japan. Ruth was just a guest in 1934. O'Doul is responsible for pro baseball in Japan. Not Ruth.
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In response to your comment, I will say yes … and no.
Readers of Banzai Babe Ruth will learn that the 1934 tour was organized by Sotaro Suzuki, then working for the Yomiuri Shimbun, and Frank “Lefty” O’Doul. O’Doul was responsible for putting together the All American roster. Without O’Doul’s hard work it is unlikely that Babe Ruth would have agreed to come to Japan. O’Doul stayed on after the tour to help create the Japanese professional baseball league and the franchise that would become the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants (Yomiuri took the nickname Giants to honor O’Doul as he had played for the New York Giants the previous season). For these reasons, and others, O’Doul was enshrined in the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame and is sometimes called the “Father of Japanese Pro Baseball.”
During the 1934 tour, however, O’Doul did not play but coached. National League owners forbade their players from participating and O’Doul was still “owned” by the New York Giants. It was Babe Ruth who brought the fans to the ballparks and created the enthusiasm needed to sustain a successful professional league.
For more on this topic and Lefty O’Doul’s and Babe Ruth’s roles in Japanese-American international relations, you’ll have to wait for the book.
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This is correct. I will have to wait for the book. Ruth is the one who brought the fans out to the games. When O'Doul was in Japan in 1931, all the Japanese wanted to see Ruth. O'Doul returned several more times to Japan and brought the 1949 San Francisco Seals on a "Goodwill Tour" to mend relations after the war.
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