Reddit reviews You Gotta Have Wa
We found 8 Reddit comments about You Gotta Have Wa. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Reddit reviews You Gotta Have WaWe found 8 Reddit comments about You Gotta Have Wa. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
If you are interested in Japanese Baseball, I can't recommend "You Gotta Have Wa" by Robert Whiting highly enough! Well written book, which I found to be quite informative. It definitely is what you want here, covering the introduction and early years, as well as the interplay between Japanese and American baseball. Personally, I found that to perhaps be the weakest part though, since while it does talk about early barnstorming exhibitions in the '30s and such, I felt that there was too much focus in the latter half of the book on the experience of American players in the Japanese system. Don't get me wrong, that was quite interesting too, and I think was done at least in part to give the American reader figures who they can identify with as these players recount their attempts to understand Japanese ball. And also, of course, this means that much of the book focuses on the 70s/80s (It was published in 1990, although there added material in the new edition).
That quibble aside though, it is still a great book, and certainly covers what you want, devoting a fair chunk to early development of the Japanese game, which actually dates to the 1870s, being introduced there by American teachers named Horace Wilson and GH Mudgett in a period of "bunmei-kaika" following the Meiji Restoration. The game took off quickly, and by the end of the decade it was an incredibly popular past-time at upper class educational centers around Tokyo. Western sports in general were becoming popular pastimes during this period of moderniation, and baseball in particular held something of a fascination for the Japanese, as Whiting notes:
>The Japanese found the one-on-one battle between pitcher and batter similar in psychology to sumo and the martial arts. It involved split-second timing and a special harmony of mental and physical strength. As such, the Ministry of Education deemed it good for the national character.
The first Pro team would be founded in 1878, the Shimbashi Athletic Club Athletics, although the Japanese founder, Hiroshi Hiraoka, had actually learned the game while studying in Boston. In 1896, the Yokohama Country Athletic Club, fielding a team drawn mostly from the stellar Ichiko University team, defeated a team of American amateurs 29-4, the first proper game against an American team, which garnered national headlines. The following two rematches were also losses, even with the addition of players from a visiting US Naval ship. The Americans finally won 14-12 in the fourth meeting, with an American pro on the roster. Despite that eventual loss, the series of victories nevertheless were another illustration that the Japanese were as good, if not better, than Westerners. Visits by the Uni. of Chicago in 1910 would not go as smoothly, with Waseda University, one of the premier collegiate team in Japan, getting trounced in a series of embarrassing games, including a 20-0 shutout. By that point though, baseball was an ingrained part of Japanese character, even if not everyone was happy with it. Critics of the game especially were displeased that players would skip class for games and practice, as well as exhibit bad manners.
Similar to the concept of scholastic amateurism in the West, in 1915, the Koshien tournament was started to counter this. Originally a middle-school tournament, and later high school, it was created by the Osaka Asahi newspaper as a sales promotion, actually, but nevertheless marketed to highlight the educational virtues of the sport, working in instill "self-control and generous[ity] in victory and defeat" in the young players. The tournament quickly became a huge deal - still is! - and because they rather explicitly marketed it as a counter to commercial baseball as seen in the US, it quite possibly helped to stave off the development of a professional league until the mid-1930s.
So as we hit the 1940s, we see that it really has little to do with American postwar occupation. Baseball was firmly entrenched by that point, although it should be noted that during the war, baseball had mostly been suspended - the last school tournament was 1942 - and the resumption of Koshien in 1946 was readily granted permission by the American occupation forces, as, in the words of MacArthur:
>I can think of no greater source of human character development than intercollegiate athletic competition, and the most distinguished of these contests is the sport which has been loved for so long by both Americans and Japanese alike, baseball. Baseball cultivates individual endurance and discipline for teamwork. Also, baseball inspires a spirit of competition between people and groups, which is a prerequisite for free development politically, economically and socially - In baseball, I can also see valuable, great, moral power, which will help all Japanese solve the grave problems facing you in the reconstruction of your nation.
There was a not insignificant amount of ironic, not to mention nonsensical, racism in the decision, as they believed that "American team sports" would help to reeducate the Japanese, unlike the "individualistic" martial arts they practiced. It obviously ignores the fact the Japanese already had their own baseball traditions independent of the US, not to mention the fact that American propaganda during the war had gone a long way to portray the Japanese as practically a hive-mind devoid of any individuality.... Anyways though, point is the American occupation had little to do with it aside from mild encouragement.
So that is a brief summary. As I said, absolutely check out Whiting's book. Also, if you want a brief introduction, and have access to JSTOR, check out "Bushidō Baseball? Three 'Fathers' and the Invention of a Tradition" by Thomas Blackwood, which I cited for a few things here as well.
"You gotta have wa" is a classic.
A closer look at the underbelly of things Japanese:
The secret behind Japanese office workers always running about the office... written by future Japanese Nobel Prize winner...
You Gotta Have Wa
>The "wa" one must have is the group harmony that is the essence of Japanese "besoboru," or baseball. (Japanese baseball fans view individualism as the fatal flaw in the American game.) This interesting comparative study of the sport as it is played on both sides of the Pacific concentrates on the American stars who have gone to play in Japan. Whiting ( The Chrysanthemum and the Bat ) shows how Americans abroad have adapted to punishing spring training and pre-game practices throughout the season in Japan, and their adjustment to such aspects of the sport as the sacrifice bunt, the hit-and-run and the squeeze. He also chronicles American athletes' problems with tyrannical managers and coaches and umpires bent on saving face. The conclusion: American and Japanese baseball are vastly different games. Photos not seen by PW.
Covers the history of Japanese baseball (which surprisingly well pre-dates WW2) and players which cross the Pacific to play.
Notably, the current version includes updates that cover the careers of well known players like Ichiro, Darvish, etc. One of the most fascinating books I've read in years.
Slugging It Out in Japan: An American Major Leaguer in the Tokyo Outfield
Former MLB'er Warren Cromartie wrote about his experiences playing in Japan, and there's parts of the other famous Japanese baseball book You Gotta Have Wa in there as well. It helped introduce me to Japanese baseball. Pretty good reads.
You Gotta Have Wa by Robert Whiting. Great read if you're interested in Japanese baseball and how it compares to American.
Boy, I know very little about Japanese players. I've read You Gotta Have Wa and Sadaharu Oh's biography but it's been a long time and the players' names didn't mean much to me then.
What are some good online resources for doing some digging? I can google 'Japanese baseball' but I don't have any way of knowing if the sites are any good. BBref has stats, but little league context and no park numbers, so those are difficult to evaluate.
The one I recommend to everyone is The Baseball Fan's Companion, it is unfortunately out of print but easy to find used. I'd also recommend:
The Glory of their Times by Lawrence Ritter
Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck
Stolen Season by David Lamb
Can't Anybody Here Play this Game by Jimmy Breslin
The Wrong Stuff and Have Glove Will Travel by Bill Lee
You Gotta Have Wa by Robert Whiting