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Robert K. Fitts
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Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Writing Baseball) Paperback – March 21, 2005

by Robert K. Fitts (Author), Robert Whiting (Foreword)
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Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game transports us onto diamonds and into dugouts on the other side of the globe, where the vigorous sportsmanship of the game and the impassioned devotion of its fans transcend cultural and geographic borders and prove that baseball is fast becoming an international pastime.

Called Yakyu, baseball has been played in Japan since the 1890s but has only recently gained a substantial global following. Robert K. Fitts chronicles the nation’s distinctive version of the sport as recounted by twenty-five of its players. Fitts’s careful choice of subjects represents the experiences of a mix of American and Japanese players—including stars, titleholders, and members of the Japanese Hall of Fame. Informal, candid, and remarkably specific, these recollections describe teammates and opponents, corporate owners and loyal fans, triumphs and frustrations, collectively capturing all the spirit and emotion engendered by the game from decidedly personal vantage points. Throughout, readers glimpse the unique traits of baseball in Japan and discern how the game has evolved since its inception as well as how it differs from its American counterpart.

An unparalleled introduction for an American audience, Remembering Japanese Baseball is augmented by photos of its twenty-five interviewees and a timeline demarking milestone moments in the game’s Japanese history. Robert Whiting, author of You Gotta Have Wa! and The Meaning of Ichiro, provides the foreword.
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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Southern Illinois University Press
  4. Publication date
    March 21, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.63 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0809326302
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0809326303
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The fact that such different cultures could share a similar love for a simple ballgame first sparked attention when American players began having second careers in Japan. Now that stars from Japan are joining stateside teams, the pertinence of what Fitts has done is clear. Through these narratives Fitts grants us unrivaled firsthand knowledge of Japanese baseball from old- and new-timers alike.”—Jerry Klinkowitz, author of Owning a Piece of the Minors and Basepaths

About the Author

Born in Philadelphia, Robert K. Fitts graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Brown University. As an archaeologist, Fitts specialized in slavery in eighteen-century New England and in Victorian New York City, publishing eight academic papers in peer-reviewed journals.  

In 2000, Fitts left archaeology to write about the history of Japanese Baseball. His articles have appeared in The National Pastime, Baseball Research Journal, Journal of American Culture, Tuff Stuff and on MLB.com. His first book, Remembering Japanese Baseball won the 2005 Society of American Baseball Research & The Sporting News Award for Best Baseball Research. His second book, Wally Yonamine: The Man who Changed Japanese Baseball, focuses on the extraordinarily life of Wally Yonamine, the first Japanese-American to play for an NFL franchise and the first American to join professional baseball in Japan after WW2. Look for his next book, Banzai Babe Ruth, the story of the 1934 tour of Japan, in early 2012.  

For more information visit RobFitts.com

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Southern Illinois University Press; First Edition (March 21, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0809326302
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0809326303
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.63 x 8.25 inches

About the author

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Robert K. Fitts

Robert K. Fitts

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A former archaeologist with a Ph.d. from Brown University, Rob Fitts left academics behind to follow his passion - Japanese Baseball. An award-winning author and speaker, his articles have appeared in numerous magazines and websites, including Nine, the Baseball Research Journal, the National Pastime, Sports Collectors Digest, and on MLB.com.

He is the author of five books on Japanese baseball. His next book, Issei Baseball: The Story of the First Japanese American Ballplayers will be published by the University of Nebraska in 2020.

​

Earlier books include Mashi: The Unfulfilled Baseball Dreams of Masanori Murakami, the First Japanese Major Leaguer (University of Nebraska Press, 2015); Banzai Babe Ruth (University of Nebraska Press, 2012); Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball (University of Nebraska Press, 2008); and Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005).

​

Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and recipient of the society’s 2013 Seymour Medal for Best Baseball Book of 2012; the 2019 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award; the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for best oral research presentation at the Annual Convention; and the 2006 Sporting News- SABR Research Award. He has also been a finalist for the Casey Award and a silver medalist at the Independent Publish Book Awards.

​

A popular speaker on the history of Japanese baseball, Fitts has spoken at many venues including the Library of Congress, the Japan Embassy in Washington DC, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the Japan Society of New York, the Asia Society of New York, the Nine Baseball Conference, the Society of American Baseball Research Annual Convention, and the American Club, Tokyo.

While living in Tokyo in 1993-94, Fitts began collecting Japanese Baseball cards. He is now recognized as one of the leading experts in the field and has created the ebusiness Robs Japanese Cards LLC. He regularly writes and speaks about the history of Japanese baseball cards.

For more information visit RobFitts.com

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Royrose
5.0 out of 5 stars Banzai Fitts!
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2010
Verified Purchase
Remembering Japanese Baseball brings to life, in riveting detail, a familiar game and a distant (in time & space)land in the rich currency of humor, joy and sadness by the men who played it. Robert Fitts, much like the best talk show hosts, performs a nifty bit of disappearing magic by casting our full attention on the players he interviews. The effect is oral history that feels like a series of intimate dinner conversations. The difference between the game we grew up with and Japanese baseball, in style and spirit, will surprise the casual fan and the die hard fan alike. Cover to cover, a great read!
One person found this helpful
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CPB
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a great collection of stories told by former Japanese baseball players
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016
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This is a great collection of stories told by former Japanese baseball players. Great book to start with before branching out to some of the books about Oh Sadaharu, Mashi, Warren Cromartie, etc. A newer version with stories from the last 10 years or so would be great!
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Wilsonator.
5.0 out of 5 stars Hideki Matsui MVP No Surprise after Insightful read!
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2009
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I had the pleasure of reading Robert Fitts book a few years back. To see Hideki Matsui in 2009 show such discipline at the plate and to watch him perform under pressure so well with each plate appearance is to see and appreciate the novel Remembering Japanese Baseball in living color. A must read for all who truly love baseball and for a insight of how japanese players of today are truly inspired by the great japanese and american players from yesteryear.
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Max Pynchon
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific History Book for Baseball Lovers
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2014
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One of the more interesting things on this planet is the Japanese love of American Baseball. This book is a terrific way to get the big picture on its history through the words of those who have lived it.
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Brian Maitland
1.0 out of 5 stars been done better
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2005
Not to bemoan a point but where are the Japanese ballplayers' perspective since about the 1960s? I mean, how about some of the more post-'60s players like Furuta, Akiyama, Fukudome, Kuwata, Kiyohara...even Ishige, Nakahata, etc. Even the Japanese MLBers like Nomo, Ichiro et al takes on J-ball would be great to throw in there.

Sure these are all interesting snapshots BUT why the focus so much on the import players from the '60s onwards? It skews the book way too much towards the same-old tired "gaikokujin (foreigner)" viewpoint. Frankly, if you are going to do a book about Japanese baseball and the import quota in their leagues is so low, why not have a better balance between the J-view and the "foreigners' " view?

Very disappointing, if you follow J-ball at all. I'll wait for Volume 2 and hope we get a big more updated version.
4 people found this helpful
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Hannibal Smith
2.0 out of 5 stars Companion to Gotta Have Wa
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2005
Aside from a few passages, this is merely an expansion upon Robert Whiting's 1980's classic You Gotta Have Wa, which chronicled the experience of American ballplayers in the NPB. Rather than interview career Japanese players, he elects to interview Americans who played in Japan. This merely expands upon themes discussed in no less than three of Whiting's books, and as a whole adds little to English language analysis of the game. It was disappointing when Whiting broke little new ground in his long-awaited book, and even more disappointing to see another derivative work. For the serious fan only.
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Mark from MI
5.0 out of 5 stars Well done - interesting read
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2011
This was my first read on Japanese baseball history and I found it well written and paced. Very interesting antidotes and easily prepares the reader for additional titles. I enjoyed the experience.
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Gary Garland
4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Addition to the NPB English Language Historiography
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2005
While this book does indeed reinforce some of the ground covered in Whiting's books, it is also the first

english language oral history on the subject and thus it gives a fuller view of how each player saw baseball in Japan than what Whiting could present in his more general overviews. Here you have both Japanese and American players talking about the development of Japanese baseball over the years, how they related to their teammates, who

would have made it in the major leagues but never got the chance, as well as some personal anecdotes about

what the families of American players experienced while following their husband or father to the Land of the Rising Sun. At the end of the day, you get a better feel for the humanity of the people who ply their trade on the diamond than in most other baseball books.

The only real defect of this worthy work is that one wishes it was longer. It is such a fun and engrossing read that one hopes for a sequel ASAP. Unfortunately, doing oral history is not an easy undertaking (and if you read Whiting's foreward, you will understabnd part of the reason why) and that Fitts was able to get as far as he did with this

book is a testament to the love and hard work that resulted in its realization.

For a fuller review of Remembering Japanese Baseball, go to: [...]
3 people found this helpful
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