A ‘Peaceful War of Baseball’: University of Minnesota Beats Waseda University, 3–2, in 15 Innings, May 26, 1911

In 1905, Tokyo’s Waseda University became the first Japanese ballclub to play on American soil. Under the visionary leadership of Isoo Abe, the man now celebrated as “the Father of Japanese Baseball,” Waseda played 26 games against American colleges and semi-pro teams, finishing with a 7–19 record (.269 winning average).1 In 1911, Waseda returned to the US with the ambitious goal of playing—and winning—even more games.

The Waseda crew boarded the steamer Nippon Maru out of Yokohama on April 28, scheduled to arrive 16 days later in San Francisco.2 Abe couldn’t make the trip due to academic commitments, so he entrusted the club to professor Takizo “Frank” Takasugi, an assistant coach who had previously studied in Indiana and spoke perfect English.3

The Waseda players were enamored with America, a sentiment reflected by team captain Sutekichi Matsuda, who wrote:

America! What a sweet name to us Japanese!… Do you know what gratitude and affection we of Japan look upon the people of the opposite shores of the Pacific?… We have come here to fight you in the peaceful war of baseball. If we are behind you in our art and knack in the game, we at least want to stand on the same level as you in character and behavior.… We fight you as true fighters should, but after fighting we claim to enter into your warmest friendship.4

On April 19, Waseda kicked off its tour with an 11–2 loss to Stanford. The club notched its first victory three days later with a 4–1 win over the University of California at Berkeley. The tour headed east, with stops in Utah, Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa, before reaching Minnesota.5 When Waseda arrived in Minneapolis on May 25 to play the University of Minnesota the next day, it boasted a respectable 8–6 record.6

The community was buzzing with anticipation for the arrival of the Waseda nine. The local Issei (firstgeneration Japanese Americans) were especially thrilled. More than two weeks before the games, the Morning Tribune reported that some Japanese workers at downtown hotels had “already filed notice with the clerks and their employers that their grandmothers will die or be buried on Friday and Saturday when the two big games come off.” A bellboy at the Nicollet Hotel added, “We go to the game any way possible. Not miss it for much—job, money, or life.”7

Coaches Takasugi of Waseda and Wilkie Clarke of Minnesota announced their lineups for the May 26 contest slated to start at 3:30PM at Northrup Field.8

The game began with four scoreless innings. Minnesota pitcher Pickering, also the Gophers football captain, kept the first 12 batters hitless. The bespectacled Matsuda also puzzled opposing batters with a mix of fastballs, changeups, and breaking balls.9 His confidence was bolstered by excellent defensive support, especially from first baseman Oi, who displayed exceptional glove and footwork.10 At 5’8” he was the tallest Waseda player.11

Both catchers were handicapped by a strong wind blowing toward home plate, making it a challenge to accurately throw down to second. The wind, coupled with both pitchers’ failure to effectively hold runners, resulted in 14 stolen bases.12

In the fifth inning, Waseda struck first. Cleanup hitter Fukabori led off with a line drive that was too hot for Anderson at second. Hara’s liner past third could have scored the runner, but the third-base coach took no chances and held him. Fukunaga, the Waseda catcher, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt toward Knox at third, scoring Fukabori.13

Minnesota tied it up in the sixth inning. With two outs and a runner on second, Anderson made up for his miscue by crushing an RBI double to left for the Gophers’ first run. Matsuda killed the rally, picking off Anderson at second.14

With the score tied, 1–1, in the eighth inning, Fukunaga walked and then advanced to second when Matsuda fanned on a hit-and-run. Yawata grounded out to shortstop McGovern, moving the runner to third. Mikami singled to center, scoring Fukunaga.15

In the bottom of the ninth, the Waseda club was two outs from a 2–1 victory, but shortstop Omachi fumbled a hard grounder by Anderson, putting the tying run on first. Flynn’s groundout advanced Anderson, who promptly stole third, and Knox singled over second base for the game-tying RBI. The winning run was in scoring position once Knox stole second, but Matsuda remained calm and got Marsh to fly out to right, sending the game to extra innings.

The 10th through 14th innings mirrored the first four—both Pickering and Matsuda silenced the batters.16 Waseda failed to score in the top of the 15th, setting up Minnesota for the victory.

Johnston led off the inning by striking out, Matsuda’s tenth K of the game. Pickering then hit a hard grounder to short. The ball took a bad hop and struck Omachi’s shoulder.17 The Gophers leadoff hitter, Hartnett, who had managed just one hit in six at-bats for the day, stepped up to the plate for the seventh time. Pickering swiped second. With the baserunner dancing off the bag behind Matsuda, Hartnett hit a deep fly to the gap in left-center.

Under most circumstances, the towering drive would have been an inside-the-park home run at Northrup Field, a football stadium with baseball dimensions similar to the Polo Grounds, but the speedy left fielder Mikami quickly retrieved the ball. It didn’t matter, though. The damage was done: Pickering scored the winning run on Hartnett’s double. Minnesota 3, Waseda 2.18

Despite the two errors by Waseda, the press praised the visitors’ defense. “The Waseda men did their brilliant work, and several times the Japanese infielders brought forth cheers from the stands with their clever fielding and fast throws to first.” Newspaper observers added that Waseda’s defensive skill was “remarkable when we consider that they have but recently taken up baseball as a regular sport.”19

After the initial game, the Waseda men were feted at a banquet where university President George Edgar Vincent expressed a desire to have his school make a trip to Japan.20 The next day, the two clubs played again, but the contest paled in comparison to the 15-inning thriller. Minnesota won game two, 8–2.21

Waseda’s tour continued eastward to Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington, DC Shortly after participating in a 4th of July Parade in New York City, the team began its journey home, making additional stops in Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia.22

The Waseda baseball team covered 8,000 miles during its five-month tour.23 Waseda went 16–30 against college and semipro teams (.348 winning average).24 Of those losses, a dozen were decided by one run.25

Offensively, Yamamoto led Waseda in batting with a .317 average. Iseda led in triples (8) and doubles (5). Hara and Mikami led in stolen bases with 28 and 26, respectively. On the mound, Matsuda was credited with 10 of the team’s 16 victories, while Yamamoto won five.26

Every Waseda player was injured to some extent during the trip. Most recovered by the time they returned home, except for catcher Fukunaga, who was spiked badly in the left thigh, and pitcher Omura, who suffered a broken leg. Despite the battle scars, coach Takasugi and his club enjoyed their time in the US “Our boys conducted themselves respectfully all the time and left good impressions with the Americans,” he said.27

Of all the players who competed in the 15-inning thriller in Minnesota, only one went on to a career in professional baseball. After graduating from Waseda in 1912, outfielder Goro Mikami returned to the US for graduate school in Illinois.28 During his summer breaks, he played for All Nations, a barnstorming, multiracial club that featured legendary Negro Leagues pitchers Jose Mendez and John Donaldson. Three years after the 15-inning battle, the Japanese outfielder returned to Minnesota with his new American team.29 As a result of his stint with All Nations, Mikami is recognized as the first Japanese national to play for an integrated professional baseball team in the US.30

BILL STAPLES JR., of Chandler, Arizona, has a passion for researching and telling the untold stories of the “international pastime.” A SABR member since 2006, his areas of expertise include Japanese American and Negro Leagues baseball history as a context for exploring the themes of civil rights, cross-cultural relations, and globalization. He is a board member of the Nisei Baseball Research Project and Japanese American Citizens League–Arizona Chapter, and chairman of the SABR Asian Baseball Committee. Learn more at zenimura.com.

 

Notes

1 Japan Report. United States: Japan Information Center, Consulate General of Japan, 1973, 6.

2 H.O. Page, “Waseda Team in America,” Japan Times, July 26, 1911, 1.

3 “University,” Champaign (IL) Daily News, June 2, 1911, 3.

4 “Waseda Team Captain Writes His Liking for United States,” Daily Illini, May 26, 1911, 1.

5 “Waseda’s Home-Coming,” Japan Times, August 9, 1911, 5.

6 Game scores, statistics compiled by the author, September 2023. https://bit.ly/1911_Waseda_Tour_Stats.

7 “Japanese in Minneapolis Will Bury Grandmothers When Waseda Nine Comes,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 9, 1911, 5.

8 When Waseda arrived in the US, former University of Chicago coach Orville “Pat” Page joined the team and served as an assistant to Takasugi.

9 Fred R. Coburn, “Japanese Ball Players Show Class in 15-Inning Battle,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 27, 1911, 20.

10 Coburn.

11 California, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists.

12 Coburn, “Japanese Ball Players Show Class.”

13 Coburn.

14 Coburn.

15 Coburn.

16 Coburn.

17 Coburn.

18 Coburn.

19 Frank E. Force, “Waseda,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 27, 1911, 20.

20 “Japan Invasion Planned by ‘U’ Baseball Team,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 27, 1911, 22.

21 Gopher Board of Editors, The Gopher 26.

22 “Waseda’s Home-Coming.”

23 H.O. Page, “Waseda Team in America.”

24 “Waseda’s Home-Coming.”

25 Game scores, statistics compiled by the author, September 2023. https://bit.ly/1911_Waseda_Tour_Stats.

26 “Waseda’s Home-Coming.”

27 “Waseda’s Home-Coming.”

28 Brian McKenna, “Goro Mikami,” SABR, undated, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/goro-mikami/.

29 “All Nations Take 2 Games,” Little Falls (MN) Herald, July 31, 1914, 1.

30 Multiple sources incorrectly state that Mikami is the first Japanese national to play professional baseball. This distinction is actually held by the members of Green’s Japanese Base Ball Team, a professional barnstorming team of Japanese nationals founded by promoter Guy Green of Nebraska in 1906. Regarding Mikami, the more accurate statement is that he is the first Japanese national to play on an “integrated professional team.” To learn more, see: Robert K. Fitts, “The First Japanese Professionals: Guy Green’s 1906 Japanese Base Ball Team.” NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture 26, no. 1 (2017), 9–32, doi:10.1353/nin.2017.0016.

31“Base Ball,” in Gopher Board of Editors, The Gopher 26, 371–72, https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll339:9537/p16022coll339:9392?child_index=371&query=japan&sidebar_page=372.

32“Base Ball.”