Voyage to The Land of the Rising Sun: The Wisconsin Badger Nine’s 1909 Trip to Japan

University of Wisconsin and Keio University, September 22, 1909. (Rob Fitts Collection)

 

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt sent his eldest daughter, Alice, and Secretary of War William Howard Taft on a tour of the Far East, making stops in China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. The trip was part of Roosevelt’s plan to act as mediator in the Russo- Japanese War, in the process solidifying the United States’ place in the hierarchy of trading in the Orient. While the visit was successful on both accounts, by the end of the decade the relationship between Japan and the United States was growing contentious over actions being taken in South Manchuria (China). In essence, the United States was on the brink of being blocked out of Oriental trading by Japan’s South Manchurian train line. Taft, who became president in 1909, saw an opportunity to work toward an agreement of some kind, where both countries could continue to utilize the area. Hoping that a resolution could be made, Taft saw a prospect for bonding in one of the two nations’ few common grounds—the baseball diamond. The University of Wisconsin-Madison had a series of games planned for the fall in Japan, and Taft wanted to capitalize on the game’s international appeal.

Baseball was one of the University of Wisconsin’s first athletic teams. The first recorded game was played on April 30,1870, when the university’s team, the Mendotas, thumped the Capital City Club, 53-18. In 1877 a baseball association was formed. By the first decade of the 1900s, the school’s baseball program had become a victim of the game’s nationwide success. Seemingly every club and fraternity on campus was fielding a team. In January 1909, when financial constraints arose, university officials proposed that the intercollegiate team be dropped in favor of skating and intramural baseball. Ultimately, the plan never came to fruition, but the baseball team, under coach Tom Barry, did little to prove its worth, ending with a 4-8 record and a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference.

During the tepid 1909 season, Genkwan Shibata, a native of Toyama, Japan, and an honor student in the university’s commerce program, had been negotiating a series of games between the school team and ballclubs in Japan.2 “Shibby” worked with Professor Masao Matsuoka of Tokyo’s Keio University (a 1907 alumnus of Wisconsin) to bring the plan to fruition. Just before commencement, it was announced that the university would send a baseball team to Japan in the fall for a series of games. To offset some of the cost, Keio helped sponsor the trip, guaranteeing up to $4,000 toward Wisconsin’s finances. This was the second time in as many years that an American university had traveled to Japan to play an exhibition series. The previous fall, Waseda University sponsored a trip for the University of Washington.

Due to Barry’s commitments as the head football coach, a replacement baseball coach was sought out. The university didn’t have to look far, turning to part-time political science faculty member Charles McCarthy. The timing couldn’t have been any better for McCarthy, who had recently suffered a self-described “nervous breakdown.”3 A renaissance man, he had been steeped in work for the past decade. After obtaining his doctorate in American history from Wisconsin-Madison in 1901, McCarthy helped set up the Wisconsin Legislative Library.4 His knowledge of economics made him a frequent sounding board for President Roosevelt. He remained at the university as a part-time political science lecturer and assistant football coach. He was also heavily involved in the state’s progressive movement and the political movement’s quintessential work, the “Wisconsin Idea.”

As much as McCarthy was involved in politics, he was an athlete at heart. Despite his slight frame, McCarthy had been an All-American fullback and standout punter at Brown University. While attending law school at the University of Georgia, he took over the football coaching duties from Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner. He coached for two years (1897-98), leading the team to a 6-3 record. When he came to Wisconsin as a doctoral student, he immediately immersed himself in the athletic program, focusing on football. In the years leading up to the trip to Japan (1907-09), he “played an extremely important part in the athletic situation” at the university.5

In addition to McCarthy acting as coach and university representative, Shibata was named business manager and interpreter. Ned Jones was the press correspondent.6 Everyone on the Badgers’ 13-man roster was a Wisconsinite: catchers Elmer Barlow and Arthur Kleinpell; pitchers Douglas Knight and Charles Nash; first baseman Mike Timbers; second basemen John Messmer and Kenneth Fellows; third baseman Arthur Pergande; shortstops J. Allen Simpson and Oswald Lupinski; and outfielders David Flanagan, Harlan Rogers, and R. Waldo Mucklestone.

The Badgers didn’t have any future major leaguers, but they were a talented group. Knight pitched for former big leaguer Emerson “Pink” Hawley’s Oshkosh Indians of the Wisconsin-Illinois League while waiting for the trip. Barlow and Messmer attracted interest from professional ball teams.7 Messmer, the team’s best all-around athlete, was the university’s first nine-letter winner, collecting three each in football, baseball, and track.8 He also captained the swim team, dabbled in water polo, and was a “prime candidate for the crew team,” perhaps the school’s most popular and competitive athletic team.9 Rogers was a three-sport star (football, basketball, and baseball).

In July, University president Charles R. Van Hise received a letter from President Taft, an ardent baseball fan, for McCarthy to pass along to Thomas J. O’Brien, the ambassador to Japan. It read:

My dear Ambassador: I am advised that the faculty of the University of Wisconsin has accepted the invitation of the Keio University of Japan to play a series of ten games of baseball with the Japanese university in the month of September.

I am glad such a trip is to be undertaken, as it can not but be of advantage to the universities in the encouragement of manly sports and athletics, and will lead to a better understanding between the universities of the two countries.

I shall greatly appreciate any courtesies of consideration within your power which you may be able to extend to the team while in Japan which may add to the usefulness and pleasure of their visit there.10

University of Wisconsin professors also praised the trip as a great educational experience for the students. McCarthy assured faculty that though the excursion would cause the student-athletes to miss the beginning of the fall semester, he would make sure that they were keeping up with their academic pursuits while in Japan.

Shibata, though an academic achiever, was strictly thinking about the games. In a letter to the players, he expressed this sentiment: “We cannot come back to the university with defeats; the Japanese men never love unworthy opponents. I desire to show them that Wisconsin can raise men too.”11 Shibata guaranteed that it would be an experience they would never forget, commenting, “Please take care of your health and I can promise to show you the time of your life in Japan.”12

On August 22, 1909, the group boarded the Great Northern Railway’s Oriental Limited in Minneapolis. Two days were spent traveling through Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and into Washington where they were given a scenic tour of the state as they made their way to Seattle. When they pulled into King Street Station on August 24, nearly 2,000 miles from Madison, they were greeted by a cheer of “U Rah Rah Wisconsin!” by Western alumnus of the university.

For several days the team made trips to Tacoma and Port Ludlow, Washington, for exhibition games. Finally, on the morning of August 31, the group enthusiastically boarded the Aki Maru of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line. Over the next two weeks, the Midwestern boys endured sea sickness and suspect food, while taking in the sights (including humpback whales). Finally, on September 16 they arrived in Japan, docking at the Yokohama pier. A large banner greeted them that read “Wisconsin Cead Mille Tfailte,” Gaelic for “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes to Wisconsin.” The Badgers were met by hundreds of Keio students who greeted them with the university’s “U Rah Rah Wisconsin!” cheer. Professor Matsuoka had prepared a group to act as Badger backers, writing Shibata “for the words of the Wisconsin yell, the words and music of the college song, and 500 cardinal-colored armbands, to be used by Japanese students who were to represent Wisconsin fans at the games.”13

When the Badgers came to Japan, Keio was considered to be the top team in the country, and they were given great support in their training. Supposedly, “as soon as the Wisconsin faculty sanctioned the trip the Keio boys were hurried off to a cool, quiet place in Northern Japan to spend the summer in practice. Each day they spent six hours in practice, and when it came time for the first game they were in the best of physical condition.”14 This was apparent when the two teams held a joint practice the first day the Wisconsin boys arrived. As one member of Badgers recalled, “That afternoon we had our first practice. After we were done the Keio team came on the field. They proved to us that we could not play ball at all. That first practice of theirs was one of the ‘classiest’ affairs that we had ever seen.”15

Keio’s serious approach to the series may have been a response to the thorough beating they took the year before. Although they had success during the University of Washington’s 1908 visit, a group of professionals visited the island that November and December. The Reach All-Americans, made up of Pacific Coast Leaguers and a few second-string major leaguers, traveled to the Orient on a barnstorming tour, leaving with a record of 17-0, including four decisive defeats of Keio.

On September 22,1909, the Badgers traveled to the ballpark by rickshaw to play Keio in the first game. They were told that a large crowd was expected, but as they made their way to the park, the streets were eerily silent. Even when they arrived, there was no one outside the ballpark. They were shocked by what they saw when they entered the gates. David Flanagan recalled the scene, “Sitting there before us, grave and silent as a multitude in a church, was a crowd of twenty-five thousand Japanese fans.”16

Silence was an essential part of the Japanese game plan, for both players and fans. When the Wisconsin players started their chatter, or “line of talk,” they were hissed by the crowd. The Japanese felt that the “encouraging of a player by another on his own team was intended to rattle the opposition.”17 Unfazed, the Badger nine continued their talk, and, according to Oswald Lupinski, “before the close of the international series our opponents were making just as much, and perhaps more noise than we were.”18

The first two games went into extra innings, both Wisconsin losses. The first was a 3-2,11-inning affair that saw the Badgers outhit Keio, 7 to 3. The second lasted 19 innings, ending in a 2-1 loss. More importantly, Doug Knight, who had pitched all 11 innings in the first game and the first 16 of the second, injured his arm and wasn’t able to pitch for the next few games. In both games, Japanese pitcher Kazuma Sugase stifled the Americans. A few years later, when John McGraw led a group of major leaguers on a world tour, he described Sugase as “one of the greatest all-around athletes in Japan” in “the same position here that Jim Thorpe occupied in the United States after the last Olympic games.”19

Sugase wasn’t the only Keio player whose skills caught the attention of the American players. Three others impressed, including Nenosuke Fukuda, the university’s catcher, who had a throwing arm that “kept base runners glued to the bases.”20 A Badger described shortstop Katsumaro Sasaki as “one of the fastest fielding players that we had ever seen and his fielding would possibly win for him a place in our major leagues.” The other standout was center fielder Manpei Kameyama, the “best runner in Japan.”21

As a whole, the Japanese team’s approach to the game reflected the Deadball Era in which they played: midline pitching backed by superb defense, and weak hitting supplemented with keen baserunning, bunting, and squeezing. “The Japs are a bit weak with the bat, but play a fielding game which can hardly be improved upon,” recalled Lupinski. “They are dangerous men on bases, and when a runner reaches first he generally goes all the way around to home. They use the squeeze play and the bunting game extensively. Often a base runner goes from first to third on a bunt.”22

In the first two contests, Wisconsin felt that differences in rules interpretations by umpire Takeji Nakano cost them the game. A former player and coach for Ichiko, Nakano umpired games between Keio and Waseda for years and was known for his fairness. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

The Badgers gracefully accepted the umpire’s decisions, which “won for the Americans the general approbation of the Japanese public and all foreigners who witnessed the games.”23 According to Genkwan Shibata, after the game, Nakano, true to his nature, approached the Wisconsin team and “excused himself for his mistakes.”24

Scoring information for the entire series of games was sparse, because the Japanese box scores included only runs, hits, and errors. For a few games, putouts were recorded. The summary under the box score included only extra-base hits and the pitchers’ records.

After starting 0-2, the Badgers rebounded to win the next three, with Charles Nash taking over the pitching duties from the injured Knight. The first game saw Wisconsin shut out a group of Americans living in Tokyo, 10-0. In the next contest, the Badgers edged the Tokyo Club, 8-7. The game wasn’t as close as the score indicated, with the Japanese team scoring six unearned runs in the eighth inning. Knight, now playing in the outfield, hit a solo home run. Messmer hit a two-run home run in the next game, helping the Badgers defeat Waseda University, 7-4.

The Badgers’ power surge continued into the next game when they looked to defeat Keio on October 4. Wisconsin finally solved Sugase, the Japanese ace, delivering two triples and two doubles. The offensive outburst still wasn’t enough as Keio was victorious for the third consecutive game, 5-4. Errors had plagued the Badgers throughout the trip, but according to the Japan Advertiser, “The fortunate hitting of the Keio team when a hit was most needed won the game for them.”25

Away from the diamond, the Badgers were allowed to experience Japanese culture, reveling in the colleges, shops, temples, theaters, and museums. They traveled by rickshaw, ate with chopsticks, and occasionally indulged in sake. Excursions to the cultural sites of Kamakura and Enoshima greatly enhanced the foreign experience. Additionally, they frequented Keio students’ homes, where they talked and dined with their families. The Wisconsin boys became celebrities, drawing a crowd as they walked through the streets. American culture was also of great interest. Several of the players conducted classes in English at the university. Coach McCarthy took on a much more ambitious schedule, delivering a lecture series on American law and making presentations to the transportation department.

One of the most memorable social affairs took place on the evening of October 6 at the Chitose Ro, the premier teahouse in Yokohama. After a lavish meal, entertainment was provided by “the most beautiful geisha girls.”26 Several speeches were given; the most notable was by Mayor Nobukata Mitsuhashi of Yokohama, who lauded the Badgers on their sportsmanship. He ended by saying, “You have come, and by your example taught us that this is not only possible, but that it really forms the highest, best kind of sport, for a man to be as keen as mustard at the game, and yet have such excellent control over his own feelings as to submit without question to the decision of the umpire.”27

The next day, October 7, Nash shut out Waseda, 5-0, four times escaping jams that saw the Japanese university put men on second and third with no one out. Two days later, Waseda’s pitcher, Takayuki Omura, threw his own shutout, 3-0. Waseda scored runs on a hit, an error, and a passed ball in the first inning, and a similar combination of miscues accounted for two more in the sixth. Wisconsin had an opportunity to tie the game in the seventh, but a few close calls by umpire Nakano “took considerable ginger out of the Badgers.”28 This time, Wisconsin wasn’t as courteous in their treatment of Nakano, openly berating him, for which the Japanese press “complained in letters” to the Washington Post.29

After a two-day excursion to Nikko, a tourist site in the mountains, roughly 90 miles north of Tokyo, the Badgers returned to the capital city for a final game against Keio. It was a wet, rainy day, and the Wisconsin boys “seemed to be more at home in the slippery going.”30 They roughed up Sugase for 10 hits. In the fifth inning alone, they had five singles, a double, and a triple, resulting in six earned runs. Nash was at his best, shutting out the university, 8-0. It was the Badgers’ first victory over Keio and put their final record for the tour at 5-4. After the game, a large farewell banquet was held for the Badgers at one of Tokyo’s largest social clubs, the Kojunsha Club. It was attended by the Keio and Waseda teams, prominent businessmen, and members of the media.

When the team departed from Yokohama the next morning, they were shown off by the Keio and Waseda teams, who showered them with remembrances, flowers, and fruit. Sixteen days later, on October 29, they arrived in Seattle. When they returned to Wisconsin on November 3, a large rally was held and mementos of the trip were displayed for several weeks. An unidentified member of the Badgers summed up the feelings of his teammates: “All of us hope some day to meet again as friends, the best true sportsmen we have ever met.”31 On a larger scale, Wisconsin Secretary of State William A. Frear gushed that “Wisconsin unlocked[ed] the door of social fraternity with Japan in a manner never before equaled.”32

JOE NIESE is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and the Professional Football Researchers Association. To date, he has written four sports biographies: Burleigh Grimes: Baseball’s Last Legal Spitballer (McFarland), Handy Andy: The Andy Pafko Story (Chippewa River Press), Gus Dorais: Gridiron Innovator, All-American and Hall of Fame Coach (McFarland), and Zack Wheat: The Life of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer (McFarland). In 2015, Handy Andy won a bronze prize in Foreword Review’s Book of the Year Award (Sports). That same year Joe received the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association State Media Award. Zack Wheat won SABR’s 2021 Ron Gabriel Award and was on the shortlist of finalists for their Larry Ritter Award. Joe lives in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, with his wife and three children, where he works as library director of the Chippewa Falls Public Library.

 

 

NOTES

1 Adapted from NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture Volume 22, No. 1 (Fall 2013) by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 2014by the University of Nebraska Press.

2 Shibata was the university’s first Japanese student to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the academic honor society.

3 Marion Casey, Charles McCarthy: Librarianship and Reform (Chicago: American Library Association, 1981), 62.

4 The first of its kind in the United States, the Legislative Library became the model for the Congressional Reference Service of the Library of Congress.

5 Irma Hochstein, “College Spirits and Patriotism,” Wisconsin Alumni Magazine 23, no. 1 (November 1921): 12.

6 After the trip, Jones stayed in Tokyo, writing for the Japan Advertiser.

7 Barlow, who was finishing up law school, turned down offers from professional teams to pursue a career in law.

8 >Messmer qualified for the 1908 Olympic track team in discus but withdrew because one of his brothers was severely ill.

9 “Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame,” Wisconsin Sports Development Corporation, https://www.wihalloffame.com/john-messmer.

10 “Taft Speaks Kind Words,” Daily Northwestern (Northwestern University), July 28, 1909.

11 “Badgers Ready for Japan,” Racine (Wisconsin) Daily Journal, August 12, 1909: 3.

12 “BadgersReady for Japan.”

13 Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour-Mills, Baseball: The People’s Game (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 171.

14 David Flanagan, “Wisconsin vs. Japan in Baseball,” Independent 67 (December 1909): 1493.

15 Walter Buchner, “A Member of the Wisconsin Team: Our Opponents,” Wisconsin Magazine 7, no. 2 (November 1909): 29.

16 Flanagan:1495.

17 “Wisconsin’s Ball Players Find Japs Hard to Beat,” Washington Post, November 21, 1909: Sports 3.

18 Oswald Lupinski, “To Japan with the Ball Team,” Wisconsin Engineer 14, no. 2 (February 1910): 137.

19 John McGraw, “Americans Defeat Great Jap Pitcher,” New York Times, December 8, 1913: 9.

20 Fukuda, who later changed his name to Zensuke Shimada, was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

21 Buchner: 29-30.

22 Lupinski: 136.

23 “University of Wisconsin vs. Japan,” Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide, vol. 34 (New York: American Sports Publishing, 1910), 305.

24 Genkwan Shibata, “The Japanese Trip,” Wisconsin Magazine 7, no.2 (November 1909): 26.

25 “Wisconsin’s Ball Players Find Japs Hard to Beat,” Washington Post, November 21, 1909: Sports 3.

26 Lupinski: 138.

27 Lupinski: 138.

28 “Wisconsin’s Ball Players Find Japs Hard to Beat.”

29 “Wisconsin’s Ball Players Find Japs Hard to Beat.”

30 “Wisconsin’s Ball Players Find Japs Hard to Beat.”

31 Buchner: 30.

32 Seymour and Seymour-Mills, 171.