From the S&S archives:
46 U.S. major leaguers start Japan tour

TOKYO — Forty-six American major leaguers are here for an 18-day barnstorming tour in which they will be scrutinized, idolized and analyzed for what makes their game different from the Japanese national pastime of "besuboru."

American teams have been visiting Japan in the autumn for years — 16 times since the end of World War II. But in previous years the visit was usually by one team.

This year, for the first time, the Japanese fans will see many of today's big-name stars at once — Philadelphia's Pete Rose, St. Louis' Lou Brock, Pittsburgh's Dave Parker and Chicago's Dave Kingman of the National League; California's Rod Carew and Don Baylor, Boston's Jim Rice and Milwaukee's Cecil Cooper of the American League.

The two squads, managed by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Tom Lasorda and the. Baltimore Orioles' Earl Weaver, will play seven exhibition games between themselves and two against Japanese All-Star teams. Almost every seat for every game was sold a month ahead,. the best of them costing $22 apiece.

Although it is the first trip to Japan for most of. the American players, they are not total strangers to the Japanese, who watch videotaped highlights of U.S. games on television on Sundays and have dozens of newspapers and sports magazines in which to follow the American game.

Rose is at least as familiar a name in Japan as Jimmy Carter. The escapades of Reggie Jackson and the salary hassles of Parker are followed with keen interest.

Ever since American teachers introduced the game to Japan in the 1870s, the Japanese have looked upon America as baseball's holy land — at the same time aspiring to build their own version to match it.

Long-time Japanophiles see similarities in baseball's ballet-like movements and the stage rhythms of Japan's traditional kabuki theater.

Japan's own professional league has been called "the league that Ruth built," ironically because of a third strike the Sultan of Swat once took here. Facing a touring American team in 1934, a 19-year-old fastballer named Eiji Sawamura mowed down Charley Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx and Lou Gehrig in succession.

Although the power-laded Americans won. that tour, 17-0, Sawamura delighted the  fans and helped give Yomiuri Giants founder Matsutaro Shoriki the boost he needed to found the professional league two years later.

Sawamura became one of  its biggest stars and later was killed in the war. The Sawamura Award is Japan's equivalent of the Cy Young Award for the game's top pitcher here.

Today there are 12 teams playing in two leagues, the Central and the Pacific. All are owned by large railroad, merchandise or other business combines. They begin spring training in January and finish the season off with the Japan World Series in November, playing in stadiums that seat 30,000 to 50,000 and are usually filled.

The infields are almost invariably "skinned" and the fences short by American standards — 300 feet down the line and less than 400 to straightaway center field.

The visiting power hitters may find that to their liking but they'd best be able to hit the curve ball, which sometimes appears to be the only pitch in the Japanese repertoire.

It was the late Shoriki's dream that one day the Japanese and American champions would meet in a "real" World Series. Toward that end he pumped heavy investment into his own Yomiuri Giants, a Tokyo-based franchise that dominates the game here the way the Yankees once dominated American baseball.

So far the Japanese haven't been able to measure up to the U.S. game's standard. The 1974 New York Mets lost five in a row, then struggled back to a 9-7-2 record on their Japan tour. Last year the Cincinnati Reds stormed through Japan to a 14-2-1 mark.

The rivalry nonetheless is keenly felt, as was shown in 1976 when Sadaharu Oh, the Giants' slugging first baseman, received a National Hero Award from the government for exceeding Hank Aaron's lifetime mark of 755 home runs.

At age 39, the Bamboo Bambino is still going strong with 838 lifetime homers and will be among the All-Stars chosen to face the touring Americans on Nov. 14 and Nov. 20.

The Japanese team is being chosen by a vote of sports writers. A spokesman for the Japanese baseball commissioner's office says the locals will be "playing to win" despite a general recognition, after years of comparing, that the Japanese are no match for the sheer power and speed of the American big leaguers.