The Baseball
Traveler
Part One: Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Article &
Photography
©2007
By Merle A.
Branner
News
Flash: The Friends of National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown,
New York have free entrance to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum,
which is located in Tokyo Dome City in Tokyo, Japan. I was unaware of this
fact and only found out during a recent visit to the Japanese HOF. I interviewed
Mr. Ruche Suzuki, the International Public Relations Director at the museum.
During our conversation, he told me that Dale Petroskey from the HOF arranged
a reciprocal agreement with them in October 2006. Mr. Suzuki promptly refunded
the entrance fee I had paid since I am a member of HOF in Cooperstown, New
York. For individuals who are not members of the HOF, there is a discount
coupon on the Japanese HOF web site:
http://english.baseball-museum.or.jp/index.html
The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum originally
was located next to Korakuen Stadium from 1959 to 1988. That is where the
Tokyo Giants played. They both moved into the Dome when it opened in 1988.
The current facilities are twice the size of the original museum. The museum
is divided into four parts, public exhibit space, archives storage, a library
and office space.
The
oldest book in their collection is ÒAmerican PastimeÓ by Charles
A Pererelly. Their copy is a second edition that was produced in America
by the New York News Company. The library area is very cramped as it is filled
with a large movable archival shelving system, computers, copier, digital
copy stand, desks and other equipment. The library collection consists of
over 50,000 items including books, magazines, newspapers, and many other
items. There is an area set aside with table and chairs for the public to
do research. Anyone is welcome to do research in the library and you need
not be a member of the museum. The library collection is not completely
electronically catalogued yet. The library and archive collection is completely
inventoried on index cards. In1997, they began the computerization processes. They
use Microsoft Excel and Access to inventory the collection. The library has
two full time librarians and their main responsibility is to work with visitors.
In turn, that leaves them little time to work on the modernization of the
inventory process.
The Japanese HOF has patterned their entrance privileges
after CooperstownÕs rules. This consist of two committees; one that
considers players and the other is a Special Selection Committee of 14 members;
professional and amateur in the baseball world, scholars and critics (sports
writers).
When asked about the type of people who use the
HOF Library, Mr. Suzuki indicated that it is mostly scholars and students
(Japanese, Asian, and American) who utilize the facilities. Mr. Suzuki said
that American researchers are less common than Asian researchers. He knows
Robert Fitts (SABR Chairperson of Asian Committee). Mr. Suzuki said, ÒI
read his first book ÒRemembering Japanese Baseball - An Oral History
of the Game 1948-1996,Ó and I really loved
it.Ó
When asked if outside researchers help the HOF with
their research, Mr. Suzuki said Òthey normally do not ask them for
help.Ó But he did say, ÒWhen we were researching
19th Century Players for a Special Induction, we did request help
from outside scholars.Ó
The
exhibits at the museum are very interesting and many of them are bilingual,
unlike Cooperstown. It is really helpful for foreigners to have the ability
to read the exhibits and the Japanese HOF has done a great job at this. There
is even a web site in English. I have never seen Cooperstown design a web
site in another language. Unfortunately, this is true for most museums in
the United States.
One of the exhibits that would interest many American
baseball junkies is the ÔAmerican Tour,Õ exhibit that started
with A.J. SpauldingÕs tour in 1908, the 1932 and 1936 tour with Babe
Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Moe Berg, and Hank Greenberg. There were many more tours
to Japan by American baseball teams than have been publicized, such as when
the Cincinnati Reds visited Japan after they won the World Series in 1978.
The
museum is not as large as Cooperstown, but they have covered the history
of the Japanese game in great detail. One of the more recent exhibits is
the 2006 World Baseball Classic, which was won by Japan. They have all of
the team member uniforms in a showcase along with photographs, and other
artifacts from the games. The gift shops around the Tokyo Dome and the museum
gift shop do not promote the victory with sales of memorabilia for fans.
Mr. Suzuki said, Òall of the collectables were produced in the USA,
and we really did not sell them here in Japan. The Japanese people are very
proud of our victory.Ó
It
appears that not many Americans visit the museum or at least arrange a meeting
beforehand. Mr. Suzuki treated my husband and I like V.I.P.Õs. He
introduced us to the Secretary General (President) of the museum, Mr. Fumio
Kobayaski, along with one of the curators, Mr. Takahiro Sekiguchi. I thought
that was special. But Mr. Suzuki did not leave it at simple introductions.
We were lead to their boardroom and sat down for a chat, which turn into
an interview for all of us. They
had many question for me. I also had questions for them. The men were very
interested in the types of membership that the Friends of the Baseball Hall
of Fame have in Cooperstown. In addition, they were unaware that SABR is
a worldwide organization. We had a brief discussion about SABR and how our
organization tried to change our name last year so that it would be more
inclusive of baseball worldwide. But I told them that we were unable to come
to a consensus and find a new name yet.
Membership
to the Japanese Hall of Fame and Museum is three tiers. First there is a
Supporters (Individual) Membership. They have 100 members at that level,
which cost 10,000 yen ($85.37), a Corporate Membership costs 100,000 yen
($853.68). They have 70 corporate members. A Junior Membership is 2,000 yen
($17.07). There is the Foreign Membership, which is at the (Individual)
membersÕ level that cost $100.00. They have three members at that
this level. Privileges with each membership level vary. But everyone gets
a quarterly newsletter, a membership card that also can be used at The National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, five courtesy tickets for
non-members (Individual membership) and 20 courtesy tickets for non-members
(Corporate membership). The send out occasional news releases, 10% off on
all items the museum sells, The Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum 2002 book
with addendum (for new Individual and sustaining members). Finally, Junior
and sustaining members receive the Baseball Museum original pin. In 2006,
there were 100,000 visitors to the museum. Most of the foreign visitors were
from Asian countries. But they do get Americans from time to time. Even though
they do not have a lot of Americans or foreign members, they still make a
conscientious effort to making the museum enjoyable to non-Japanese speaking
visitors.
The only room that looks similar to Cooperstown is the Plaque Room.
This room is not as elaborate as Cooperstown. But the plaques are as impressive
as the ones in Cooperstown. I of course needed to see the plaque of Sadahara
Oh, the home run king of Japan. He accumulated 868 homeruns during his 22-year
career. He has been the manager of the Softbank Hawks since 1995.
He
previously managed the Yomiuri Giants from 1984-1988. He managed the Japanese
team to the first World Baseball Classic victory last year. They had a giant
baseball at the end of the long and narrow room. The ball was the size of
a large globe, similar to the
Unisphere that was left
over from the
1964/1965
World Fair. It is located in front of the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing
Meadows Park in Queens, New York. There were autographs all over the ball.
Mr. Suzuki said
ÒThe big globe (baseball) in the Hall of Fame was made in 2005
as a promotion campaign of the NPB with its slogan, "Full
Swing!" It was autographed by
leading players of all of the 12 clubs with a short message. It traveled
around the country and greeted local fans at their
stadium.Ó
The history of Japanese baseball is very interesting,
especially the rules that pertain to foreign players. This aspect will be
covered in the second part of this article in the April issue of the Emil
Rothe Newsletter. Sayonara, for now.
