[Choi Min-gyu's Baseball Prism] Japan Baseball's '克美' and Ohtani

Yomiuri's First Owner Shoriki's Legacy: "Surpassing American Baseball"
Key Code in Japanese Baseball... Culture Emphasizing Group Over Individual
From 'Baseball' in Early 1870s to Japanized 'Yakyu' in 1895
Otani, Breaking Free from Shoriki's Dream of 'Extreme Japanese Style', Achieves It

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Shohei Ohtani (27) of the Major League Baseball LA Angels started as the starting pitcher in the home game against the Seattle Mariners on the 27th (Korean time). He pitched excellently, allowing 5 hits and 1 run over 7 innings while striking out 10 batters. He left the mound with the score tied 1-1, failing to achieve his 10th win. Ohtani is challenging a historic record of achieving double-digit wins as a pitcher and double-digit home runs as a batter. It is the first time in 103 years since Babe Ruth recorded 13 wins as a pitcher and 11 home runs as an outfielder in 1918. As of the 27th, Ohtani has recorded 9 wins (2 losses) and 45 home runs.

Ruth is considered one of the greatest athletes in American sports history beyond baseball. He changed the nature of the game with his home runs. The only athlete comparable to him is basketball’s Michael Jordan. Ruth debuted in Major League Baseball as a pitcher in 1914 and focused on playing as a position player from 1920. The seasons in which he played both as a pitcher and a position player?‘two-way player’ seasons?were 1918 and 1919. According to the prestigious American sports weekly Sports Illustrated’s evaluation last July, Ohtani’s 2021 season as the ‘greatest two-way player season’ surpasses Ruth’s two seasons.

Ruth visited Ohtani’s home country, Japan, during his lifetime. In 1934, Matsutaro Shoriki, president of the Yomiuri Shimbun, invited a Major League All-Star team including Ruth and Lou Gehrig. At that time, Japan had no professional baseball, so an All-Japan team composed of thirty amateur stars faced Ruth’s team. Lee Young-min was the only player from colonial Korea included in the All-Japan team.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Based on this team, the Yomiuri Giants were established in 1935, and the first professional baseball league was formed the following year. This background explains why Yomiuri is still regarded as the dominant force in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The Yomiuri organization has inherited three ‘precepts’ from its first owner Shoriki. The third of these is ‘to catch up with and surpass American baseball.’ ‘Gokubi (克美)’ is one of the important codes in Japanese baseball.

Baseball was introduced to Japan in the early 1870s and became a popular sport. For a while, it was called by the foreign word ‘baseball.’ However, in 1895, the translated term ‘yakyu (野球, baseball)’ appeared. Other terms such as ‘shortstop’ were also translated. This marked the beginning of the Japanization of baseball. Taggart Murphy, a former professor at Tsukuba University, pointed out in his 2014 book The Japanese Yoke, “The Japanese always had a clear awareness of what came from overseas and what was their own.” Although American baseball and Japanese yakyu are the same game, they differ significantly. Murphy described the Yomiuri team, Shoriki’s legacy, by saying, “Monarchs and baseball stars like Shigeo Nagashima were all team players.” He saw that Japanese culture, which emphasizes the group over the individual, was deeply embedded in baseball.

After Hideo Nomo’s success in 1995, many NPB stars knocked on the door of Major League Baseball. The player most loved by Japanese baseball fans was Ichiro Suzuki, who retired in 2019. Because his trademark was hits rather than home runs, he was considered to play a more Japanese style of baseball. He recorded 3,089 hits in his Major League career. This year, Ohtani is without exaggeration the biggest star in Major League Baseball. Could it be that Shoriki’s precept has finally been realized? However, Ohtani’s play is quite different from ‘yakyu.’ He throws faster pitches and hits harder than any other major leaguer. Before this season, he significantly increased his muscle mass. Many players in Japan still avoid weight training. Ohtani’s growth as a player at Nihon Ham Fighters, his high school, and professional debut team was far from typical Japanese style.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In some respects, the ‘gokubi’ of Japanese baseball is an expression of inferiority complex. Inferiority complex is linked to hostility. Masumi Kuwata, a Yomiuri pitching coach known as a rebel in Japanese baseball circles, summarizes the characteristics of Japanese baseball as ‘emphasis on training volume,’ ‘mental discipline,’ and ‘absolute obedience.’ He believes these characteristics were established as baseball circles appealed to the military after the 1930s that baseball was a ‘suitable sport’ for the nation. Tracing back, the 1890s when baseball terms were first translated was a time when nationalism was rampant in Japan due to the First Sino-Japanese War.

Besides cultural background, nationalism expressed in specific historical circumstances intervened in the process of baseball becoming yakyu in Japan. However, debating whether Ohtani’s 164 km/h fastball and 140m home runs are ‘Japanese’ or ‘American’ is meaningless. The reason Ohtani became a superstar is that he himself loves the basic plays of baseball?‘hitting, pitching, and running’?more than anyone else. It is nonsense to argue which nationality’s baseball is superior. In fact, the prototype of Japanese yakyu, which emphasizes strategy, can be found in Baltimore-style baseball that was popular in the U.S. before Ruth began hitting home runs in earnest. A style forgotten in its homeland survived across the Pacific and became a new tradition.

Only after breaking free from the ‘Japanese style’ yoke did a player who achieved the ‘gokubi’ Shoriki dreamed of appear. It is an irony worth considering in a time when ‘Gukil (극일, overcoming Japan)’ and the ‘K’ prefix are especially emphasized in Korea.

Director, Korean Baseball Society

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.