Books

Here's a selection of books about Japanese baseball and the players who have done so much to raise the profile of yakyu in the United States, plus the latest edition of Wayne Graczyk's indispensable fan handbook and media guide. Most items on this page are sold In association with Amazon.com, and separate ordering and shipping rules apply.

2008 Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide
Compiled by Wayne Graczyk

Our Price: $14.95 (direct)
Order NOW and receive free standard shipping!

Editorial review: The Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide is the complete and only English-language guide to Japanese baseball. Now in its 33rd year of publication. The book includes essential information such as 2008 league and team directories, schedules, team rosters, player photos, stadium diagrams, 2007 statistics, foreign player profiles and much more. On this year's cover: Alex Ramirez (Giants), Atsunori Inaba (Fighters), Tyrone Woods (Dragons), Yoshihisa Naruse (Marines), Takahiro Arai (Tigers), Takahiro Mahara (Hawks), Shuichi Murata (BayStars), Takeshi Yamasaki (Eagles), Kenta Kurihara (Carp), Hideaki Wakui (Lions), Norichika Aoki (Swallows), Tuffy Rhodes (Buffaloes).

Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide (back issues 1988-2007) Compiled by Wayne Graczyk

Our Price: from $5.95 (direct) Editorial review: The Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide is the complete and only English-language guide to Japanese baseball. The book includes essential information such as league and team directories, schedules, team rosters, player photos, stadium diagrams, statistics, foreign player profiles and much more.

Sayonara Home Run!: The Art of the Japanese Baseball Card
John Gall and Gary Engel

Our Price: $18.95 $12.89

Customer review: Vintage Japanese baseball cards are among the most beautiful baseball collectibles in the world. I discovered these treasures over ten years ago during a trip to Japan and became an avid collector. My passion for the cards eventually led to a on-line card business and a career as a baseball writer. John Gall and Gary Engel's new book Sayanara Homerun! depicts hundreds, if not thousands, of theese beautiful cards. The book's presentation is wonderful. Cards are gracefully portrayed as art but the accompanying text will statisfy both baseball card collectors and fans of Japanese baseball.

If you are an American baseball cards collector, come see what you are missing. If you a fan of Japanese baseball, come see great pictures of your favorite stars.

I spend hours paging through this book and expect that you will enjoy it as much as I have.

From Asahi to Zebras
Ralph Pearce

Our Price: $15.00

Editorial review: This book chronicles the history of the San Jose Asahi baseball team playing in the Northern California Japanese Baseball League, championship games against teams throughout California, competition in "American" leagues, games against visiting Japanese teams, a tour of Japan in 1925 (played all the top universities, ended with a 32 - 6 record), and they even played and beat the Tokyo Giants in San Jose in 1935! The team was reborn as the San Jose Zebras in relocation camp during the war years and continued upon returning to San Jose through its final season in 1961. Filled with photos, anecdotes, and oral interviews with players from as far back as the 1918 team, the book illustrates the experience of players in the JA leagues and is a natural companion to Kerry Nakagawa's "Through a Diamond."

Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream
Jay Feldman

Our Price: $22.95 $17.90

Customer review: Baseball, a beautiful girl, and a made-it-to-the-Show protagonist in search of meaning--what else is there? This book has it all. A plot which finds us driving the American south of 1942 scouting for star baseball players also offers a fascinating perspective on Japanese American life during the time of internment camps. Through Feldman's often lyrical prose, we face first-hand both racism run amok as well as the depth of human compassion and the intricate struggle for equality. But it is the personal story of loss and discovery that gives the book its greatest energy. Sefton, himself, is endearing, bumbling through what seems to be a first love, and always sincere. As rich are the characterizations of the Yamada family. It was spring, so I read Suitcase Sefton to celebrate the season. But I came away with a great deal more--enough to last through all the seasons of the human heart and wit.

Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History Of The Game
Robert K. Fitts

Our Price: $19.95 $14.96

Customer review: This is a very welcome addition to the growing literature on Japanese baseball. Oral history is hard work, but unlike the daily quotes of player pablum that fill newspaper game reports, reflections over long careers are often informative and moving (even if occasionally self-serving). The real virtues of this collection are the range of baseball people that Fitts was able to get to open up (from outstanding stars to working stiffs, from players to coaches, managers, and executives) and the range over time (with representative stories from six decades of Japanese professional baseball). Some of the most powerful chapters evoke the difficulties of Japanese-American players in the 1950s. Such range is extraordinarily valuable in demonstrating the surprising breadth of baseball experiences. It's a collection that instructs both the devotee and the neophyte to Japanese baseball lore.

Godzilla Takes the Bronx : The Inside Story of Hideki Matsui
Jerry Beach

Our Price: $24.95 $11.48

Customer review: As a loyal Yankee fan that was present for Matsui's historic performance on Opening Day 2003, the final game of the World Series, and many games in between, I highly enjoyed this book. Jerry Beach does a very good job of making the many unforgettable moments of Matsui's first year in pinstripes come to life. Dubbed Godzilla by his adoring fans back home, Matsui's signing with the N.Y. Yankees was international news. Beach's book takes us step-by-step through what it took to make such a deal happen, how fans and industry insiders on both continents took the news, and the subsequent season that had more ups and downs than your average roller coaster. Whether you're an avid Yankee fan, a fan of the Japanese phenom, or just a baseball fan that enjoys a good baseball book, this one is the one to get.

You Gotta Have Wa
Robert Whiting

Our Price: $14.95 $10.17

Customer review: Longtime Japan resident and journalist Robert Whiting's classic book on Japanese baseball is as fresh today as when it was published. The book begins with the arrival of Bob Horner, a 29-year-old bonafide all star who was still in his prime when he arrived to play for the Yakult Swallows. Waiting for him when he landed at Narita Airport were 200 journalists, a team owner who confidently predicted--and expected--that the overweight Horner would hit 50 home runs (Horner was assigned the number 50 on his uniform as a not so subtle reminder), and a year contract worth $2 million. What Horner did not know was how different yakyu (literally, field ball) would be from the baseball he knew in America. The regimentation of Japanese teams, the rules governing many aspects of life both on the field and off--and the adjustment of moving around the world to live in a very different culture--had been and still is the undoing of many players. Whiting's work is about more than baseball and sports; it is about how Japan and Japanese approach things, how that which is imported must first be Japanized. Highly recommended.

Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball
Kerry Yo Nakagawa

Our Price: $35.00

Customer review: This is a great book. Through the stories, pictures, and interviews, we are shown how the game of baseball kept a spirit alive in some great Americans in such a difficult time. Kerry Nakagawa has done a wonderful job of caputuring the spirit of some courageous people, placed in concentration camps during the second world war. Over 100,000 Japanesee- Americans were placed in these camps by the US Government. Despite such a tradgety, the prisoners built baseball fields and formed leagues to keep spirits high in this rough time. Diamonds in the Rough is filled with stories that show how the human spirit can prevail in even the most difficult of times. This book not only presents those excellent insights of perservence and history, but it is also a great baseball book that will be enjoyed by baseball players and fans everywhere. I will not only treasure my copy, but I will get more for great gifts.

Ichiro on Ichiro : Interviews with Narumi Komatsu (Hardcover)
Narumi Komatsu, Philip Gabriel

Our Price: $23.95

Customer review: This book gives a very personal glimpse into the mindset of the man who not only has set numerous Major League records, but is a national hero in his native Japan after winning seven consecutive batting titles there. The book is laid out entirely in Q&A format and covers his entire playing career, his childhood, little league, his move to America and his first three seasons playing for the Seattle Mariners. While most biographies tell a story, what is surprising about this book is how direct and honest he is. It is fascinating to read about the mental and physical preparation he puts into the game.