Baseball in Wartime - Japanese Wartime Baseball

Japanese Wartime Baseball

by Gary Bedingfield

During World War II, the Japanese professional league continued to play until August 1944. Just as in the United States, the game served as a major morale booster to civilians and servicemen, and despite being at war with the nation that introduced them to baseball, the Japanese people could not curb their insatiable appetite for the game.

Professional teams such as Kyojin (Tokyo) and the Hanshin (Osaka) Tigers played 80-plus games a season between 1940 and 1943. However, the draw on manpower reduced teams to a 35-game season in 1944, playing one game every four days. By 1945 nearly all professional players from Japan's eight teams were in military service and 69 of them were killed, including national superstars Eiji Sawamura and Shinichi Ishimaru.

I am proud to present the complete list of Japanese professional players killed between 1937 and 1945. I believe this is the first time the list has been displayed in English and I'm very grateful to Hirofumi Oda for his expert translation.

Japanese Players Who Lost Their Lives Between 1937 and 1945
Last name	First name	Debut	Final season	Last team	Position
Amakawa	Seizaburo	1939	1940	Nankai	Pitcher
Aoki	Tsutomu	?	?	Hankyu	?
Aoshiba	Kenichi	1936	1938	Kyojin	Pitcher
Araki	Masakimi	1939	1939	Hankyu	Pitcher
Endoh	Chuujiro	1936	1939	Senators	Pitcher
Fukushi	Isamu	1938	1942	Asahi	Pitcher
Fushimi	Goro	1938	1939	Eagles	Catcher
Gotoh	Tadashi	1936	1936	Nagoya	1st base
Hara	Ichiro	1937	1938	Lion	Catcher
Hayashi	Yasuo	1942	1943	Asahi	Pitcher
Hirabayashi	Eiji	1941	1943	Hanshin	2nd base
Hirose	Shuichi	1941	1942	Kyojin	Pitcher
Ikeda	Hisayuki	1939	1943	Hankyu	Catcher
Ishii	Yutaka	1940	1942	Taiyo	1st base
Ishimaru	Shinichi	1941	1943	Nagoya	Pitcher
Itoh	Kentaro	1936	1943	Kyojin	Outfield
Itoh	Jinkichi	1939	1941	Hankyu	2nd base
Kageura	Masaru	1936	1943	Hanshin	Outfield
Kaino	Daichi	1938	1939	Nagoya	2nd base
Katoh	Nobuo	1936	1937	Tigers	2nd base
Kawamura	Tokuhisa	1936	1937	Hankyu	3rd base
Kitahara	Noboru	1941	1942	Nankai	2nd base
Kitoh	Kazuo	1936	1941	Nankai	Outfield
Kunihisa	Shoichi	1939	1942	Nankai	2nd base
Kura	Nobuo	1936	1939	Kyojin	Catcher
Kuwashima	Hajime	1941	1941	Hankyu	3rd base
Maeda	Kiyoshi	1936	1937	Nagoya	Outfield
Maekawa	Masayoshi	1942	1942	Hanshin	2nd base
Masano	Iwao	1938	1944	KinkiNippon	Pitcher
Masuda	Toshi	1942	1943	Nankai	2nd base
Matumoto	Riichi	1940	1943	Hankyu	1st base
Matushita	Shigeji	1941	1941	Hanshin	Outfield
Miwa	Hachiro	1939	1943	Hanshin	Pitcher
Miyaguchi	Yoshikichi	1938	1942	Nankai	Pitcher
Mori	Kunigoro	1939	1941	Hanshin	Outfield
Morita	Minoru	1939	1941	Taiyo	Outfield
Murakami	Shigeo	1940	1941	Asahi	Outfield
Muramatu	Chotaro	1939	1942	Taiyo	Outfield
Muramatu	Yukio	1939	1941	Nagoya	Pitcher
Murase	Ichizo	1938	1941	Hanshin	Short stop
Nagai	Takeo	?	?	Kyojin	?
Nakagawa	Miyoshi	1937	1941	Kurowashi	1st base
Nakamura	Saburo	1937	1940	Nagoya	2nd base
Nakamura	Masami	1943	1944	Kyojin	3rd base
Nakao	?	?	?	Senators	?
Naya	Yonekichi	1938	1938	Nankai	Outfield
Nishimura	Yukio	1937	1939	Tigers	Pitcher
Noguchi	Noboru	1941	1943	Hanshin	Short stop
Ogawa	Toshiyasu	1936	1936	Tigers	Catcher
Ohara	Toshio	1937	1938	Hankyu	Catcher
Ohta	Kenichi	1937	1940	Kurowashi	Outfield
Okada	Fukuyoshi	1940	1943	Yamato	2nd base
Okada	Muneyoshi	1936	1940	Hanshin	Short stop
Onodera	Hiroshi	1940	1940	Kurowashi	Pitcher
Oribe	Yoshizou	1939	1942	Taiyo	Outfield
Santa	Masao	1938	1939	Kyojin	Outfield
Sawamura	Eiji	1936	1943	Kyojin	Pitcher
Shimamoto	Yoshifumi	1936	1938	Hankyu	Catcher
Shintomi	Uzaburo	1939	1941	Hankyu	1st base
Shiraki	Kazuji	1937	1938	Nagoya	Outfield
Sugiyama	Toyoo	1942	1942	Yamato	1st base
Tabe	Takeo	?	?	Kyojin	?
Takano	Momosuke	1938	1938	Nankai	Outfield
Terauchi	Kazutaka	1937	1942	Yamato	Outfield
Tsuji	Genbei	1944	1944	Hanshin	Outfield
Ueda	Tadashi	1937	1942	Hanshin	Outfield
Watanabe	Shizuka	1943	1943	Asahi	Outfield
Yagi	Susumu	1942	1944	KinkiNippon	Catcher
Yoshihara	Masaki	1938	1941	Kyojin	Catcher


Japanese soldiers take time out to play baseball	Baseball played by Japanese soldiers at a hopsital.


Kazuto Tsuruoka batted .275 with Nankai and led the league with 10 home runs in 1939. He spent the next six years with the Imperial Japanese Army.	Michio Nishizawa At 18, he was 20-10 with Nagoya in 1939. He served two years in the military during the war.	Yasuo Hayashi In 1943, he was 20-11 with a 0.89 ERA for Asahi. Hayashi died in combat in 1944.	Yoshiyuki Iwamoto Played for Nankai from 1940 to 1942. He then served with the military during the war.