Japanese Barnstorming in North America, Including Nebraska
Another presentation I watched at SABR 38 was about the 1935 barnstorming tour of the Tokyo Giants. The baseball team toured North America in the summer of ‘35, playing over 100 games over the course of 120 days. They went 74-31-1 playing minor-league, semi-pro and club teams from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Of interest to me is that they apparently went through Nebraska. According to presenter Yoichi Nagata’s map, they played in possibly Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha.
As you could probably guess, the Japanese team played the game in a slightly different fashion than their American counterparts. They would huddle up before the game, and occasionally during it if there was a tough situation on the field. It was customary for them to bow to the spectators as a group, and for each player to bow to the umpire before and after his at-bat.
While Nagata’s presentation was a little difficult at times to understand due to his heavy accent, it was excellent. His research was amazing, considering he had to go through over 100 local American newspapers to track down game results and pictures. He ended up unearthing over 80 complete box scores, a truly impressive feat.
— — —
I spoke with Nagata afterward, and found out just where and when the Giants played in Nebraska during that tour. I combined that with some of my own Nebraska baseball knowledge and research.
On June 3rd, the Giants played the Lincoln Links at Sherman Field in the Capitol City. The Links prevailed 3-1, although they finished the regular season in the Nebraska State League well under .500, at 50-64.
The next day, the Giants traveled to Omaha to take on the Omaha Packers, the Cardinals’ class A squad. The Western League team defeated them 6-4 at the 20th & Vinton ball park. Two weeks later, on June 25th, the Omaha team moved across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and became the Rails. They finished the season at 55-46, but the team folded on August 27th after going 33-31 in Iowa.