User:Mwinog2777/kiyoshi

Baseball Career

Clubhouse in Shibaura stadium

Oshikawa was a star baseball player at Waseba University, and a student of Professor Abe Isō, who has been called the "Father of Japanese baseball." After graduation he played for the Tomon Club, composed of the Waseda Baseball Club's alumni. Oshikawa participated in a 1905 baseball tour of the United States under Abe's leadership. This was the first tour of the U.S. by a Japanese team. The tour had a strong influence on Oshikawa; becuase of the cost, they only visited minor league cities on the west coast. He was impressed how "professional baseball players that compete against each other to sharpen their skills every day.” He adopted the concept of franchise, claiming a city as its base with exclusive right to play in that city, in a stadium built for the team. Oshikawa was an advocate for baseball and publicly defended the sport, which at the time was viewed as harmful. In 1920 Oshikawa, with two former Waseda classmates, founded the first professional baseball team in Japan, the Nihon Athletic Association (NAA, 日本運動協会). By 1921 there were four teams. Oshikawa's first team was made up of former Waseda players with good academic credentials and excellent personalities, model players. His goals were the development of baseball in Japan and to dispel negative attitudes toward the game. His concept of baseball was consistent with the then existing bushidō spirit of Japan. The NAA tried to improve physical skills based upon self-discipline. The formation of the club was supported by the member inverstments. Salary was based on education, personality and baseball ability. The commercial aspect was not in his bushidō ideology, and this precluded commercial sponsorship. The first priority of the NAA was building a stadium, using the American professional baseball model which he had learned in 1905. He built and managed a stadium for the team in Shibaura, a district in Tokyo. It was located four kilometers from the Imperial Palace, in the center of Tokyo; the expectation was that there would be considerable attendance. This plan collpsed in the wake of the Great Kantō Earthquake. There was only minor damage to the stadium, but it was taken over by the government as a supply depot, and no baseball was played again at the field. With no income from tickets and no commercial support, financial distress led to the NAA disbanding in 1924. The team moved to Takarazuka where it reorganized as the Takarazuka Undo Kyokai; in 1929 it ceased operations because of financial problems. All professional baseball in Japan ceased during the depression years of 1929–1934, revived by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki in late 1934 with an All-star team. Later Oshikawa founded two more baseball teams, Nagoya Army, predecessor of the Chunichi Dragons; and, in 1937 Oshikawa founded the Korakuen Eagles, built a stadium for them and became team president. Oshikawa was one of nine to be in the first group inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1959.