May General Meeting: From the Ginza to the Gates

From the Ginza to the Gates: 

The Story of the US/Japan Baseball Alliance 

For our May General Meeting Matt Dobbins will be talking about baseball's ties to Japan. A number of Japanese ballplayers have “made the leap” to Major League Baseball. This presentation will focus on the colorful history of players who have and still do make an impact on the American game like Americans (including Babe Ruth) did in Japan in the early 20th century. 

Matt is a former JAS Vice President and self-proclaimed 野球オタク (baseball nerd). He first experienced the Japanese baseball fandom as a college student in Shiga Prefecture and experienced a lot more of it as a JET ALT in Kagoshima Prefecture. You can listen to him speak about these experiences here: http://graveyardbaseball.blogs pot.com/2016/07/one-pastime- two-countries-japanese.html