One of my favorite pieces of Japanese baseball memorabilia that I own is a Weekly Yomiuri special magazine issue from 1956, commemorating the Brooklyn Dodgers tour of Japan that took place that same year.
The tour was the start of a long relationship between the Dodgers and Japan. Nearly 70 years later, with Shohei Ohtani now in Dodger blue, that relationship is still going strong.
“The Dodgers have a long and rich history in Japan,” Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said at the Dec. 14 press conference introducing Ohtani. “Starting with [former team owner] Walter O’Malley and [assistant to O’Malley] Akihiro ‘Ike’ Ikuhara, which ultimately led to Hideo Nomo, Hiroki Kuroda, Kenta Maeda, and countless others, and continuing
