Sports pundits never fail to amaze me on the rare occasions when I watch TV.
I even joke that it could be a great career change for me to become one of them as ‘The French Guy on Baseball’
I get the ball rolling today with this bit from the land of the rising sun.
Edan Corkill of the Japan Times goes back a century with Japanese and the Baseball Game and shares with us 8 of the 11 Golden Rules of the Mikado Baseball Team in Japan (circa 1908):
"1. Under no circumstances will we throw a game. Leaving entirely out of consideration the moral aspect of the question, dishonesty with the public is bad business policy.
"2. Under no circumstances will we play for a smaller admission price than twenty-five cents. This must be paid by every one, both men and women. If a game is worth seeing it is worth paying for.
"3. We positively will not admit free of charge the relatives of friends of ball players, managers, magnates, stockholders or officers. We are not running a charitable institution.
"4. We positively will not admit at any stage of the game children who are unaccompanied by their parents. Children must be pretty small to get by our ticket taker.
"7. We carry our own tickets for both gate and grandstand. We sell and you take. When you are ready to settle count the tickets you have taken in, figure your share of the receipts and we pay you instantly.
"8. We always reserve the right to use two umpires, one of whom will be furnished by us.
"10. We are willing to furnish you all the free advertising matter you can use to advantage. But don’t expect us to pay for putting it up. You ought to have enough to look after that yourself.
"11. Settlement must be made for each game as it is played. We positively will not wait until the end of the series."
Amazing piece isn’t it.
Baseball as entrepreneurship.
Gary Ashwill (Agate Type) in Jap Mikado (May 2006) names Goro Mikami as the first Japanese to play professional in a US team.
A trip to the Ballpark for Tokyo Thursdays # 57
Previously: All You Can Eat Phone, Is Glam the rage in Tokyo!?