Eiji Sawamura - The Tragic Tale of Japan's First Ace | NPB Player Profiles

[@salvagaming4678]

Ever since I found out about Eiji Sawamura, due to watching Ace of Diamond who's main Character is called Eijun Sawamura I have wanted more people to talk about him.

[@poopesure]

If you like Ace of Diamond then check out the Mangas: Battle Studies: A Manga from a former player of a Koshien powerhouse team and its pretty much about his experiences and the traditions of the team in a changing society. Bungo: A story about a pitcher going from untapped potential to the best pitcher in his age group

[@chinny18]

Thanks for another NPB player profile. This is great for non-Japanese fans to know about NPB. Keep it up! And I finally found my team now. Giants, Hawks and the meme team BayStars. I accept Golden Eagles and Tigers with its loveable fanbases

[@brynnplant]

Wow, that is a sad story. Thank you for the extremely well researched and presented video.

[@MB-42]

Great job with the history here. Makes me think of my grandpa. Played ball in Mexico, came to the US for better opportunities, joined the Army and fought in Africa and Europe. Just a bunch of dudes who shared a love for baseball but had to fight due to circumstances beyond their control.

[@Whomever209]

Awesome video! It's funny that we got Eiji Sawmura's and Japan FIRST no-no on footage, but not Wilt's 100-point game vs the NEW YORK Knicks lol

[@MrBlazemaster525]

😂😂😂😂 it's simple Tech availability and priorities

[@TheBatugan77]

Baseball video, buddy. Get with the program.

[@popoponpon]

13:05 Yoshinobu Yamamoto imitates Eiji Sawamura pitching delivery form as ideal.

[@whatpricefreedom82]

other notable player is Nagoya(today's Dragons) pitcher Shinichi Ishimaru who has last no hitter record of Imperial Japan era professional baseball league in October 1943 and the only professional base ball player who died as Kamikaze pilot in May 1945 at age 22.

[@DMaztercks]

Been waiting sooo long for this one. The story behind the Sawamura award. Keep up the great work! PS the main character of Manga/Anime "Daiya no Ace" is named Eijun Sawamura in his honor

[@VintageYakyu]

Thanks for posting yet another great vid. Your research is always top notch and I learn something new with each upload. I often think of Sawamura as Japan's Smoky Joe Wood. A heartbreaking example of what could have been.

[@defunctchannel942]

This was beautiful. Thanks for making it! Also it was cool to hear about your education background.

[@otadashi1570]

Alway interesting going way back in baseball history to talk about achievements during the "Hangover Era". I think there were even commercials for various "Hair of the dog" concoctions.

[@ggbetz]

Thanks for sharing this

[@pizzainthebox3449]

Wow! This was an amazing video!

[@shinra05]

great video, love the soundtracks as always

[@sun6262-]

saving this for tonight, poor eiji his hall of fame career couldve had a hall of fame career if it wasnt for that damn war

[@NickB-Dodgers]

Amazing video thank you

[@BJWanlund]

I appreciate your… shall we say sympathetic worldview. My late father was also a political science major so I definitely understand from whence you are coming from.

[@justinjordan7711]

Japan's Cy Young Award in Major League Baseball It is said to be the Sawamura Prize. The Cy Young Award is not limited to starting pitchers, bullpen pitchers are also eligible. The Sawamura Award is limited to starting pitchers only. Strictly speaking, the two awards are it will be different

[@zkiiffs9]

They can also choose not to give out the Sawamura (like this year), which I think is ridiculous.

[@MrBlazemaster525]

Jesus the Giants cutting him may have pushed him over the edge Rest in Paradise to Sawamura and all the other ballplayers lost in the war

[@MrBlazemaster525]

GB just casually dropping bomb content in the morning yo!

[@FireboltPrime]

Reminder: do that vid on Dong-Won Choi

[@StevenYtube]

I think I have found a treasure 🎉🎉😊

[@VintageYakyu]

I'm certainly not an authority on the subject, but I haven't seen anything about any players being found guilty of war crimes. Matsutaro Shoriki came close during his time with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department when they were rounding up suspected Japanese Communists in the 1920s. From what I've read most of the players who served had to be drafted or forced into service. The IJA also "shanghaied" foreign born Japanese players who happened to be in country visiting family, playing, or attending university. Hawaii born Tadashi "Bozo" Wakabayashi was a victim of that policy.

[@GaijinBaseball]

There was a lot of string pulling from the owners during the war to try and keep their players out of danger. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. The main trick was trying to get their players into officer school and try and get them a domestic posting. That's what happened with Kazuto Tsuruoka and Tetsuharu Kawakami. The problem is, you needed at least a high school diploma to be considered eligible for officer school. Guess what Sawamura didn't have.

[@gorviv529]

Do you have a video discussing the reasons you alluded to for Japan entering the War? Curious to hear your analysis.

[@GaijinBaseball]

That's outside the bounds of this channel, sorry.

[@hannielsanchez1500]

Love the vid Gaijin, one question where do you get the stats like FIP-, WAR, and ERA- cuz I can’t find them on fangraphs or baseball reference

[@GaijinBaseball]

NPBstats.com

[@Grimmlin3]

You mentioned Earl Whitehiill was on the Nationals, not the senators. 7:30

[@GaijinBaseball]

The Senators were called the Nationals in 1934. The names were interchangable between 1905 and 1956.

[@Grimmlin3]

@GaijinBaseball TIL! Sorry to be pedantic and sorry for being so confidently wrong!

[@GaijinBaseball]

@@Grimmlin3 All good, I was actually kinda shocked it took this long for someone to bring it up lol

[@emorimiku]

how do you even find 200 innings in a half season?

[@LJW1912]

200 divided by 72 (half an NPB season) is 2.7 recurring. Guy would have to have played roughly 23 complete games in half a season to get that EDIT: lol nvm 244 innings, more like 28

[@soapsatellite]

​​@@LJW1912 ​If I'm doing the math right, he pitched 37.65% of his team's innings (assuming no games went into extras), which is just insane. The leader in IP in MLB in 1937 was Claude Passeau of the Phillies with 292.1 over a 154-game season where he started 34 games (completing 18) and relieved 12. He pitched only 21.28% of the innings the Phillies pitched as a team. EDIT: Passeau had a 100 ERA+ with a 4.34 ERA and 3.85 FIP. He would have 4 All-Star appearances during the early 40s. Not that anyone asked for more Claude Passeau facts.

[@RodrigoDuquedeEstrada]

In modern terms the firing of Sawamura was someone buying the Dodgers and either releasing or trading Shohei Ohtani.

[@johneyon5257]

"Eiji" was my dad's middle name - it means "second son"

[@wasble7218]

all these peoples potentials wasted cause of stupid wars man. tragic

[@lucascornell446]

WONDERFUL vid THANKYOU

[@jritechnology]

99% of the people who zealously become passionate and angry about political agendas are blaming the wrong people for stuff. The sad part is, you cannot even show them they are wrong.....

[@darkhelmutt3417]

The political aside was uncalled for and tasteless. 21:00

[@VintageYakyu]

Want some cheese to go with that whine?

[@TheBrainSpecialist]

No it wasn't, tf are you taking about?

[@derkaiserzen]

"The political aside was uncalled for and tasteless".. On Baseball related vid? It is called for, it's about baseball history video. "tasteless"? He literally explaining the reason, plus..this is not geopolitical vid, it's a friggin' baseball history vid. and ngl, the segue is pretty tasteful for the subject matter.

[@zkiiffs9]

What’s “tasteless” about “the government deserves more blame than the civilians”?