In the first minutes of a new film called “Diamond Diplomacy”. Shohei Ohtani holds the ball and Mike Trout holding a bat. These are the dramatic final moments. 2023 World Baseball Classic.
The film pauses these moments to explore the long and complex relationship between the United States and Japan through the lens of baseball, and through the stories of four Japanese players, including Ohtani, and their journey to the big leagues.
Baseball has been the national pastime in both countries for over a century. The Japanese publishing magnate sponsored a high-energy tour in 1934 led by Babe Ruth. Under former owners Walter And Peter O'Malley, The Dodgers were in the lead tours to Japan and other countries.
However, in 1946, after World War II, the United States government sponsored a tour by the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. Director Yuriko Gamo Romer makes extensive use of archival footage from this tour in his film.
“I think it's wonderful,” she said, “that the U.S. government decided, 'Oh, we should send a baseball team to Japan to help restore relations and show goodwill.' »
On the domestic front, Romer shows how Ruth stormed Central California in 1927, a decade and a half before the U.S. government forced Japanese citizens there into prison camps. Teams and leagues emerged in the camps.an agreement that one player described as “baseball behind barbed wire.”
The film also explores how, even after World War II, Japanese Americans were often unwelcome in their old neighborhoods, and Japanese baseball leagues emerged like the Negro Leagues.
In 1964, the San Francisco Giants made pitcher Masanori Murakami the first Japanese player in Major League Baseball, but two years later he succumbed to pressure and returned to his homeland.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Masanori Murakami, shown on a professional baseball field in 1964, was the first Japanese athlete to play in Major League Baseball.
(Associated Press)
In 1995, when pitcher Hideo Nomo signed with the DodgersTo do this, he had to leave Japanese baseball. (The film contains footage of the legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda I teach Nomo to say, “I bleed Dodger.”)
Now star Japanese players are regularly joining the majors. At the 2023 WBC tournament, as shown at the end of the film, Ohtani made his first big mark in the international game, defeating Trout and giving Japan victory over the United States.
On Friday, Ohtani led the Dodgers to the World Series with perhaps their best record. greatest game any player in major league history.
In previous generations, as author Robert Whiting says in the film, hardly any Americans could name a prominent Japanese figure, in baseball or anywhere else. Today's Ohtani T-shirt baseball bestsellerand he is a cultural icon on and off the field, here and in Japan.
Fans cheer as Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani hits his third home run during Game 4 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“Suddenly, a Japanese face became the face of Major League Baseball in the United States,” Romer said. “People here can buy bottles of Japanese iced tea with Shohei's face on this.
“I know people who don't care one iota about baseball, and they're like, 'Oh yeah, I know who it is.'
“Diamond Diplomacy” will screen Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Newport Beach Film Festival. For more information visit newportbeachfilmfest.com.
