A veteran of the US civil war, in 1872, Horace Wilson was serving as a professor of English at Kaisei Gakko, the forerunner of Tokyo Imperial University. He decided that his students needed more physical exercise and introduced them to baseball.
Wilson returned to the United States in 1877, but 1872 marked when Japan got in touch with baseball.
The Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) announced that they will work together to celebrate the 150th anniversary of baseball in the country.
Artist Hidekichi Shigemoto designed the celebration's logo.
NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito and BFJ President Masatake Yamanaka announced that a commemorative game between an NPB U-23 selection and a collegiate All-Star is scheduled at historic Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo on Monday, 1 August.
The organizers certified 150 locations that are instrumental to the development of baseball in Japan.
The project details are available through the Japanesebaseball150th website, which launched on Monday, 14 March.
Wilson, who died in 1927, aged 84, was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame by a special committee in 2003. The Meiji Jingu Stadium opened in 1926.
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- The origins of baseball
