Professional baseball in Japan the first American to play professional baseball in Japan when he joined the Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Kurabu (Tokyo Giants) in December 1934, touring with them in 1935. Jimmy Bonna, Kiyomi "Slim" Hirakawa, Fumito "Jimmy" Horio, Kazuyoshi "George" Matsuura, Andrew "Bucky" Harris McGalliard (Japan's "Bucky Harris"), Herbert "Buster" North, Yoshio "Sam" Takahashi, and Tadashi "Bozo" Wakabayashi became the first Americans to play in Japan's professional baseball league in 1936. The American writer Robert Whiting wrote in his 1977 book "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" that, While others have objected to characterizing the sport in these terms, many Japanese players and
Toru Yoshida Toru Yoshida Yoshida was born in Shiwa, Iwate on May 17, 1965. After graduating from high school, he joined Furukawa Electric in 1984. He played many matches as side back from 1986 and the club won the champions 1986 JSL Cup and 1986 Asian Club Championship. This is first Asian champions as Japanese club. In 1995, he moved to Japan Football League club Brummell Sendai. He retired end of 1997 season. After retirement, Yoshida became a coach for Sony Sendai in 1998. In September 2001, he became a manager as Kazuaki Nagasawa successor. He managed the club until 2003. In