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
Chico Outlaws in major league history in hit a grand slam in his first at bat as he went deep to centerfield on the first pitch thrown to him. On June 1, 2010, Eri Yoshida, a 5 foot, 1 inch female knuckleball pitcher from Japan, pitched for the Outlaws. The Outlaws made history and defied the odds to sweep the Calgary Vipers to win the GBL North Division Title, then sweep Na Koa Ikaika Maui to capture their second GBL Championship in 2010, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that feat, as well as going undefeated in the playoffs.