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The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Tokyo Dome City and is a great place to visit for baseball fans and historians alike. The museum documents the history of the game in Japan from the late 1800’s, when Horace Wilson, an American Teacher at Ichiban Chugaku (now Tokyo University) first introduced baseball to his students, through to the present day.
Exhibits include over 100 artifacts from professional baseball in Japan that include a well designed locker room setting where you can get a close-up look at the uniforms for each of the twelve professional teams playing in the Nippon Professional Baseball League today. You will also find a great display of World Baseball Classic memorabilia and the championship trophy from the inaugural tournament that was won by Japan in 2006.
There is also a poster from 1934 that is advertising Babe Ruth’s famous trip to Japan along with displays of other historical artifacts, photos, and documents.
Make sure to take a look at the plaque commemorating Sadaharu Oh’s world record 756th home run that he hit on September 3, 1977. Oh ended his career with 868 home runs, a record that still stands to this day and that may never be broken.
In the Hall of Fame you will find plaques for each of the 164 players, coaches and others that have been inducted since the museums inception in 1959. Famous foreigners in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame include, Frank “Lefty” O’doul, who helped to start professional baseball in Japan, played for and managed the San Francisco Seals, Horace Wilson who introduced the game to Japan, and Kaname “Wally” Yonamine who was born in Hawaii, played for the Tokyo Giants and went on to manage the Chunichi Dragons in the 1970’s.
Any baseball fan will love this museum and it is well worth a visit whether you visit during the off-season or arrive early and tour it before catching a baseball game at Tokyo Dome.
The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Location: To the right of Gate 21 of Tokyo Dome (access information)
Hours: 10:00－18:00 (March through September) & 10:00－17:00 (October through February)
Admission: Adults Y500, Primary & Junior High School students Y200, Senior citizens aged 65 or more Y300. Discounts available if you print our this online coupon.
Closed: Mondays except those during the spring and summer vacations, that fall on National Holidays, when a professional baseball game is held at Tokyo Dome.
Image Credit: Personal Collection