Invincible - 1921 アメリカン vs. the All-Taiwan Wild Ball Battle (2022/08 Feature - Island Wild Ball Youth 2)

In the glorious history of baseball in Taiwan, major league teams have been invited many times to come to Taiwan to showcase their superb skills in the highest halls. But what I believe many people don't know is that as early as 1921 during the Japanese occupation period, a major league came to Taiwan to communicate with Taiwanese teams. This is the 1921 アメリカン game against the whole Taiwan field.

In 1920, the Major League, which was hit by the Black Sox incident (the match-fixing incident in the United States), decided to hold a tour of Japan in order to rebuild the image of baseball. On November 25, 1920, the team arrived in Yokohama, and played 16 friendly matches with teams from all over the world, as well as an exhibition match between the American League and the National League. According to the Taisho Ten Years Japan Sports Yearbook, in 16 friendly matches, the U.S. team has a record of 14 wins and 2 losses, and the World No. 1 League is really strong.

Afterwards, at the invitation of Kimura Yasheng, the leader of the Keelung Kimura Group, the team decided to cross the sea to Taiwan to continue the tour, and arrived in Keelung on January 8, 1921. According to the Daily News, the team stayed in the Railway Hotel after arriving in Taiwan, and set off fireworks to celebrate the American team's visit to Taiwan.

From the day after arriving, the team played a total of 7 games. Three games were played against Taiwan United at the Railway Department Stadium on Jiangbian Street, one game was played at the Taichung Public School Stadium, and three games were played at the Tainan Middle School Stadium. Taking Taipei as an example, the first-class ticket is 10 yen, the second-class ticket is 5 yen, the military training ticket is 1 yen, the children's discount ticket is 20 yuan, and there is a half-price discount for the first day of the game.

Except for the third game, after the two teams exchanged pitchers, the United States defeated the Taiwan United 8-7, and the American team won by at least 11 points or more. Most of the players on the representative team are only minor league players who have briefly played in the major leagues or ronin in the major leagues, but most of the amateur teams from Japan and Taiwan still win easily. After the Taiwan United team won a 26-0 victory on the first day, the Taiwan Daily News even described the difference in strength between children and adults as "sumo wrestling".

On January 25, the team returned from its visit to Taiwan. Since the major leagues were quite satisfied with the event, they decided to continue the friendly match in Japan. Among them, the visiting lineup in 1931 and 1934 included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and other Hall of Famers. And this event has continued to this day as a two-yearly regular US-Japan professional baseball star match.