David Witthuhn Mr. Zuroski Modern Asia 3 June 2000 An International Pastime This year when the Mets and Cubs opened their seasons in Japan they made Major League Baseball history. Never before had a league game been played outside of North America. With thousands of fans screaming the names of Mets and Cubs superstars Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa you could see the increasing influence of MLB on Japan. America’s favorite pastime is now becoming an …showed first 75 words of 2120 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2120 total…American sport, but a game that has undergone changes in every foreign country. It is a game still held together by one fact though, that is the love the players and fans so for the game. According to Whiting, a Japanese writer summed up his country’s love for the game the best by saying “Baseball is perfect for us, if the Americans hadn’t invented it, we would have” (2 Japanese Baseball History). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**