They have not won a championship since 1974, the longest drought in Japanese baseball.

But not everybody is filled with gloom about the future of Japanese baseball.

Clearly, Japanese baseball has players who can play, and often excel, at the major league level.

He was touted as the next big star in Japanese baseball, after his father, but failed to live up to expectations.

He is still remembered as one of the best foreign players in Japanese baseball.

He is also known as the father of Japanese professional baseball.

He is noted by many sources as being one of the best foreign-born players in Japanese baseball.

Japanese baseball is divided into two leagues, each with six clubs.

It was the first strike in the history of Japanese professional baseball.

The former prince was a noted fan and supporter of Japanese baseball.