Episode 0509 - Robert K. Fitts, Part 2

The first part, which is already available for you to listen to at shoelesspodcast.com or wherever you listen to podcasts, covered the history of baseball in Japan, stretching as far back as the 1860s, believe it or not.

And we left off at about 1964.

The second part, which you're about to listen to, will cover the modern game, everything from 1964 to today, with a particular focus on the in-game experience in the Japanese ballpark, if you were going to go there today.

I just felt like we couldn't possibly be well-informed enough to have this part of the discussion, to really understand the nuance of it all, unless we first learned what came before it so we could truly understand how the Japanese game has evolved.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, I highly recommend going back and starting there so you can get caught up to speed.

It's not essential to be able to enjoy what you're about to hear, but it will significantly increase your knowledge and help you understand many of the references Rob and I will make over the next two hours.

Because as much as we talked about in part one, in this episode, we covered lots of ground.

Rob tells us how different the in-stadium experience is at a baseball game in Japan today compared to what he saw at the first game he attended in Japan in 1993.

We find out how the American game influenced the Japanese game on the field over the past 60 years, and how it continues to do so.

We learn what the average fan will eat at a Japanese baseball game, and why Rob thinks concessions in Japan blow American concessions away.

And we hear the history of the organized cheering which makes the fans in Japan so famous and makes the experience in the Japanese ballpark so different than anything that's happening in American ballparks.

With all of that information and much, much more coming at you, it may be helpful to follow along with the episode's liner notes on our podcast website.

If you're new to the show, don't worry.

You'll still be able to enjoy this episode without the extra help from the liner notes.

But longtime listeners love the photos and links we put up on the website, which will give you a better understanding of the things Rob and I are discussing and provide some context when needed.

The liner notes can be found on the My Baseball History website, which is online at www.shoelesspodcast.com.

If you want to follow along, head to the website where you'll see Part 2 of the Robert K. Fitz episode listed first on the main page under Latest Episodes.

Click on that and you'll be ready to follow along.

There's an embedded media player right on the page, so you don't need to have multiple windows open while you listen or fumble around with multiple devices.

If you want to catch up on any of our earlier interviews, you can click on the tabs at the top of the website to go back through past episodes from any of our four previous seasons and see a full list of everything we have to offer so far.

Everything in the liner notes goes in chronological order of how we talked about them in the interview, so you should easily be able to keep your place as you listen.

After the interview, we'll do a recap of what you just heard, adding some extra insight and hopefully answering any questions that may have come up as you listened.

I'll also explain how you'll have a couple chances to answer a trivia question to win a prize, so stick around until the end of the episode for that, too.

But now, here's part two of my interview with the award-winning author on Japanese baseball, Robert K. Fitz.