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Baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Demonstration sport
Tournament details
Country	Japan
City	Tokyo
Venue(s)	Meiji Jingu Stadium
Dates	October 11, 1964
Teams	2
Final positions
Champions	United States
Runner-up	Japan
Tournament statistics
Games played	2
	← 1956 1984 →

Baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics was a demonstration sport at the Tokyo games. It would become an official sport 28 years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It was the fifth time a baseball exhibition was held at the Olympics. The collegiate United States team played two games against two different Samurai Japan lineups – one a collegiate team, the other made up of adult amateur players.

Game

The game was played on October 11, 1964, at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo.^[1]

The U.S. team was made up of college baseball players—including eight future Major League Baseball players–and was coached by Rod Dedeaux, the longtime head baseball coach at the University of Southern California (USC).^[2]^[3] Dedeaux brought an impressive pedigree to the U.S. side; he had already won four College World Series titles with the Trojans, most recently in 1963. Future major league players on the U.S. team were pitchers Alan Closter, Dick Joyce, and Chuck Dobson; catchers Jim Hibbs and Ken Suarez; outfielder Shaun Fitzmaurice; first baseman Mike Epstein; and second baseman Gary Sutherland.^[4] Fitzmaurice hit a home run on the first pitch of the game.^[4] Most of the other players on the roster went on to play baseball professionally in the minor leagues.

The Japanese collegiate team also had several future Nippon Professional Baseball players, including Tokuji Nagaike, a two-time Pacific League MVP with the Hankyu Braves, and Shozo Doi, a four-time NPB All-Star with the Yomiuri Giants.

Prior to the game, players held their own "opening ceremony", as they had not been included in the official opening of the Olympiad, due to baseball's status as a demonstration sport.^[5] Additionally, the U.S. baseball team was housed at a YMCA rather than in the Olympic Village.^[3] Outside of the Olympics, contemporary news reports note that the U.S. baseball team played a series of exhibition games in Japan and South Korea.^[6]^[7]

The first game, against the Japanese collegiate team, was a 2-2 draw after nine innings,^[8] while the second game, against the Japanese adult amateurs, was won by the American team, 3-0.^[9] Approximately 50,000 fans watched the games.^[4]

Results

October 11, at Meiji Jingu Stadium
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
United States	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Japan (collegiate)	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2

October 11, at Meiji Jingu Stadium
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
United States	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	3
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Rosters

United States

United States – 1964 Summer Olympics roster

Players

Coaches

Pitchers

George Bosworth (Hope)
Bill Brasher (UCLA)
Alan Closter (Iowa State)
Chuck Dobson (Kansas)
Dick Joyce (Holy Cross)
Walter Peterson (USC)
Keith Weber (Missouri)

Catchers

Infielders

Tommy Keyes (Mississippi)
Larry Sandel (USC)
Gary Sutherland (USC)
Jim Vopicka (Illinois)

Outfielders

Manager

Rod Dedeaux (USC)

Coaches

Dutch Fehring (Stanford, asst.)
Lee Eilbracht (Illinois, asst.)

Source^[10]

Japan

Japan – 1964 Summer Olympics collegiate roster

Players

Coaches

Pitchers

Catchers

Hiroshi Shintaku (Komazawa)
Fumio Sato (Komazawa)

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Akihito Kobayashi (Komazawa)

Coaches

Yukichi Maeda (Keio, asst.)

Japan – 1964 Summer Olympics adult amateur roster

Players

Coaches

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Seiji Inaba

Coaches

Iwao Kobayashi (asst.)

Sources

Cava, Pete (Summer 1992). "Baseball in the Olympics". Citius, Altius, Fortius. 1 (1): 7–15.

References

^ "Japan, U.S. Nines Seek Recognition". The Boston Globe. AP. October 12, 1964. p. 79. Retrieved August 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
^ Cava, p. 12
^ ^a ^b Zimmerman, Paul (October 21, 1964). "Yank Baseball Team Ignored". Los Angeles Times. p. III-2. Retrieved August 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cava, p. 13
^ "U.S., Japan Seek To Make Baseball An Olympic Sport". The Tampa Tribune. AP. October 12, 1964. p. 29. Retrieved August 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
^ "U.S. Ends Tour On Sour Note". The Lincoln Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. AP. October 26, 1964. p. 9. Retrieved August 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
^ "Phils Give Bonus to Gary Sutherland". Reading Eagle. November 11, 1964. p. 59 – via Google News.
^ Asahi Shimbun, Evening Edition, Oct 11, 1964
^ Asahi Shimbun, Morning Edition, Oct 11, 1964
^ "Olympic Rosters in NCAA Title Sports" (PDF). NCAA News. Vol. 1, no. 4. September–October 1964. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012 – via Wayback Machine.