Review of "Empire of Infields"

One of the perks of being a blogger is that I get to read books on a wide variety of sports-related topics.  Such as this one - I never imagined that baseball had such an impact on Taiwanese culture.  Sure, those of us a certain age will remember when Taiwan dominated the Little League World Series, but I never knew that the game has been a part of the island for a much longer period.  Here is my review of "Empire of Infields"

Title/Author:

“Empire of Infields: Baseball in Taiwan and Cultural Identity, 1895-1968” by John J. Harney

Tags:

Baseball, international, amateur, culture

Publish date:

July 1, 2019

Length:

240 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

While baseball has been an American sport since the mid-1800’s, some may not know that Japanese baseball has also been around since the 19^th century and they brought the game to Taiwan, at the time a Japanese colony.  However, instead of viewing the game as a product of Japanese imperialism, Taiwan grew to embrace the game and used it for shaping its own cultural identity.  That point is brought to readers of this well-researched book by John J. Harney.

Harney, an assistant professor of history at Centre College in Danville Kentucky, takes the reader on a trip to the days when Taiwan was first a Japanese colony, then after World War II, an independent nation that would not become part of the people’s Republic of China.  Baseball played an important part of this history, as Japan brought the game to Taiwan via barnstorming tours by Japanese teams. They got the idea from the barnstorming American teams that came to Japan in the early 20^th century. 

As the game grew in Taiwan, there are two teams that were notable for helping to shape not only the baseball identity of the island nation but also the overall culture as well.  There are three teams that Harney writes about to illustrate this relationship.  They are the Nenggao team from 1924, the Kano team of teenagers in 1931 (it is interesting to note this team was the most famous of the teams from this area, but they failed to win the championship in that year) and the 1968 Hongye schoolboy team.  This team was a preview of the dominance that Taiwan would show in the near future at the Little League World Series. The Hongye team is also notable in that the People’s Republic of China would use this team for its political narratives and embrace it to illustrate Chinese nationalism at a time when Taiwan and the mainland were in a bitter dispute.

There is very little writing about the actual game on the field as this is a scholarly work that is meant to educate readers about the culture of Taiwan and how baseball became a part of that culture instead of just going away when the island was no longer a Japanese colony when World War II ended.  Readers who are interested in works on Taiwanese or Far Eastern history or culture will want to pick up this book.  

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

                                                                       

Book Format Read:

Hardcover                                                                                                                                         

Buying Links:

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803286825/

https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Infields-Baseball-Cultural-1895-1968-ebook/dp/B07JQKCCC8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=