Babe Ruth visited Japan on a baseball tour in 1934.
The 1934 tour was an American All-Stars goodwill and exhibition trip organized to play Japan’s leading amateur players. Ruth was the tour’s biggest attraction, traveling with stars such as Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Charlie Gehringer, and Lefty Gomez. Crowds greeted the American players enthusiastically, and Ruth’s fame helped strengthen baseball’s popularity in Japan.
The American team dominated the games, but the tour had lasting consequences beyond its results. Japanese organizer Matsutarō Shōriki helped maintain the All-Nippon team after the visit, contributing to the development of professional baseball in Japan and the eventual Yomiuri Giants. The trip is sometimes called a tour of the Far East because Ruth and his wife continued traveling after the Japanese leg, but Japan is the country associated with the 1934 baseball tour.