How baseball arrived and grew in Japan

Gary Arndt explains Horace Wilson's teaching, Meiji modernization, and the 1934 American barnstorming tour's impact.

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Today, baseball is played at the highest levels on nearly every continent. Stars come from the United States, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Korea, and far beyond.

Yet for most of its history, the sport lacked a true international championship featuring the world’s best players.

That changed in the 21st century with the creation of the World Baseball Classic, a tournament designed to crown the best baseball nation on Earth.

Learn how baseball became a global game, and how the World Baseball Classic transformed international competition on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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