Land of the Rising Homer

The Brooklyn Dodgers were not safe anywhere. In their first game in Japan, they lost.

Sixteen Dodgers struck out. Duke Snider fanned three times, walked once and was trapped off base. Opposing hitters got to Pitchers Don Drysdale and Don Bessent for four home runs. With his team one run down in the ninth, Catcher Roy Campanella hunched at the plate, dazedly watched a third called strike whip by. Final score: Yomiuri Giants 5, Brooklyn Dodgers 4.

They won the next one. But the day after that, they lost again-this time to the Japan All-Stars, 6-1.

In their tour of Japan last fall, the New York Yankees were undefeated in 16 games.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.