Circa 1989, Okura Hotel, Tokyo, Peter O’Malley (front left) with Tsuneo Ikeda, longtime founder and publisher of Baseball Magazine Sha (front right). Behind (L-R) are Ikuo Ikeda, who took over the publishing responsibilities from his father in the 1990s; Yoshiko Ikeda, daughter of Tsuneo, and Kimiko, wife of Tsuneo. Ikuo attended openings of baseball fields privately built by O’Malley in China (1986) and Ireland (1998).
Biography
Ikuo Ikeda
Ikuo Ikeda was the longtime publisher and President of Baseball Magazine Sha in Japan. On September 12, 1986, when Peter O’Malley dedicated privately built Dodger Baseball Field at the Tianjin Institute of Physical and Cultural Education in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, Ikeda was one of the special friends in attendance. He used the publishing company to popularize American baseball in Japan. As a fan of Major League Baseball, Ikeda wanted to introduce American players to the Japan market, when few were following the U.S. leagues. Ikeda translated a book by Cincinnati and Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson into Japanese and helped make Japan fans aware of baseball cards. Ikeda graduated from prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo and then made his way to New York to learn the publishing business for three years, working at Prentice Hall and Time-Life. Peter had a longtime friendship with the Ikeda family.
August 7, 1998, IOC Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland, (L-R) Ikuo Ikeda, publisher, Baseball Magazine Sha, Japan; Aldo Notari, President, International Baseball Federation; and Peter O’Malley. O’Malley shows Ikeda and Notari the serigraph featuring the 100th Anniversary of the Dodger organization in 1990, artwork by LeRoy Neiman.
In 1963, Ikeda joined Baseball Magazine Sha, which his father Tsuneo had founded in 1946. Peter said that Tsuneo was “ahead of his time with Russia and baseball” providing equipment to Khabarovsk, a city in Russia close to Japan. Ikeda put together a book in Japanese about major league players in the 1960s. He advanced to Vice President in 1982 and then president in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Ikuo, his father, mother (Kimiko) and sister (Yoshiko) were with Peter at the Okura Hotel in Tokyo. On July 4, 1998, Ikeda was at the opening ceremonies for two baseball fields privately built by Peter in Ireland. Dodger Baseball Field, a regulation-sized adult baseball field and O’Malley Little League Field, an international standard Little League field, were dedicated on that day and Ikeda attended in support of his friend Peter. One month later, August 7, Ikeda and Peter were together again in Lausanne, Switzerland visiting the IOC Olympic Museum along with Aldo Notari, President, International Baseball Federation. The three were photographed at the museum by a serigraph featuring the 100th Anniversary of the Dodger organization in 1990. In 1998, the family opened a museum of art, culture and sports in Tsuneo’s hometown of Niigata. On October 13, 1998, Ikuo Ikeda passed at 58 years old. Peter and his son, Kevin traveled to Tokyo to attend the memorial service for Ikeda on November 24, 1998.