March 1, 1994, Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida, Dodger President Peter O’Malley (left) presents Waseda University Head Baseball Coach Renzo Ishii with an inscribed bat. Waseda’s baseball team stayed and trained at Dodgertown from February 17-March 1, marking the first time a collegiate team trained alongside the major league Dodgers. Ishii was posthumously inducted into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.
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Renzo Ishii
Renzo Ishii was posthumously inducted into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame on August 15, 2020. He was the longtime renowned Head Baseball Coach at prestigious Waseda University, Tokyo (1957-1963 and 1988-1994). At Waseda, Ishii coached Akihiro “Ike” Ikuhara, Peter O’Malley’s longtime assistant. Ishii was the co-founder of the Japan-U.S. College Baseball Championship Series in 1972, along with Rod Dedeaux, the legendary coach from the University of Southern California. On May 11, 2005 at Dodger Stadium, Ishii and Dedeaux received the International Citizens Award from the Japan America Society of Southern California for their roles in founding and promoting the USA College Baseball Championship Series. When Peter O’Malley dedicated the privately built “Dodger Baseball Field” at Tianjin Institute of Physical and Cultural Education in the People’s Republic of China on September 12, 1986, Ishii traveled from Japan to attend.
Suit of armor presented in appreciation to Dodger President Peter O’Malley from Renzo Ishii, longtime Hall of Fame head baseball coach of prestigious Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. In 1994, Ishii brought Waseda’s baseball team to train at Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida, marking the first collegiate baseball team to train alongside the major league Dodgers. Later in 1994, Ishii sent to O’Malley this replica of a Nanban (lit. “Southern Barbarian”), or Western, armor made in the late 16th Century.
Photo for OSP by David Johnston
This wooden plaque (back side) accompanies the suit of armor presented in appreciation to Dodger President Peter O’Malley from Renzo Ishii, longtime Hall of Fame head baseball coach of prestigious Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Ishii brought Waseda’s baseball team to train at Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida in 1994.
Photo for OSP by David Johnston
February 16, 1994, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Peter O’Malley’s office. (L-R): Junya Orita, captain and star player for Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan baseball team; Dodger President Peter O’Malley; and Renzo Ishii, Japan Baseball Hall of Famer, head baseball coach at Waseda. The baseball team was en route to Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida to stay and train for two weeks. Ishii coached Waseda in two different eras, 1957-1963 and 1988-1994.
October 31, 1999, friends Peter O’Malley (left) and longtime Waseda University Head Baseball Coach Renzo Ishii are together for the Waseda-Keio baseball game at Jingu Stadium, Tokyo, Japan. Ishii was posthumously inducted into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020. One of his lasting international accomplishments was establishing Japan and the United States in an annual college baseball competition.
Peter invited Ishii and Waseda University’s baseball team to train at Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida from Feb. 17-March 1, 1994. They accepted and it was the first time a college team had visited Dodgertown to train alongside the major league Dodgers during Spring Training. Peter said at the time, “We are very happy to have one of Japan’s most prestigious college baseball teams join us at Dodgertown. Their coach, Renzo Ishii, is a longtime friend and is one of the best known amateur coaches in the world.” That learning experience was greatly appreciated by Waseda and Ishii sent Peter an impressive heartfelt gift of a suit of armor representing famous shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu as a thank you for the lasting impact on Waseda’s baseball program. Ishii, 83, passed away in 2015.