Suit of Armor presented by Renzo Ishii, Waseda University Head Baseball Coach to Dodger President Peter O’Malley and color photo of O’Malley in his Dodger Stadium office

Renzo Ishii, the renowned Waseda University head baseball coach and a 2020 inductee to the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame, made this gift of a suit of armor to Peter O’Malley in 1994. Waseda University’s baseball team traveled to Dodgertown – Vero Beach, Florida in 1994 to conduct Spring Training, becoming the first collegiate university to train alongside the major league Dodgers. This piece is a replica of a Nanban (lit. “Southern Barbarian”), or Western, armor made in the late 16th century. Brought to Japan via Dutch and Portuguese traders, a European peascod (breastplate), gorget (neck guard) and cabasset (helmet) were all incorporated into this armor’s design. Such European pieces of armor were coveted at that time by samurai, as they provided superior defense against the emerging threat of firearms on the battlefield. This original suit of armor was worn by the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, where he emerged victorious, effectively bringing centuries of civil war to a close.