The First Baseball Game & Home Run at Meiji Jingu Stadium, October 23, 1926
By Bill Staples, Jr. Meiji Jingu (Shrine) Stadium is approaching its 100th birthday. It opened to the public on October 23, 1926, and is celebrated today as the second-oldest baseball stadium in Japan. The oldest is Hanshin Koshien Stadium (aka Koshien), which opened on August 1, 1924. Here’s what Meiji Jingu Stadium looked like when it opened in 1926 … … and here’s what it looks like today. Source for both images: namu.wiki. Sadly, the upcoming centennial celebration will take place under a cloud of mourning, as plans are underway to demolish the structure and replace it by or before 2038. Read more about those plans here. The First Home Run at Meiji Baseball fans love “firsts,” and for some reason, there appears to be a strong interest in the first home run ever hit at Meiji Jingu Stadium. Here’s my understanding for the past 20-plus years … on April 29, 1927, Saburo Miyatake of Keio University hit a home run that many believed was the first ever at the historic ballpark. Decades la...