Horace Wilson (February 10., 1843 – March 4., 1927) was an American expatriate educator in late 19th century

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

. He is one of the persons credited with introducing the sport of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

to Japan.

Biography

Wilson was born in

Gorham, Maine Gorham is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 18,336 at the 2020 United States Census. In addition to its urban village center known as Gorham (CDP), Maine, Gorham Village or simply "the Villag ...

. He enrolled at

Kents Hill School Kents Hill School (also known as Kents Hill or KHS) is a co-educational, independent college-preparatory school for boarding and day students. Kents Hill is located in Kents Hill, Maine, 12 miles west of the state capital of Augusta, Maine, Aug ...

in the fall 1858, and is believed to have graduated in the spring of 1862. A veteran of the U.S. Civil War, he fought for the 12th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment against the Confederates in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. After the war, he was hired by the

Japanese government The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary state, containing forty- ...

as a foreign adviser to assist in the modernization of the Japanese education system after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. He served as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of English at ''Kaisei Gakko'', the forerunner of

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. In either 1872 or 1873, Wilson decided that his students needed more physical exercise, and introduced them to the sport of baseball. Several weeks or months later, enough interest had developed for the school to sponsor a seven-inning game between the Japanese students and foreign instructors. The first formal baseball team was established in 1878. Wilson returned to the United States in 1877 and lived in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He died in 1927 at age 84. Wilson was posthumously elected to membership in the

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The , commonly known outside of Japan as the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, is a hall of fame and museum in Tokyo dedicated to professional baseball, with a prominent focus on professional baseball in Japan. The Hall is intended to honor and co ...

by the special committee in 2003.

References

External links

Baseball In Japan
Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-era Japan Foreign educators in Japan American expatriates in Japan People from Gorham, Maine 1843 births 1927 deaths Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees {{US-edu-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links