Listen "The Natural"
Episode Synopsis
Baseball tells stories that do not always stay on the field. Some of them travel across oceans, through stadiums filled with cheering crowds, and into the harsh silence of wartime. Today’s story is one of those. It begins with a seventeen year old pitcher who faced down Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig without a hint of fear, and it ends on a dark stretch of ocean where a transport ship never reached its destination. Eiji Sawamura lived a life shaped by talent, pride, and a world sliding toward conflict. His right arm carried the hopes of a nation, first on the pitcher’s mound and later on the battlefield. His rise, fall, and legacy reveal a Japan that was discovering professional baseball at the same time it was marching toward war. This episode looks at the extraordinary career and tragic death of the pitcher Japan still calls its lost ace.
More episodes of the podcast Dave Does History
Religious Freedom
16/01/2026
Vermont
15/01/2026
DDH - It's Just Common Sense (Video)
13/01/2026
DDH - It's Just Common Sense
13/01/2026
Ink, Mittens and Treason
12/01/2026
Hamilton
11/01/2026
The Rubicon (Video)
10/01/2026
The Rubicon
10/01/2026
Connecticut Ratifies (Video)
09/01/2026
Connecticut Ratifies
09/01/2026
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.