The first American professional baseball tour of the far east commenced in 1908 with a team of Pacific Coast Leaguers and minor leaguers organized by sporting goods manufacturer, A. J. Reach Company. Five years later, the global tour of the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox clubs reached Japan in 1913. In the years 1920, 1922, 1931 and 1934, major leaguers again visited the island nation, bringing the game to multiple cities for contests against local ballclubs.
San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O’Doul, a member of the All-Stars team that visited Japan in 1931 and 1934, resumed the tours following World War II by bringing his Coast League team for exhibition games at the request of General Douglas MacArthur in an effort to reestablish diplomacy between Japan and the United States. Two years later, O’Doul organized an All-Star team of big leaguers and Pacific Coast League stars after the 1951 professional baseball seasons ended.
Download to view the entire 1953 Lopat All-Stars, Okinawa Program
In 1953, it was tour season once again but this time, an entire National League club headed east. In addition to the Giants reprising their 1913 tour four decades later, Yankees pitcher Ed Lopat culled together a team of Major League All-Stars for a Far East tour to include Manila and Okinawa after a multi-date jaunt across Japan.
After a series of stateside exhibitions in Colorado against a squad of major leaguers led by Chicago White Sox manager Paul Richards, Lopat’s All-Stars spent eight days on Oahu, Kauai and the big island of Hawaii facing the Hawaii League champs, Kauai All-Stars and a team of Hilo all-Stars in addition to a three-game series against Roy Campanella’s All-Stars at Honolulu Stadium.
Over thirteen days, the Lopatmen faced six different clubs including the Pacific League All-Stars, Mainichi Orions, Nankai Hawks, Hankyu Braves, Central League All-Stars and the All-Japan All-Stars, the Americans posted an 11-1 record, bringing their tour record to 19-4 when they landed on Okinawa to face the U.S. Army/U.S. Air Force All-Stars for two games.
1953 Lopat All-Stars:
| Player | # | Pos | 1953 Club | Veteran |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billy Martin | 1 | 2B | Yankees | |
| Nelson Fox | 2 | 2B | White Sox | Army |
| Jackie Jensen | 4 | CF | Senators | |
| Yogi Berra | 8 | C | Yankees | Navy |
| Eddie Robinson | 8 | 1B | Athletics | Navy |
| Hank Sauer | 9 | LF | Cubs | Coast Guard |
| Enos Slaughter | 9 | RF | Cardinals | USAAF |
| Gus Niarhos | 11 | C | Red Sox | Navy |
| Bob Lemon | 21 | P | Indians | Navy |
| Mike Garcia | 25 | P | Indians | Army |
| Harvey Kuenn | 26 | SS | Tigers | |
| Curt Simmons | 28 | P | Phillies | Nat. Grd. |
| Eddie Lopat | 30 | P | Yankees | |
| Robin Roberts | 36 | P | Phillies | USAAF |
| Eddie Mathews | 41 | 3B | Braves | Navy |
In total accolades, Lopat’s aggregation would amount to 96 League All-Star selections, six Most-Valuable Player awards, one MLB Player of the Year, one Rookie of the Year and six Hall of Fame inductions. To put it mildly, the Lopat All-Stars were legendary. Against a service club whose roster included seven players with minor league experience, the Lopatmen were a dominant force, scoring 20 runs while allowing one tally in two contests.
The final scores hardly mattered as it was an honor for the service players to share the diamond with the big leaguers and the GIs in the stands were, no doubt, thrilled to see the stars thousands of miles and an ocean away from home.
1953 Okinawa Army/USAF Service All-Stars:
| Player | # | Pos | 1953 Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | # | Pos | 1953 Club |
| Juan E. Principe | 1 | OF | 87th Ordnance |
| Harry B. Hanes | 2 | OF | 29th RCT |
| Ralph Fall | 3 | SS | 98th MP |
| Herman Wiltshire | 4 | OF | 87th Ordnance |
| William J. Hurst | 5 | OF | 8116th |
| Dave Cochran | 6 | OF | 65th AAA |
| Gilbert J. Lantry | 7 | 2B | 2nd TK Co. |
| Raymond Brzezniak | 8 | P | 8108th |
| Frederick Martin | 9 | C | 526 CIC |
| Larry Keef | 10 | 3B | 98th MP |
| John Pedretti | 11 | 1B | 29th RCT |
| Ovid Wilcox | 12 | 3B | 19th Mt. Veh. Sq. |
| Lawrence Lebiene | 13 | P | 851st AC&W Sq. |
| Herman Tolle | 14 | SS | Air Base Grp. |
| Robert Hansen | 16 | P | 6351st Mt. Sq. |
| Ted Kazek | 17 | P | 29th RCT |
| Lov Bryson | 18 | OF | 467th Sig. |
| Manuel Escalera | 19 | P | 29th RCT |
| Vern W. Lambert | 20 | OF | 50th TK Co. |
| Richard S. Rolfe | 21 | P | 87th Ordnance |
| Tony Martinich | 22 | OF | Air Base Grp. |
| Barnet Straley | 23 | P | 85th AAA |
| Elmer Wesley | 24 | 2B | 19th AIO |
Lopat’s All-Stars 1953 Tour Record:
| Date | Location | Venue | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, October 8, 1953 | Pueblo, CO | Runyon Field | Richards’ Major League Stars | L, 13-8 |
| Saturday, October 10, 1953 | Colorado Springs, CO | Richards’ Major League Stars | W, 18-7 | |
| Sunday, October 11, 1953 | Denver, CO | Bears Stadium | Richards’ Major League Stars | W, 8-4 |
| Sunday, October 11, 1953 | Denver, CO | Bears Stadium | Richards’ Major League Stars | W, 17-8 |
| Monday, October 12, 1953 | Honolulu, HI | Honolulu Stadium | Rural Red Sox (Hawaii League Champ) | W, 10-2 |
| Tuesday, October 13, 1953 | Honolulu, HI | Honolulu Stadium | Rural Red Sox (Hawaii League Champ) | W, 15-0 |
| Wednesday, October 14, 1953 | Kauai, HI | Kauai Stadium | Kauai All-Stars | W, 12-3 |
| Saturday, October 17, 1953 | Hilo, HI | Hoʻolulu Park | Local All-Stars | W, 8-3 |
| Sunday, October 18, 1953 | Honolulu, HI | Honolulu Stadium | Campanella All-Stars | W, 7-1 |
| Monday, October 19, 1953 | Honolulu, HI | Honolulu Stadium | Campanella All-Stars | L, 4-3 |
| Tuesday, October 20, 1953 | Honolulu, HI | Honolulu Stadium | Campanella All-Stars | L, 7-1 |
| Friday, October 23, 1953 | Tokyo | Korakuen Stadium | Mainichi Orions | L, 5-4 |
| Saturday, October 24, 1953 | Tokyo | Korakuen Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 13-7 |
| Sunday, October 25, 1953 | Tokyo | Korakuen Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 10-3 |
| Monday, October 26, 1953 | Sendai | Miyagi Baseball Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 3-0 |
| Wednesday, October 28, 1953 | Fukuoka | Heiwadai Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 9-4 |
| Thursday, October 29, 1953 | Shimonoseki | Shimonoseki Baseball Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 6-2 |
| Friday, October 30, 1953 | Osaka | Osaka Stadium | Nankai Hawks | W, 15-1 |
| Saturday, October 31, 1953 | Nishinomiya | Nishinomiya Stadium | Hankyu Braves | W, 7-3 |
| Sunday, November 1, 1953 | Nishinomiya | Nishinomiya Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 8-2 |
| Monday, November 2, 1953 | Nagoya | Narumi Stadium | Central League All-Stars | W, 9-6 |
| Tuesday, November 3, 1953 | Tokyo | Korakuen Stadium | Pacific League All-Stars | W, 10-0 |
| Wednesday, November 4, 1953 | Tokyo | Korakuen Stadium | All-Japan | W, 16-2 |
| Thursday, November 5, 1953 | Camp Kue, Okinawa | Army/USAF All-Stars | W, 14-1 | |
| Friday, November 6, 1953 | Camp Kue, Okinawa | Army/USAF All-Stars | W, 6-0 | |
| Saturday, November 7, 1953 | Manila, RP | Rizal Memorial Field | Canlubang Sugar Barons | W, 17-0 |
| Sunday, November 8, 1953 | Manila, RP | Rizal Memorial Field | Mainichi Orions | W, 1-0 |
| Tour Record | 23 – 4 |
Top: The throw to first was in time to nip Harv Kuenn as he chugged down to first attempting to beat out a grounder. His running efforts were to no avail as the throw from Lantry (not shown) to John Pedretti (11) was in time. The big leaguers went on to win 14-1.
Bottom: No sweat – Yogi Berra (center) gets a taste of Okinawan humidity. The proverbial statement of the Ryukyus was put into use when the great Yankee catcher called for a towel to dry himself off after a hectic inning against the local inter-service team in the first game of their meeting. Robin Roberts, Phillies’ pitcher (left), waves a cautioning finger at the photographer, as Enos Slaughter (right), Cards’ outfielder, hides sheepishly behind the support. By the way, the visitors won the game, 14-1 (see * below).
Program/Scorecard
This piece was printed to be used for the two game series on Okinawa with the front cover featureing the month and location of the games. Printed in monochrome black, the eight page booklet includes scoring grids and rosters of both teams and is surrounded by sponsorship advertisements on pages two, five and seven along with mini-bios of the major leaguers. Page three is dedicated to the service stars with three photos including the full team.
*Note: News clippings were included with the program and are unsourced.
Acquired from an online auction, July 2026.
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