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First Game Ever Attended by Head-of-State

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First Game Ever Attended by Head-of-State
If anyone knows of the first game in a nation attended by a head-of-state, or the first baseball game ever played in a nation, that is not on this list, for any nation in Asia or Oceania, please let me know so that I can update the records. I hope to include all nations, even those where baseball is not a major sport, so if you know the answer for Bhutan, Tibet, New Caledonia, Palau, Nauru, etc. please let me know:

9 innings – FIRST GAME EVER WITH JAPANESE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS IN ATTENDANCE – Korakuen Kyujo (Stadium), Tokyo – 6/25/1959 – Central League - Yomiuri Giants 5 Osaka Tigers 4 – fans included 124th Japanese Emperor Showa (Hirohito) and Empress Kojun (Nagako Kuni) – sayonara (walk-off) home run by Shigeo Nagashima won game in bottom of 9th.
? innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN CHINA – Baseball Grounds, Canton - ?/??/1836 – Boston Union Club vs. English Club.

3 innings - FIRST GAME EVER IN AUSTRALIA - Carlton Gardens Exhibition Grounds, Melbourne, State of Victoria – 2/21 or 28/1857 – Collingwood 350 Richmond 230 – rules called for a run to be counted each time a baserunner reached a new base.

4 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN HONG KONG – Cricket-Ground, Hong Kong - 11/20/1869 – Amateur – Meig’s American Squadron Team defeated Wilson’s American Squadron Team by one or two runs.

? innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN JAPAN – Kaisei Gakko (Tokyo University) - ?/??/1873.

9 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN NEW ZEALAND - Potter’s Paddock (later Tranway Company’s Grounds at Epsom), Auckland – 12/10/1888 – Spalding World Tour – Chicago White Stockings 22 All-America 13 – 4500 fans.

5 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN SRI LANKA - Galle Face Green, Colombo, Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) – 1/26/1889 – Spalding World Tour – Chicago White Stockings 3 All-Americans 3 in 2:00 – finished at 6:00 PM.

? innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN KOREA – YMCA Woondong-jang (Stadium), Seoul – ?/??/1905 – Rev. Gilbert Gillette’s YMCA League.

9 innings – FIRST GAME EVER IN PHILIPPINES – Manila – 10/2?/1910 – U.S. Marines of Manila 4 University of Chicago Maroons 0.

9 innings– FIRST GAME EVER WITH AUSTRALIAN HEAD OF STATE (GOVERNOR-GENERAL) IN ATTENDANCE – Melbourne Cricket Grounds, Melbourne - 1/7/1914 – Charles Comiskey/John McGraw World Tour - New York Giants 12 Chicago White Sox 8 – fans included Governor-General Lord Thomas Denham.

9 innings - FIRST GAME EVER IN INDIA – Calcutta (later Kolkata) – 11/1/1942 – US Army vs. Amateur – Negro US Army 11 Calcutta 3.

10 innings – NEW JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT CAMP AND ARIZONA HIGH SCHOOL RECORDS – Gila River Internment Camp 28 Ballfield, Arizona – 4/18/1945 – Butte High School Eagles of Gila River Internment Camp 11 Tucson High School Badgers 10 - 2000 fans.

21 innings – FIRST EVER GAME IN GUAM (probably not, but first game I have been able to document) - Third Marine Division (later Trimble) Field - 5/6/1945 – 41st US Navy Construction Battalion Seabees 2 US Navy Air Base 1 – 1000 fans.

9 innings – FIRST EVER GAME PLAYED BY NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS TEAMS - Honolulu, Hawai'i - 2/9/1946 – US Navy Central Pacific Championships – Saipan 2 Kwajalein 0.

9 innings – NEW GAME EVER WITH IRAQI KING IN ATTENDANCE – Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York - 8/13/1952 – National League - Dodgers 5 Giants 4; then Giants 8 Dodgers 4 – fans included 3rd Iraqi King Faisal II who did not realize that in Ebbets Field it was considered bad form to cheer when Giant Bobby Thomson hit a home run.
Comments
Re: First Game Ever Attended by Head-of-State
[ Author: mijow | Posted: Apr 16, 2007 2:55 PM | HT Fan ]

Fascinating. But as an Australian I'd have to quibble with your description of the Governor-General as our Head of State. He's only the representative of the Head of State, which is actually the British monarch. In 1914 George V was our Head of State.
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