THE FILM

Diamond Diplomacy, the feature-length documentary, tells the little known story of 150 years of history between the U.S. and Japan through the shared love of baseball. The film is structured around the baseball stories of two former players, Japanese Masanori “Mashi” Murakami, and American Warren Cromartie, and weaves through key points in history examining subjects like racism, international relations, and the influence of sports.

The origin of baseball in Japan dates back to 1872, during the Meiji westernization, when Civil War veteran Horace Wilson packs a bat and a ball in his trunk and heads for Japan. More dramatic are the conflicts and resolutions surrounding World War II. On the diplomatic front, the ever-popular Babe Ruth raises spirits during the 1934 Goodwill Tour, but these efforts fail to forestall war. While baseball and all things American are halted in Japan during the war, soon after, unofficial baseball ambassador Lefty O’Doul is called upon by General Douglas MacArthur to bring his San Francisco Seals to Japan for the 1949 Goodwill Tour.

We follow our characters as they attend commemorative games and ceremonies, historical exhibitions, youth tournaments, and clinics. History is recounted through the use of archival footage and photos, including a never-before-seen collection of home movies from the 1949 San Francisco Seals Baseball Goodwill tour. Assets like baseball cards, drawings, illustrations, and Japanese wood-cut prints, coupled with historically evocative music, imbue the film with a rich fusion of eastern and western culture.

Diamond Diplomacy also explores the parallel and intersecting diplomacy and histories of the two nations, revealing some surprising ambassadors such as Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Lefty O’Doul. This story leads us to the steady exchange of players through present day and the welcome international relations, ever more relevant and needed today.