Quote Originally Posted by coxfan View Post
It's less well-known that FDR suggested a program of baseball matches between Japan and the US in the 1930's, in the hope of better relations between the nations. His suggestion didn't go anywhere.
I don't know about FDR's input, but there were numerous tours of Japan by squads of Major Leaguers in the '20s and '30s - most notably, the 1934 All-Star Tour, which included Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx and many other big names. The Japanese teams didn't fare too well against those American teams, naturally, but they kept welcoming the opportunity to try again.