Our project explores the important role baseball has played in shaping US-Japan relations over the past 150 years. In the Fall of 2023, we hosted a symposium at William & Mary with former players, coaches, scholars, and experts. In the Summer of 2024, we held a youth baseball exchange between US and Japanese little league teams in Japan.
This website serves as a resource for students of baseball diplomacy and US-Japan relations. In it you will find a collection of photos and videos taken at our events, oral history interviews of players and coaches who speak to their experiences, and a trivia game developed by the students.
Professor of Government and Government Department Chair at William & Mary
Associate Professor of History and Director of International Relations at William & Mary
Hyman Professor of Government and Director of the Public Policy Program at William & Mary
Meet the Students
A team of undergraduate students from the College of William & Mary support the Baseball Diplomacy 150 project through academic research, public outreach, and development initiatives. Working under the lead professors, these students have interests ranging from diplomacy, trade policy, cultural exchange through sports, and (of course) baseball.
Beatrice Ladrón de Guevara
International Relations | 2026
Team: Social Outreach, Trivia
Chabeli Yumang
International Relations | 2025
Team: Website-Database Development
Aggie Augustine
International Relations (German Minor) | 2026
Team: Social Outreach
Joe Shaklik
History | 2025
Team: Research
Ari Pearlstein
Government and American Studies | 2025
Team: Research
Samuel Huff
International Relations – Joint Degree Program | 2026
Team: Trivia, Research
“I work on a comparative study between Japanese-American Baseball Diplomacy and Sino-American Ping Pong Diplomacy from 1970 to 2011 with another student researcher, Jiexi. The goal of our research is to investigate the relationship between dynamic economic, cultural, and political contexts and how they transform sports diplomacy preferences of Japan and China regarding the United States during this period. Through process tracing, we are synthesizing and validating a more comprehensive model to shed light on the decision-making process of state’s sports diplomacy strategies.“
– Felix Tian
Bailey Nicholson
Public Policy | 2026
Team: Research
Mark Rindone
Government | 2025
Team: Website-Database Development, Research
Spencer Krivo
International Relations | 2026
Team: Research
Theodore Geis
Government and Accounting | 2025
Team: Trivia
Jackie Velotas
International Relations | 2026
Team: Website-Database Development
Sofia LoBue
International Relations | 2026
Team: Research
“The East Asian economic development model, exemplified by China and Japan, has historically incorporated sports diplomacy as an instrumental component in diverse scenarios. These nations, despite their shared cultural sympathies, economic evolution, and a shared competitive history with the United States, manifest divergent trajectories in their implementation of sports diplomacy. Japan has consistently underscored baseball diplomacy with the United States, forming an integral part of its sports diplomacy initiatives, leading to an expansive portfolio of sports communication programs.“
– Jiexi Lin
Olivia Schlamp
International Relations | 2026
Team: Social Outreach, Website-Database Development
Meghan Velotas
International Relations | 2026
Team: Website-Database Development
Isabel Spielberger
International Relations | 2026
Team: Research
Jiexi Lin
Economics and Government | 2026
Team: Research
Yuxi (Felix) Tian
International Relations and Economics| 2025
Team: Research
Amy Browning
International Relations | 2026
Team: Website-Database Development
Morgan Wait
Business Analytics (Data Science Minor)| 2025
Team: Social Outreach, Website-Database Development
Link to help contribute to the Baseball Diplomacy Project