1800s in Japanese Baseball

Baseball was first brought to Japan around 1871 by Hiraoka Hiroshi. Hiroshi organized some clubs there and played at least until the 1880s. While very little is known about baseball in Japan in the 1800s, we are aware that Hiroshi was playing for the Shinbashi Athletic Club at the time and that the club appears to have been founded around 1878. An American professor named Horace Wilson was also a big factor in helping popularize the game in Japan at the time. Wilson, as well as Hiroshi are both featured in the photo below. Wilson is in the top row and Hiroshi is directly in the middle of the middle row.