There are a couple of very good bits about Japan. After the conclusion of Game 7 of the World Series, the Dodgers were to board a plane for Japan at 12:30 in the afternoon the next day. Don Newcombe started that game and got bombed. He bolted the stadium before the game was finished and just started driving through New York. Milton Gross, a reporter, chronicled the whole drive. While they drove they listened to the rest of the game on the radio. Then Newcombe went home and proceeded to wander around the neighborhood until the next morning. Here's what followed:
The players were milling around the gate at Idelewide Airport, drawing little attention, when Newcombe appeared. He wore a topcoat, a gray tweed suit, a red shirt, and a hat. He was chewing gum. He wore dark glasses over red-rimmed eyes.
I would guess he had a few drinks while he was wandering around. The book says he showed up at the airport without any bags.
Other notes...Carl Furillo (right field) had fought in the Pacific and refused to go. Sal Maglie (pitcher) didn't go either, though the book doesn't say why. Kazuhiro Yamauchi who at the time was playing for the Tokyo Orions (and whose background can be found here) criticized the Dodgers for not playing with the gusto of the Yankees, who came to Japan in 1955.
Another note, Newcombe wound up playing in Japan. But he came as a first baseman and outfielder. In 1962 he played for the Chunichi Dragons, becoming the second foreigner (after Wally Yonamine) to play in Japan.
