Three days after the conclusion of the World Series, the Orioles embarked on a tour of
Japan to play 18 games against
Nippon Professional Baseball competition beginning on October 23. The team had accepted the invitation to participate in the
Yomiuri Shimbun-sponsored event at the start of the calendar year on January 1. Included in the 12–2–4 overall record was the Orioles going undefeated at 8–0–3 in head-to-head competition against the
Yomiuri Giants which was owned by the tour's sponsor and had recently captured its seventh consecutive
Japan Series championship. The Japanese point of view of high hopes entering the exhibitions and the disappointment with the unfavorably lopsided results is chronicled in
Robert Whiting's 1977 book
The Chrysanthemum and the Bat. Source: Baltimore Orioles 1972 Media Guide (scroll down to pages 25 and 26). ==References==