The film is a comically enhanced interpretation of the historical events of the first Korean baseball team during early 1905. The events, which took place prior to the film, denote what took place historically and how a Japanese occupation came to Korea are listed as follows. The forceful opening of Japanese connections by the Americans between 1852 and 1854 by
Commodore Matthew Perry had caused an internal restructuring of government by the Japanese known as the
Meiji Restoration that began in 1868. Prior to Perry's arrival, the Japanese would only permit trade with the Dutch (
East India Company) and any foreigner found in Japanese territory was, in most cases, promptly executed, often by beheading. During the Meiji restoration, Japanese focused on industrialization of Japan to reignite the Imperial glory of Japan, a country also known as Nippon. As with most imperial governments of the early 20th century, militarization and conquest through industrial and technological prowess ensured a place in the handful of nations that took part in global leadership. At the time, Britain was one of the most powerful nations on Earth and had the best Navy. Russia's government, an autocracy ruled by
Czar Nicholas II, had been undergoing industrial development some years and now Russia was making way to expand its borders. As vast as Russia's territory is, most of its population lives in the warmer western borders of the nation. Between 1897 and 1898, Russia had arrived in Port Arthur,
Manchuria and succeeded in securing a lease with the Chinese to use the harbor. China at that time was under the bindings of a non-exclusivity agreement with what was then known as the Great British Empire that forbade them to purchase goods from other countries. This agreement also led to the Boxer rebellion that ended in 1901. China had become rather weak after the
Ming Dynasty and continually made concessions to foreign nations in trade rights and permission to settle inside its borders. Thus, it was taken for an easy target by many foreign nations, including Russia and Japan. Japan has had a historically unpleasant sentiment towards for China and Korea and with the Meiji restoration and militaristic buildup of Japanese forces, Japan sought to expand its borders much like Russia did. The western nations were extending each of their hands and negotiating or conquering more territory and resources. In almost direct relation to the west, Japan flexed its imperial capacity as well. Korea was a buffer zone between Japan and the Chinese mainland and provide an access conduit to all measure of logistical and consumable resources. If Japan was able to hold control or sovereignty over Korea, it would tactically ensure the safety of the Japanese homeland from attack and therefore was considered a highly valuable asset. In 1875, Japan had forced Korea to declare itself as an independent nation apart from China through force and open its borders. Korea traditionally had been a protectorate nation under Chinese authority. Over time after it became clear what this meant for Korea and China, Qing China attempted to recant the declaration against Japan and in August 1894 Japan began fighting with Qing (Chin) forces over the Korean Peninsula, known as the First Sino-Chinese war (1894–1895). The film
YMCA Baseball takes places after these events have occurred and Japan has occupied Korea as a protectorate state of Japan. The Japanese have a highly invested interest in maintaining control of Korea and make every attempt to prohibit any inkling of resistance or possibility of uprising by the Korean people as portrayed by the film although somewhat overly exuberant. Korea's future lay uncertain and coincided with national sentiment of oppression towards the Japanese. With the Chosun dynasty ending and large western and other foreign influence there were two sentiments shared among the Korea people. Korea could either modernize or go back to the traditional ways of its historic past. Westerners and Japanese had made settlements in Korea; Missionary schools and military outposts respectively, and took full advantage of the fact Korea was in the midst of the twilight of its greatest dynasty, the Chosen. With the West to traveling and settling Asia, western culture and customs spread in turn. As the film's title states, YMCA baseball was a part of this divergence. George Williams founded the YMCA on June 6, 1844, in London, England; YMCA is an acronym for Young Men's Christian Association that began among evangelists. Known for its promotion of sports, it was actually also a missionary organization in conjunction with the Church and run locally and this would most likely have been encouraged even as far away as Korea. Baseball was first introduced in Korea in 1905 by
Phillip L. Gillett, a missionary who introduced the sport to members of a YMCA in Seoul. Western missionaries of the YMCA colluded with the Japanese to abolish traditional Korean values and indoctrinate Korean youths to Japanese values and customs. This led many Koreans to study in Tokyo and this is represented by a few characters in the film. Indoctrination of the youth would steer Korea in the direction of modernization; Japan had been undergoing a surge of industrial production and western adoption and the West had already gone through several phases of
industrialization. By subverting the youth of Korea to fall in line with more modern and foreign sentiments, in a way ensured the future relations with Korea and the inevitable outcome of this is a struggle between traditional Korean culture and values, and that of new influence. The remark about the Japanese first encountering baseball some thirty years earlier however, was accurate (1872). ==Historical references==