Connie Mack-Dick Allen Chapter

Robert K. Fitts’ passion is Japanese baseball. He’s doing a book talk and signing on June 5th at the Barned and Noble in Bryn Mawr at 7 PM on his book, IN THE JAPANESE BALLPARK: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Fitts is an award-winning author and speaker, his articles have appeared numerous journals, magazines, and websites. He is also the author of ten books on Japanese baseball and Japanese baseball cards.

Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and a recipient of the society’s 2025 Henry Chadwick Award for "outstanding, long-term contributions to the study of the game," the 2013 Seymour Medal for the Best Baseball Book of 2012 (Banzai Babe Ruth); the 2019 and 2023 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Awards; the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for the best oral research presentation at the annual convention; and the 2006, 2021, 2023, and 2024 SABR Research Awards.

He has twice been a finalist for the Casey Award and has received two silver medals at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. While living in Tokyo in 1993-94, Fitts began collecting Japanese baseball cards and now runs Robs Japanese Cards LLC.