Reader Dennis McCormick from Hyogo Prefecture recently wrote to ask, "Do you remember about 15 years ago an American woman umpire came to Japan and worked a few Japanese games in the Kansai area? I don't recall her name, but I was surprised when I found out she was not a regular umpire in one of the minor leagues in the U.S. Do you know whatever happened to her or even remember her being here?"
Dennis, you are talking about Perry Lee Barber, a New Yorker who was invited to Japan in the spring of 1989. She was a graduate of one of the umpiring schools in the States, and her teacher was Lee Weyer, former National League ump who died on July 4, 1988, at the age of 51.
Perry worked two Japanese exhibition games of the then-Orix Braves, one against the Kintetsu Buffaloes and one against the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, at Nishinomiya Stadium and Green Stadium Kobe (now Skymark Stadium).