This Toei production is a b-movie, part of a series of murder mysteries, probably all with the same quirky detective (Kataoka Chiezo) investigating the cases. This particular one is about the death of a baseball player. Baseball was super popular in post-war Japan, and based on this movie, the teams even carried similar names to those playing in the United States. In the beginning, a player dies mid-game under mysterious circumstances, with the whole stadium watching. The shabby looking private eye then starts to conduct an investigation, which leads us to the Japanese underworld of crime.
The beginning had shades of Agatha Christie thrown in, but very soon this becomes an American-styled adventure mystery. It resembles American films from the 1930's (dare I say "Mr. Moto"?), and lacks any attributes that you might describe as "film noir". It's very light-weight, so much so, that I had trouble staying interested about the confusing narrative. The comedy didn't work that well, and some of it seemed unintentional. In the cast, Kato Daisuke was a welcomed addition, but otherwise nobody really shined in this.
If you want a more serious film about Japanese baseball, you should check out Kobayashi Masaki's "Anata kaimasu" (I Will Buy You, 1956).