A typical Life

In American baseball the number 42 is revered and April 15th is a historic day because of one man, Jackie Robinson - he wore number 42 on that date back in 1947 when he was the first man of color to play for a Major League Baseball team in the United States. 2008 marks the 61st anniversary of that historic day and more than 330 players, managers and coaches in the United States– including nine entire teams — wore Jackie Robinson’s # 42 to celebrate the Hall of Famer’s accomplishments.

Number 42 was retired in 1997 by Major League Baseball in honor of what the man wearing the number went through and what his legacy still represents to this day. Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera is the only player remaining from then who still wears Number 42.

Thousands of miles away and in a different country, across a vast ocean, the number 42 is not treated with the same respect. In fact it is considered an unlucky, if not disastrous, number. In Japanese, 4 (shi) and 2 (ni) are together pronounced like “going to death” (死に) (wikipedia).

Given that the number 42 is considered bad luck one would think that it would not be used in Japanese baseball. But in 2008 there are 10 players on Japanese major league teams that all wear this unlucky number. Here is the complete list:

• Brian Sweeney of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
• Craig Brazzell of the Saitama Seibu Lions
• Julio Zuleta of the Chiba Lotte Marines
• Alex Cabrera of the Orix Buffaloes
• Rafael Cruz of the Chunichi Dragons
• T. Shimoyanagi of the Hanshin Tigers
• Kida Masao of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows
• Marc Kroon of the Yomiuri Giants
• Masayuki Hasegawa of the Hiroshima Carp
• Travis Hughes of the Yokohama Baystars

Only the Fukuoka Soft Bank Hawks and the Rakuten Golden Eagles do not have the number 42 assigned to a player listed on their respective websites.

It is uncertain how many of these men benefited from the struggles of Jackie Robinson but some of them may not have been permitted to play Major League Baseball in the Unites States had it not been for his perseverance.

Nippon Professional Baseball has unknowingly, or due to a cultural superstition, allowed these men to wear a number that is revered in the United States and honors a man whose struggles allow them to don a uniform each day and take the field as professional baseball players.

Today Sports Illustrated announced the retirement of Masumi Kuwata, one of the top pitchers in Japanese baseball history and a major leaguer for the first time last season at age 39.  As a baseball fan living in Japan the story caught my eye but as I read through the article what touched me the most was the ceremony that takes place when a pitcher retires.

According to the article when a pitcher decides to retire it is a Japanese tradition for the pitcher to respectfully approach the pitchers mound and, being careful not to touch the pitching rubber, place a ball atop it.

I was touched by the solitary nature of the ceremony and the symbolism surrounding the image of a solitary ball sitting on the pitching rubber on a baseball field devoid of players in a stadium devoid of fans.

Yesterday was the opening day for the Eastern League (one of two minor leagues in Japan). The Chiba Lotte Marines faced the Nippon Ham Fighters in Kamagaya and the Marines got off to a good start only to be beaten by a final score of 11-7. The game was good but the Marines were sunk by an eight run inning early on after their starting pitcher was hit in the shin by a come-backer and couldn’t regain his rhythm. Both teams had thirteen hits and one error so it was a fun game to watch.

The Fighters facility in Kamagaya is the best facility in the Eastern league and I almost felt like I was watching a minor league game in the States. Here are some shots of the field and stands.

Here is the line-up card that I was given along with my press pass for the game. The Marines line up is on the left and the Fighters are on the right. As I said in my post on my first major league game in Japan this line-up card makes it a bit difficult to follow the game at times but with the position and uniform numbers it wasn’t too bad. I just can’t read the names in Kanji.

The game started with a presentation of flowers to the managers (my hubby is right center in the shot below) followed by some children singing the national anthem of Japan. After signing the anthem the children turned to face the Chiba Lotte Marines bench and said in unison “Gambate Marines” (Good Luck Marines) and then bowed in respect. They then turned to the Nippon Ham Fighters bench and did the same. It was something that you definitely would not see in the states and a great show of sportsmanship.

Benny Agbayani, formerly with the New York Mets, started his season with the Marines in the minor leagues and was the first base runner of the season. Later in the game he hit the first home run of he season for the Marines. Here he is taking a warm up swing.

Hosaya, our third baseman, had the honor of scoring the first run of the season for the Marines.

The Japanese fans are very dedicated and are definitely not a quiet bunch! These guys clap, cheer, beat drums and put their noisemakers to good use throughout the whole game. They must be exhausted by the end of nine innings. Here is a shot of the the Nippon Ham Fighters cheering section. This is a small group by major league standards in Japan but more on that in a future post.

I had a great day at the yard and am looking forward to doing it all again today!

On Monday a new statue of Colonel Sanders was unveiled at the Koshien Stadium branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken and the Hanshin Tigers are hoping that this will eradicate a curse that started back in 1985. “What!”, you say. How does Colonel Sanders have anything to do with baseball and how could erecting a new statue of him eradicate the supposed curse?

When the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan series in 1985 the fans went crazy and in celebration they started yelling out the names of the players on the roster. Someone who resembled each player would then jump into a river in downtown Osaka. All went well until they got to Randy Bass who was an American with a beard and the MVP that year. Needless to say no-one looked like him so some overly enthusiastic fans decided that a nearby statue of Colonel Sanders bore a close enough resemblance so they tossed it into the river. The statue has never been found despite several searches and the Tigers have never been able to win the Japan Series since.

So that’s how the “Curse of Colonel Sanders” was born and the Hanshin Tigers and their fans hope that by erecting a new statue of Colonel Sanders that they will be able to shake off this curse of 23 years and will again be able to win the Japan Series. Take a moment to check out this photo of the Colonel Sanders statue and the real live Japanese Colonel at Sponichi Annex (the story is in Japanese but you need to click the photo to see a larger version).

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending my first baseball game of the year in Japan (or anywhere for that matter).  The Chiba Lotte Marines beat the Orix Kintetsu Buffaloes by a score of 4-1.   All of the scoring was the result of three home runs.  Koichi Hori, and Naotaka Takehara each hit  solo blasts, and Julio Zuleta cracked a two-run shot.

This was only the second game at home for the Chiba Lotte Marines this year and was a spring training game.  The regular season starts next week. Game time was 1PM and it was a brisk 25 minute walk to the stadium from our apartment but we got to watch the game from a sky box which was a treat.

The stadium is located near the Kaihin Makuhari Station on the Keiyo Line which is a direct shot from Tokyo that takes about 30 minutes. 

While the players all have their names on their back in romanized English the lineup on the scoreboard it written in Kanji and Katakana (for the foreigners names).  This makes following the action and strategic moves of the game a bit difficult at times.

In this case the Marines line up is on the right side.  I can’t tell you who was up to bat (the left fielder) but I can tell you that Benny Agbayani was batting third and playing right filed while Julio Zuletta was batting fourth and playing first base.

We had a great day at the yard and I can’t wait to go back!

Now that we are getting closer to the start of exhibition games in Japan I thought it would be a good time to educate everyone with some Japanese Baseball Terminology.

Let me start by saying that in Japan you will hear the term Pro-Yakyuu a lot. This is short for Professional Yakyuu with Yakyuu meaning baseball.

One of the first things that confused me when watching a baseball game in Japan was the ball-strike count. For example when you watch MLB baseball and you hear or see a count as 3-1 you know it is 3 balls and 1 strike. In Japan no such count exists! A count of 3-1 in Japan would actually be a strike out or sanshin. So when you hear or see a count in Japan keep in mind that strikes are always the fist number.

Here are a few more:

Your favorite players uniform number would be his sebango or “back number”.

A rookine is know as a shinjin or “new man”.

A double play is getto-tsuu or “get two”

Great Pitch: zekkohkyuu

Here is a link to some more Japanese Baseball Terminology if you want to expand your vocabulary further.

The countdown continues…2 days until the first baseball game of 2008!

Spring Training for Japanese professional baseball has been underway since February 1st and for the first time in many years all of the teams will remain in Japan for Spring Training. This is a full two weeks ahead of MLB where most teams pitchers and catchers reported today.In the MLB spring training is divided between balmy Arizona and sun-drenched Florida. In Japan most teams head south for spring training but this spring has been unseasonably cold, wet and in some cases snowy!

As a result of the poor weather many teams have been forced to hold more practices indoors than outdoors. This leads me to one of the interesting things about Japanese baseball. Most teams have state of the art indoor facilities with weight rooms, pitching mounds and a full infield. Below is a photo of the minor league complex for the Chiba Lotte Marines which has an area of almost 22,000 square feet. Most minor league teams in the US could only dream of having such a facility at their disposal.

So where is your favorite Japanese team holding their spring Training? Here’s a run-down:

Central League
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters - Nago, Okinawa
Seibu Lions - Miyazaki
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks - Miyazaki & Fukuoka
Chiba Lotte Marines - Ishigakijima Marines Ball Park in the Ryukyus & Okinawa
Orix Buffaloes - Miyakojima Island in Okinawa & Kochi, Shikoku
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles - Kumejima, Okinawa

Pacific League
Chunichi Dragons - Chatan, Okinawa
Hanshin Tigers - Ginoza, Okinawa & Aki, Kochi
Tokyo Yakult Swallows - Urasoe Stadium, Okinawa
Yomiuri Giants - Miyazaki
Hiroshima Carp - Okinawa City, Okinawa & Nichinan, Miyazaki
Yokohama BayStars - Ginowan, Okinawa

Information summarized from an article in The Japan Times by Wayne Graczyk.

For some more information on this years spring training in Japan take a look at Jim Allen’s column with the Daily Yomiuri where he tells us about the Do’s and Dont’s of Spring Training in Japan and touches on the weather and training regimens of each team.

More next week on Japanese Baseball terminology.

The countdown continues….9 days until the first baseball game of 2008!

This post is the second in my weekly series on Japanese baseball. The first post was an overview of the Nippon Professional Baseball League and this post will provide you with some information on the minor league system.

We hear a lot about the major leagues in Japan but relatively little about the minor leagues which are not at all like those in the United States. In the Unites States most major league teams have at least five minor league affiliates while each professional team in Japan has only one, which is part of either the Eastern League or the Western League. Minor leagues teams in Japan usually carry the same name as the parent team and are differentiated by the term Second Team. The First Team being the major league equivalent in the United States.

The Eastern and Western Leagues are organized by region rather than by their division affiliation and break out as follows:

Eastern League
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Yomiuri Giants
Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Yokohama BayStars
Seibu Lions
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Chiba Lotte Marines

Western League
Hanshin Tigers
Hiroshima Carp
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
Orix Buffaloes
Chunichi Dragons

Jim Allen is the author of the The Hot Corner, a weekly baseball column for the Daily Yomiuri, and provides some great information on his website. Jim Allen’s Guide to Japanese Baseball is a must read for anyone interested in the Japanese version of the game and is a great source for an overview of many aspects of the game. (Please note that some of the information is a bit out of date.)

Jim describes four unique rosters as follows:

Organizational – maximum of 70 players per team.
First team (majors) – 40 players which is set for the entire season with a few exceptions under the rules.
First Team Bench – 28 players
First Team Active – 25 players for any given game (a subset of the First Team Bench Roster)

This means that on any given day there are between 30 and 42 players on the minor league or Second Team roster. Any player assigned to the Second Team is required to spend a minimum of 10 days prior to being re-activated by the First Team which is limited to four foreign roster players, only three of which may be on the field at any given time. There is no such restriction in the minor leagues.

Most Second Team games are played during the day at facilities that don’t resemble an American ballpark at all. There are no grandstands at most minor league facilities and no food or souvenir hawkers. The minor league teams are owned and operated by the parent club and are there solely to prepare the players to move up to the big leagues. Most minor league players are required to live in company dorms and have curfews and rules that they are required to adhere to at all times. The photo above is of the Second Team field for the Chiba Lotte Marines (note the all dirt infield which is common in Japan).

If you want to follow the prospects on your favorite Japanese Professional Team here is a link to the Second Team Standings from 2007. (I will update the link when the 2008 information is available) Please review my Japanese Baseball – An Overview post to determine the Kanji for your favorite team as I was not able to find an effective translation of the previous link. You can also use this post to head off to your favorite teams website and click on the tab titled Farm (ファーム or 2軍) for more information on the Second Team.

The countdown continues….16 days until the first baseball game of 2008!

Baseball was imported to Japan from the Unites States as early as 1872 but wasn’t organized until 1934 with the creation of the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club. The Japanese Baseball League was formed in 1937, consisting of eight teams, played until 1949 (except 1945, presumably because WWII). Starting in 1950, the Japanese Baseball League became Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as we now know it. The NPB site has compiled an interesting photo essay to celebrate its 70 year history in 2004. It’s worth taking a look at just for the photos but the translation is somewhat lacking.

Currently there are a total of twelve teams divided into two leagues. Each team plays 144 regular season games between April and October. The teams in each league are as follows (the Kanji will help you follow your team in the standings, but more on that in a later post):

Central League
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (日本ハム)
Seibu Lions (グッドウィル)
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (ソフトバンク)
Chiba Lotte Marines (ロ ッ テ)
Orix Buffaloes (サーパス)
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (楽天)

Pacific League
Chunichi Dragons (中日)
Hanshin Tigers (阪神)
Tokyo Yakult Swallows (ヤクルト)
Yomiuri Giants (巨人)
Hiroshima Carp (広島)
Yokohama BayStars (湘南)

An English translation ( via AltaVista Babel Fish Translation)
of each teams site may be reached by clicking on the team name.

The Pacific League, like the American League in the United States, uses the designated hitter while the Central League, like the National League, does not. Teams are allowed to have up to four foreigners on the roster. Wayne Gaczyk wrote an article for the Japan Times listing the 62 foriegn players and coaches that will participate in 2008. You will note that some teams have signed more than four players which would require some of them to spend some time in the minor leagues (more about the minor leagues in a future post).

Schedules for the upcoming season are available via JapanBall. This site also offers a lot of other information and even provides links to baseball news stories from Japan. Take a look around, you can even book a tour to come see Japanese baseball for yourself this fall.

Mark your calendars, here some of the key dates for the 2008 Japanese baseball season:

• February 1st - Spring training starts (about two weeks earlier that in the United States)
• February 23rd through March 23rd - Pre-Season Exhibition Games
• March 20th through October 1st - Regular Season Games
• May 2oth through June 22nd - Inter-league Play
• July 31st - August 1st - All Star Break
• November 1st through 9th - Japan Series
• November 1st through the 20th (approximately) - Fall Camp or Practice

Some interesting tidbits about Japanese baseball:

• Unlike in the US, if a game is tied after twelve innings of play, or exceeds the allotted time frame, the game is called and remains a tie in the record books.
• Instead of singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the 7th inning stretch the fans release screeching balloons into the air - it’s quite a site!
• Each team has it’s own cheering section and they wave flags and banners, beat drums and are constantly cheering throughout the game. Each player has his own song or chant that the fan club sings each time he comes to the plate. These cheering sections are very loud and take fan participation to a whole new level!

Now the countdown begins….23 days until the first baseball game of 2008!

My next post in this series will be on the minor league or 2nd team system in Japan. In the meantime if you have any questions or want me to cover anything in the series please leave me a comment.

So far I’ve written a lot about Japan and my memories of our last stay and now it’s time to reveal the reason that I will be coming to Japan….Baseball!

Baseball took me to Japan from 1994-1998 and now it is brining me back. I loved living in Japan and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to do so again.

If you have read my about me page you will remember that I claim to be a baseball fan. Now you know why and it was not always the case - I married into the game and now I love it! When I first started watching the game I had no idea about the various strategies that made the seemingly simple game so complex. Baseball is a game for everyone from a kid who can understand three strikes and you’re out to a statistician who loves to analyze match ups, batting averages and everything in between.

For those of you that love the game in America and want to learn more about the game in Japan I am working on a series of posts that will act as a primer of sorts which I hope will allow you to get more familiar with the game in Japan and understand a little about the world that I live in….It’s not a typical life but it’s never boring!

Spring training starts on February 1st in Japan and I will start this weekly series on Thursday with some history of the game in Japan and an overview of the various teams that make up Nippon Professional Baseball (the link is in Japanese - so if you can’t read Kanji you will be very frustrated if you click it….).

Let’s play ball!