$Unique_ID{BAS00169} $Pretitle{} $Title{Japanese Baseball} $Subtitle{} $Author{ Nagata, Yoichi Holway, John B.} $Subject{Japan Japanese Baseball yakyu beisu boru Nihon Undo Kyokai NUK JPBL} $Log{} Total Baseball: Other Leagues Japanese Baseball Yoichi Nagata and John B. Holway Just when baseball arrived in Japan, and who introduced it, is not clear. Horace Wilson, a professor in Tokyo in the 1870s, is one of those credited with being the Abner Doubleday of Japan, teaching baseball to students who ran bases and flagged grounders in geta, or wooden clogs. They named it yakyu (yok-yoo')--field ball--or beisu boru. In 1908, the University of Washington team, the first American college team to visit Japan, won six games but lost four games to Japanese colleges. In 1913 the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants stopped in Japan on a round-the-world tour, playing three games with Japanese college teams. In 1922 a big league All-Star team, including Casey Stengel, also sailed into Yokohama harbor. And in 1928 Ty Cobb himself went over to teach the Japanese his batting secrets. By 1930 yakyu began to rival sumo as the Japanese national pastime. The two games still tug in opposite directions at the nation's sports psyche, the one traditional and native, the other newer and outward-looking, but baseball has far outdistanced sumo as the nation's most popular sport. The game thrived in schools and colleges. In fact, scholastic baseball still has a grip on the fans, like college football in America, high school basketball in Indiana, or the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tourney. Japan's annual national high school tournaments in Osaka every March and August fill huge Koshien Stadium for two weeks and command dawn-to-dusk TV coverage. Japan's first professional team, the Nihon Undo Kyokai (Japan Athletic Association), was formed in 1920, which was followed by a second club, somewhat like the U.S. Harlem Globetrotters. When the great earthquake of 1923 hit the Tokyo metropolitan area, the NUK was forced to disband. The next year the Hankyu Railway reorganized former NUK players into a third pro club, the Takarazuka Kyokai. However, those teams couldn't survive because of a lack of competition. In the fall of 1931, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Frankie Frisch, and Lefty O'Doul arrived for a tour. Several black teams visited Japan in the 1920s and in 1932, with stars such as Bullet Joe Rogan and Biz Mackey, who later became Roy Campanella's mentor. Japanese baseball reached a watershed in 1934 with the arrival of Babe Ruth, Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Charlie Gehringer, and Lefty Gomez. Matsutaro Shoriki, owner of the Yomiuri newspapers, sponsored the tour and would become the great genius-father figure of professional baseball there. Ruth and the others, soon to receive plaques in Cooperstown, played sixteen games and easily won fifteen of them. Ruth hit thirteen home runs and clowned in right field, holding an umbrella, while Gehrig played first base in galoshes. But they weren't clowning when a high school boy, Eiji Sawamura, almost shut them out, whiffing Gehringer, Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx in succession before losing 1-0. Sawamura became, and still is, a national hero, especially on his death, at twenty-six, in World War Two. Shoriki signed a professional, Osamu Mihara (later famous as the "Magic Manager"), to his All-Japan team to oppose Ruth, although the Japanese looked down on professional sports as "unpure." At the end of the year he formed an all-pro team, Dai-Nippon (Greater Japan), with Sawamura, Mihara, the White Russian Vic Starffin, and others. They toured the United States the next year and would become the present-day Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants (Kyojin), a nickname hung on them by O'Doul. Shoriki urged other businesses to form pro teams and by 1936 formed the country's first professional league, the Japan Pro-Baseball League. World War Two interrupted baseball. American words, such as out and safe, became hi-ke (withdraw) and yoshi (good), etc., and Japanese soldiers shouted, "To hell with Beibu Rusu." The league succumbed completely in 1945, and the Giants' proud stadium became an ammo dump. After the war General MacArthur ordered the stadium cleared and encouraged the rebirth of the game. O'Doul, a veteran of the 1931 and 1934 tours, brought his San Francisco Seals of the PCL in 1949 and won all seven games. He returned with Joe DiMaggio and other big leaguers in 1951. The big league tours continued every other year or so, and, mirabile dictu, in 1953 the Americans even lost one game with two ties. In 1956 the champion Dodgers lost four games, and in 1966 they lost eight and won nine. Of course the players considered the tours as vacations for shopping and partying, but they were learning that unless they played their best, they could no longer waltz to easy victories. In 1950 the JPBL split into two leagues, which now have six teams apiece. The Central League, dominated by the Giants, is by far the more popular, with the benefit of the nationwide publicity the Yomiuri empire gives its club. The Giants have drawn 3.5 million fans in a 65-game home schedule. That's nearly 53,000 per game, or 4.2 million for a U.S. schedule of 81 games. Even when they finished last in 1975, they drew 2.8 million. The Pacific League, struggling to break even, in 1973 instituted a split season (since abandoned) and the DH (still in effect). It now averages about 24,400 attendance per game, compared to 35,300 for the Central League. Average pay is $260,000, compared to over $1 million in the U.S. majors. Three-time Triple Crown winner Hiromitsu Ochiai is the highest paid, at $2.5 million. Of course every Japanese kid wants to grow up to play for the Giants, leaving the other eleven clubs talent-poor. A draft system, begun in 1966, has helped give the other teams a better chance to compete. Every night a Japanese sarariman (salaried man, or wage earner) who is kichigai (crazy) about yakyu can switch on nationwide TV to watch the Giants. Where America has one weekly sports paper, The Sporting News, and the USA Today Baseball Weekly, Japan has seven sports dailies, which concentrate mostly on baseball. Most teams are owned by large companies and operated as advertising write-offs. For years Hiroshima was the only club owned by a city, but it is now owned by the Mazda company. Nine of the twelve clubs play in the two metropolitan centers, Tokyo-Yokohama and Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto. In the early 1950s, it was a shock for Tokyo fans when the American big leaguers arrived, standing a head taller than the Japanese. Today it is a shock for the same fan to visit a U.S. spring training camp and see visiting Japanese dressing at lockers next to the Americans: There isn't that much difference anymore. Sadaharu Oh and Hank Aaron could almost trade uniforms. The Japanese began talking of a real World Series. Their victory over America in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics stirred the fantasy even more. In general, American observers say, Japanese outfielders and catchers don't have the arms of Americans and Latins. But their infielders are among the best in the world, many of their pitchers are outstanding, and their batters are beginning to hit with big league power. Americans also say the draconian training methods leave the players burned out in the second half of the season. And especially the Japanese attitude that "the future is now" has led to sacrificing many a great young pitcher to brutal overwork until his arm is ruined forever. In 1961 Hiroshi Gondo won 35 games in 429 innings. The next year he won 30 in 362. The next year he was down to 10, then 6, then 1; then he was out. This, however, is changing, as the Japanese are beginning to adopt the American pitching rotation. About half the teams play on artificial turf. In 1988 Japan got its first dome, the Tokyo Dome (the "Big Egg"), similar to Minnesota's Metrodome, built on the site of historic Korakuen (Ko-ra'-kwen) Stadium. In 1993 the Fukuoka Dome opened in southern Japan, and the Daiei Hawks drew 2.4 million fans in 65 games, a Pacific League record. For decades baseball waged a battle against sumo (s'mo) wrestling for the loyalty of the fans, a battle between the new Japan and the old. Having emerged on top, baseball now faces a challenge from soccer, which is fast replacing baseball in the schools. After 1993 the new players' union won free agency, giving sixty ten-year veterans the right to obtain the highest bid for their services. Meanwhile Japanese baseball has produced some outstanding heroes and memorable moments. A Gallery of Stars Tetsuharu Kawakami "The God of Batting," he has also been called "Japan's Lou Gehrig." Wearing glasses and swinging his famous red bat, Kawakami hit cleanup on the great Tokyo Giant teams of 1938-1958 and hit a high of .377 in 1951. His lifetime .313 is fifth highest in Japanese annals. Against the Dodgers in 1956, he batted .364 with two home runs. His concentration was so intense, he said he could visually "stop" a pitch in midflight. But Kawakami's hitting paled compared to his managing--11 pennants in fourteen years. He was the man at the helm as the Giants won nine straight Japan Series, a feat accomplished by no other professional team in any sport. The Negro League Homestead Grays won nine straight pennants 1937-1945, but they lost several Black World Series and one playoff. The Grays had Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard. Kawakami had Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima. And he did it without using a single foreign player, desiring to prove the superiority of a "pure" Japanese team with fighting spirit. Hiroshi Oshita (O'-shta) A three-time batting champ and three-time home run leader, Oshita was the postwar hero who dueled with his blue bat against Kawakami's red bat and helped lift the nation's spirit after World War Two. He was popular with the fans and with visiting Americans, who nicknamed him "Oyster." With a soft and graceful swing, he lofted balls that left lofty, graceful traces in the sky. His 20 homers in 1946 seem a modest total, but they were 10 percent of all the homers hit in the Japanese majors that year. He hit cleanup on the Lions' "H-Bomb Row" of the 1950s. Futoshi Nakanishi A Japanese Hack Wilson, in Leo Durocher's phrase, Nakanishi hit the second-longest tape-measure home run in Japanese history--530 feet--as a sophomore in 1953. He led the league in homers five out of the six years 1953-1958 and, with Oshita and pitcher Kazuhisa Inao, helped the Nishitetsu Lions win three successive Japan championships, all over the hated Giants. Nakanishi helped spark the Lions to an amazing comeback in 1958, beginning from eleven games behind the Hawks. In one September stretch, they won seventeen out of eighteen games, and Nakanishi's homer vanquished the Hawks in their final meeting. Nakanishi's career was cut short by an injury to his left hand after 244 home runs and a .307 average. He managed the Lions to the flag in another heroic comeback starting from fourteen games behind. An eight-game winning streak in October finally put them a half game ahead, and American Tony Roig's homer clinched it on the final day. Katsuya Nomura (Kot'-su-ya) The slugging catcher Nomura was the first home run king Oh had to catch before he could go after Ruth and Aaron. Nomura played in Japan's smallest park, with 280-foot foul lines, but he was a legitimate star, with a high of 52 homers in 150 games in 1963, when he almost batted the Hawks to the pennant over the Lions. Nomura's lifetime homer total, 1954-1980, was 657. He led the Pacific League eight straight times--nine in all. Nomura was the most enduring catcher of all time. His 2,921 games behind the plate are almost 1,000 more than the U.S. record, by Carlton Fisk. Six years Nomura played every game on the schedule. Once he caught every inning in 150 games, including 16 doubleheaders. Hard work only made him stronger. He hit a combined .235 in the first games of the doubleheaders, .339 in the second games. Overshadowed by Oh and Nagashima of the Giants, who enjoyed a tremendous publicity advantage, Nomura called them "sunflowers" and himself "an evening primrose." Slow afield and afoot (Americans called him "Moose"), Nomura admired Campanella, who taught him how to catch without blocking the ump's view of low pitches and how to give his pitchers more confidence. An intelligent catcher, Nomura played each game in his head, pitch by pitch, the night before. Batters swore he could read their minds. Nomura made a reliever of strikeout king Enatsu and in 1959 caught Sugiura's magnificent 38-4 season, forming one of the finest batteries of all time. In 1965 he won the Triple Crown, with a little help from the league's pitchers, who walked American Daryl Spencer to prevent him from winning the home run title. Shigeo Nagashima (She-gay'-o) The most popular player ever to play in Japan, Nagashima came to the Yomiuri Giants in 1958 and led the league in homers and RBIs his rookie year. He went on to win another HR crown, four more RBI titles, six batting crowns, and five MVPs--pretty good for a man whose main rival for all these honors was Sadaharu Oh. In fact, Oh joined the team the year after Nagashima, and the two of them gave the Giants the dreaded "O-N Cannons" that propelled them to nine straight Japan championships. With Nagashima hitting cleanup behind Oh, pitchers couldn't pitch around Sadaharu. In the first year of Nagashima's retirement, 1975, Oh lost his HR crown after thirteen straight years as king. Nagashima was considered the greater clutch hitter. He was nicknamed "Mr. Giant" and "the burning man" for the intensity of his play. His years of greatness coincided with Japan's dramatic economic surge, a period of national pride that he seemed to symbolize. In 1959 Nagashima won the most famous game ever played in Japan, before the Emperor and Empress, with a ninth-inning homer. Seven years later, in 1966, his majesty attended his second game, against the L.A. Dodgers. Nagashima homered off Alan Foster in the first, singled in the fourth after a brushback pitch, and singled again in the seventh, as the Japanese won 11-3. He was the first baseball player to receive an audience at the Imperial Palace. At third base, Nagashima was compared to Ron Santo by Americans who saw him. Dodger G.M. Fresco Thompson said Los Angeles could have won two extra pennants with Nagashima on third. Fans adored him. His every move on the bases, in the field, or at bat, delighted them. Even Oh admitted that Nagashima was the first Japanese to realize that the game belongs to the fans. Early on, Oh realized he would never be able to rival Nagashima in popularity and that he would have to concentrate on setting records instead. Although the two Giants were not unfriendly, neither were they close friends. Never once, Oh says, did they meet socially off the field or even take a drink together. Like Gehrig and Ruth, Oh was upstaged by Nagashima. In '64 Oh blasted 55 homers, a Japanese record. But that was the year Nagashima got married--the number one sports story of the year. When Oh won a then unprecedented second straight Triple Crown in 1974, he again had to take a back seat to Nagashima, whose retirement was the biggest story of the year. In true Ted Williams fashion, Nagashima hit his 444th, and last, home run on his final day, then tearfully toured the field, while his fans wept with him and implored him not to go. The next year Nagashima succeeded Kawakami as manager. He was officially given the appointment before thousands in Korakuen Stadium in a ceremony which author Robert Whiting called "a coronation." In his first year at the helm, the Giants came in last, a national shock. Nagashima led the team in a formal bow of apology to the fans on the final day. But they bounced back to first the next two years. In 1993, after a twelve-year absence, Nagashima will manage the Yomiuri Giants. Sadaharu Oh The world home-run king, Oh smashed 868 to pass Ruth and Aaron by more than 100 and put the record out of sight for at least the rest of the twentieth century and probably for several generations into the twenty-first. Clete Boyer, who played and coached for many years in Japan, said Oh had the strength of Aaron and the eyes of Williams. Oh's homers were the result of his samurai dedication, his mastery of the martial arts of aikido and kendo (swordsmanship), and thousands of hours of work with his devoted coach, Hiroshi Arakawa. Sadaharu hit .161 as a Yomiuri Giant rookie pitcher (!) in 1959. Then Oh and Arakawa began their search for The Way. Oh gave up late-night drinking bouts on the Ginza and studied with masters of martial arts to attain physical, mental, and spiritual mastery. From the legend of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, Oh learned that superior spirit conquers superior technique. But a hitch in his swing still kept Oh back until Arakawa made him stand on one leg before the pitch. If he hitched, he'd topple over. Thus the famous dog-at-the-hydrant stance, which no one before or since has attempted. (Mel Ott's raised foot was entirely different.) The bat angle, with the barrel pointing toward the pitcher, was an integral part of the balance. Aikido taught Oh patience at the plate. Kendo taught him hip action, a downward swing (the fastest path to the ball), and focusing ki, or energy, from the shoulders to the "sweet" part of the bat. Oh put it together in 1962, and the home runs began to explode. For 14 of the next 15 years he hit 40-55 homers a year. True, Japanese fences are shorter, 300" down the line. But so is the Japanese season--130 games. And Oh saw a lot more junkball pitchers than American hitters do. In addition, they walked him as many as 166 times a year--he never came to bat 500 times in one year in his life. The result: home run totals that ranged up to 67 per 550 at-bats. The 67 came in 1974 with 49 homers in only 385 AB. Some lifetime comparisons: AB HR HR/550AB ---------------------------------------------- Aaron 12,364 755 34 Ruth 8,399 714 45 Oh 9,250 868 49 ---------------------------------------------- Some other stats on Oh: - 15 HR titles (13 in a row)--Ruth had 12, Aaron four - 13 RBI crowns - 13 straight times leading in runs - nine MVPs--Ruth and Aaron had one each - five bat championships--Ruth won one, Aaron two - two back-to-back Triple Crowns--no American has done it - nine Gold Gloves (they call them Golden Gloves in Japan). Early on, Arakawa instilled in Oh the goal of catching Ruth, then Aaron, then going for 800. Aaron and Oh met face to face in 1974 in a home run contest before 50,000 fans in Tokyo. Aaron was still shaking off jet lag when his tenth homer broke a 9-9 tie. Oh was sorry to see Aaron retire--the competition had given him a goal. Besides becoming a great hitter, Oh also became an excellent pianist. He drinks a secret blend of ginseng tea, the traditional Korean brew for energy. His bats, like Pete Rose's bats and like the sword blades used by samurai warriors, were hand made for him. Oh insisted that his bats be fashioned from a rare tree found only in northern Japan--and only from the branches of female trees. Isao Harimoto (E'-sow) The only member of Japan's 3,000-hit club, Harimoto set the then Japanese batting record with .383 in 1970, and many thought he could go on to become the country's first .400 hitter. He didn't, partly because he refused to bunt, but he did win two more titles, for a total of seven, slugged 504 home runs, and batted .319, fourth-highest lifetime average in Japan. A Korean born in Hiroshima, he was being carried by his mother outside the city when the atom bomb went off. She shielded him, but a sister was killed. At the age of four, two fingers on his right hand were severely burned, making it difficult for him to swing a bat. Harimoto used a "level-up" swing--the bat was level until it met the ball, then went sharply up on the follow-through. Like Willie Keeler, he hit to all fields, wherever "they ain't." Harimoto was active in establishing pro ball in Korea. Shinichi Eto (Shin-i'-chi Et-o) A husky first baseman, Eto hit 367 homers but had the misfortune to come up with the Chunichi Dragons the same year Oh joined the Giants, 1959, and in the same league. It cost Eto several home run crowns. But he had the pleasure of costing Oh two Triple Crowns, beating him out of the batting titles in 1964 and 1965. Koichi Tabuchi Big (six-three, 210 pounds), handsome Tabuchi is the man who ended Oh's home run reign in 1975 after thirteen straight titles. Tabuchi slugged 43 that year, in spite of playing in the country's largest park. He had done even better the year before with 45 to Oh's 49. The Japanese call him their Johnny Bench. Japanese connoisseurs consider Tabuchi's homers even more beautiful than Oh's--long and high, with a lot of "hang time." He accumulated 474 in a career that stretched from 1969 to 1984. Yutaka Fukumoto This fleet little (five-seven) Braves outfielder was the world's stolen base champ (1,065) until Rickey Henderson broke his record. Did he run against weak-armed Japanese catchers? In 1878 he stole second twice in one game against a battery of Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench. With a tip from Daryl Spencer on how to read the pitchers, Fukumoto led the league thirteen yeas in a row, 1970-1982. His high, 106 in 122 games in 1972, broke Maury Wills' then record of 104 in 148 games. Lou Brock eventually broke Fukumoto's mark, with 118 in 1974, but he had many more opportunities: Player Year 1B BB OB* SB SB/OB -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wills 1962 150 59 209 104 .498 Brock 1974 159 61 220 118 .536 Cobb 1915 161 118 279 96 .344 Fukumoto 1972 97 65 163 106 .650 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Times reached first base Fukumoto stole 95 more in 1973 and 94 in 1974. In that thirteen-year span, the Braves won six pennants. No wonder they took out a half-million-dollar insurance policy on his legs. Was he stealing on the weak arms of Japanese receivers? American Don Blasingame, who played for years in Japan, said Fukumoto could have stolen on Bench. Fukumoto led the league in runs ten times, triples eight times, walks (+ HBP) six times, hits four times, and doubles three times, and won the MVP for his great performance in 1972. Sachio Kinugasa (Sah'-chio Ke-nu-ga'-sa) Kinugasa passed Lou Gehrig's consecutive-game record in 1987 (2,215 games to Gehrig's 2,130) and topped him in lifetime homers as well, 504-493. Breaking in with the doormat Hiroshima Carp in 1965, he teamed with college star Koji Yamamoto to lift the Carp to their first pennant in 1975. They won again in 1979 and 1980, the so-called "Red Helmet" era, like Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine"--both teams wore red helmets. A "GI baby" (his father was black), Kinugasa played in Yamamoto's shadow, often taking practice swings in his hotel room until two A.M. It paid off in 1984, his twentieth season, when he hit .300 for the only time in his life, led in RBI, and won the MVP. Kinugasa once confided that he would like to find his father someday. "Keep playing like that," a teammate answered, "and your father will find you." Hiromitsu Ochiai (Hiro-meet'-suh O'-che-aye) Ochiai has stepped into the shoes of Oh and Nomura as Japan's top slugger, as well as the highest paid: his $2.5 million salary is double that of any other Japanese player. Before the 1991 season Ochiai went to arbitration, the first such case in Japanese history. He said he did it "for the coming generation" to make baseball careers popular in the face of the new popularity of soccer. With his bat, his big mouth, and his hot-dog character, he is dubbed "the Japanese gaijin." From 1981 through 1993, Ochiai won three triple crowns (1982, 1985, 1986), five batting titles, and five RBI crowns for the Lotte Orions and the Chunichi Dragons. He led the Dragons to the Central League flag in 1988, his only pennant. Ochiai batted .286 against the U.S. All Stars in 1990. Koji Akiyama (Ah'-ke-yama) Considered the best all-around athlete in Japanese pro ball today, center fielder Akiyama is the man the Americans always point to as the best and a sure major leaguer. He can run, field, throw, hit, and hit with power. At the age of thirty he has hit 328 homers in nine full years, 1985-93, and is Japan's first 30-50 man (35 homers and 51 stolen bases in 1990). One of the "young Lions" who received his training in the U.S. minors in 1982-83, Akiyama jump-started the Seibu Lions' winning streak in his first full season, when he hit 41 homers. In 1986 he was joined by Kazuhiro Kiyohara and in 1989 by Orestes Destrade to power the team's dynasty. Akiyama would be even better if he did not suffer from hay fever every April. He comes to life when the pollen is gone and thus is nicknamed "Mr. May." Kazuhiro Kiyohara (Kazu-he'ro Ke-o-ha'ra) In his first eight seasons, through 1993, the righthanded first baseman Kiyohara has slugged 247 home runs. At the same age, twenty-five, Sadaharu Oh had amassed 162 and Henry Aaron 181. Strangely, however, Kiyohara has never won the home run title. Kiyohara considers Ochiai his sensei, or teacher. He and teammate Akiyama wear the same uniform numbers (#3 and #1) as Nagashima and Oh wore. Also like Oh and Nagashima, the two lions are not close friends off the field. The lifetime home run list: Oh 868 Nomura 657 Kadota 567 Yamamoto 536 Harimoto 504 Kinugasa 504 Osugi 486 Tabuchi 474 Doi 465 Ochiai 452 Nagashima 444 Pitchers Eiji Sawamura A true folk hero, in 1934 the eighteen-year-old Sawamura whiffed four of America's greatest Hall of Famers in a row--Gehringer (.356, 11 home runs), Ruth (.288, 22), Gehrig (.363, 49), and Foxx (.334, 44). The Americans had been averaging four homers and eight runs per game until they met the schoolboy with the excellent fastball and drop. The kid considered the visitors "gods" but gulped and took the mound against Earl Whitehill (14-11 for the seventh-place Senators). With the score 0-0 going into the seventh, Ruth grounded out. (The sun got in his eyes, he said.) Next up was Gehrig, who led both majors in both batting and homers that year. Sawamura threw a strike past him. The next pitch was a high curve, which Lou slammed over the right field wall to win the game 1-0. In the last of the seventh, the Japanese put a man on second with one out, and Shigeru Mizuhara pulled a low line drive down the right field foul line. A diving catch by Bing Miller saved one run and maybe more. In all, the kid gave five hits, struck out nine, and walked one. Connie Mack was so impressed, he offered the boy a contract. The next year Sawamura toured the States with Shoriki's Dai Nippon nine (later tagged the Tokyo Giants by Lefty O'Doul), playing PCL and semipro clubs. American fans crowded around for autographs, and one asked him to sign in English, not Japanese. Sawamura obliged, only to discover later that he had signed a contract! It took some fast talking, and perhaps some yen, to get Sawamura out of the scout's clutches. Sawamura went on to lead the new pro league in 1936 with a 13-3 record. In the postseason playoff against the Osaka Tigers, he pitched all three games, holding them to a .116 batting average and an 0.19 ERA, as the Giants won, two games to one. The next year he was 33-10. In his brief five-year career, he pitched three no-hitters. Sawamura was called away to military service in 1938-1939, and again in 1942 and 1944. In December 1944 his troop ship was torpedoed by a submarine off Formosa, and he went down with the ship. Masaichi Kaneda (Masa-ichi Ka-nay'-da) Only Cy Young and Walter Johnson have surpassed Kaneda's 400 victories. Akin to Johnson's experience, he won most of his with one of the weakest teams in Japan, the Kokutetsu Swallows, who finished in the first division only once in his fifteen years with them 1950-1964. In 1958 the Swallows were last in homers and near last in batting. But Kaneda was 31-14 with a 1.30 ERA. The Swallows were 27-54 without him. In all, he won 43 percent of the Swallows' victories. He won and lost more 1-0 games than anyone--21 victories, 23 defeats. The lefthanded Kaneda was the first man to break Walter Johnson's lifetime strikeout record, as well as the first to break his scoreless innings streak. Nolan Ryan broke Kaneda's strikeout mark, 4,490, but no one has touched his mark of 64 1/3 straight shutout innings. Kaneda whiffed the great Nagashima four straight times in Nagashima's big league debut, the only pitcher ever to do that to the great batting star. Kaneda finally joined the Giants for five years at the end of the line. His 16-5 in 1967 at the age of thirty-four got them off to the third of their nine straight championships. Kaneda was also the Wes Ferrell of Japan. His 36 home runs are the Japanese record for pitchers. A Japanese-born Korean (kane is the Japanese equivalent of the Korean name Kim), when he retired with bone chips in his elbow, his glove was donated to the U.S. Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Takumi Otomo (Ta-ku'-me O'-to-mo) The little submarine-baller beat the New York Giants and Hoyt Wilhelm 2-1 in 1953 in one of the ten greatest games in Japan's history. With Lefty O'Doul urging him to keep the ball high, Otomo stayed ahead in the count, then fed them bad balls until they popped up or rolled out. He won the MVP that year with a 27-6 record, plus two wins in the Japan Series. His ERA, 1.85, was the highest he posted in a four-year period. The lowest: 1.63 in 1956. In 1955 he was 30-6. Kazuhisa Inao (Ka-zu-hee'-sa E-now') Until his arm finally weakened from overwork, Inao was one of the world's most amazing pitchers. His record of pitching six Japan Series games in 1958 and winning the last four of them will probably never be done again by any pitcher in any country. He won 42 games in 1961, 35 in 1957, and 33 in 1958. He was voted best pitcher in the league five times. A poor fisherman's son, he reported as an unknown rookie to the Nishitetsu Lions' camp, with muscles bulging from rowing his father's boat in rough seas. He threw up to 300 pitches a day, posted a 21-6 record with a 1.06 ERA, and lifted the Lions to the pennant. In 262 innings, he gave up two home runs. He won three more games in the Japan Series. Nicknamed "Tetsu Wan"--Iron Arm--in 1957 Inao won a record 20 straight at the end of the year to lift the Lions from third to another pennant. In 1961 he tied Vic Starffin's record of 42 wins and lost his bid for his forty-third, 1-0, in the first game of two on the final day. He considered coming back in Game Two and going for the record but at last decided to rest on his laurels. Inao came back as a relief pitcher in 1966 and led the league in ERA once more, with 1.79. His final totals: 276-137, 1.98, with 2,574 strikeouts. Tadashi Sugiura (Su-ghee-u'-ra) One year after Inao won four straight games in the Japan Series, the bespectacled Sugiura won four straight too. But he pitched all four games and won all four! Nagashima's teammate in college, Sugiura had spurned the Yomiuri Giants after Nankai Hawk manager Tsuruoka bowed to him and said, "We need you to beat the Giants." As a rookie Sugiura was 27-12, 2.05 with the second-place Hawks, though Inao (33-10) and the Lions won their third straight flag. Then in 1959 it was Sugiura's turn. He pitched 371 innings, held enemy hitters to a 1.40 ERA, and posted a 38-4 record. He pitched 29 games in the last eight weeks, or virtually every other day. He was 17-1 after August 1 and won his last 13 in a row. The stretch included 54 straight shutout innings, an ERA of 0.10, 95 strikeouts, and only 4 walks! His final victory clinched the flag. Then came the Japan Series against the Giants, who had just won their fifth straight flag. The Hawks had never beaten them. In spite of a painful elbow, Sugiura went eight innings in Game One, gave up nine hits, but won 10-7. The next day Sugiura pitched five innings of relief, gave three hits and one run, and got the victory 6-3. After travel days Sugiura started Game Three in Tokyo. Midway through, a corn came off his pitching hand, and catcher Nomura suddenly found himself catching a bloody ball. In the samurai spirit, however, Sugiura refused to come out. He lost a 2-1 lead on a homer in the ninth, and the Giants put two more men on second and third with one out. "My God, I'm done for," he says he thought, desperately looking into the dugout for relief. Tsuruoka kept his eyes averted, however, sending a coach out with a good luck amulet instead. Sugiura buckled down and got the last two outs and won in the tenth 3-2. He gave up only one walk. Rain gave Sugiura a day of rest. Would the Hawks give him another in Game Four? The finger still pained him. "Can you go?" Tsuruoka asked. "I can go," Sugiura answered. He went nine more innings and shut the Giants out on five hits. Ecstatic Hawk fans rewarded their hero with a new car, license number 38-4. In his first three years, he had won 96 games: Year Rank G IP BB SO W-L ERA Series Awards ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1958 2 53 299 85 215 27-12 2.05 1959 1 69 371 46 336 38-4 1.40* 4-0 MVP 1960 2 57 333 49 317 31-11 2.05 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- But then the overwork finally told. After an operation on his arm, he fell to 20-9 in 1961. He dropped to 14-15, then 14-16, made a brief comeback in 1964 with 20-15, and then was sent to the bullpen. He was all pitched out. His final totals: 187-106. Tetsuya Yoneda (Tet'-su-ya Yo-nay-da) Like Kaneda or Phil Niekro, Yoneda slaved for a doormat team, the Braves. Yet he posted the second-highest winning total in Japan--350-285, second only to Kaneda's 400 wins. In 1966 Yoneda led the league with 25-17, while his team finished next to last. His biggest year was 1968, when he went 29-13 as the Braves won the pennant. He was voted the MVP of the league. Yoneda is second to Kaneda in hitting too, with 33 homers to Kaneda's 36. Yoneda might have passed his rival, but the coming of the DH rule stopped his bid. He did pass Kaneda, and everyone, including Cy Young, in one department, total games--949. Keishi Suzuki For six straight years, 1967-1972--eight years in all--the lefty Suzuki led the Pacific League in strikeouts. As a sophomore lefty in 1967, he was 21-13 for the last-place Kintetsu Buffaloes. Like Robin Roberts, another fastballing control pitcher, Suzuki gave up a lot of homers--560. He was a natural righthander, but his father had tied his right hand to force him to pitch as a lefty. His final figures: 317-238, and 3,061 strikeouts. Minoru Murayama In 1959 rookie fastballer Murayama faced Japan's best player, Nagashima, in the greatest game ever played in Japan, a contest before 50,000 fans, including the Emperor himself. Murayama, as famous for his forkball as his fastball, pitched for the Yomiuri Giants' biggest rivals, the Hanshin Tigers. An Osaka native and boyhood Tiger fan, he spurned a Giant bonus in order to stay home and pitch for the Tigers for half the amount the Giants offered. The night before the big game, Murayama had come in in the ninth inning against the Giants and struck out the side, Nagashima included. The next night, before their majesties, Koyama started for the Tigers and they took an early lead. Nagashima ripped a home run to tie the score. The Tigers went back into the lead, and in the seventh Nagashima struck out, but a rookie named Sadaharu Oh pumped a two-run home run to tie it again. That brought in Murayama, who got the Giants out to end the seventh, then shut them out in the eighth, as the scoreboard clock inched toward nine-thirty, the time when the imperial couple would have to leave. They stayed in their seats, however, to see Nagashima and Murayama duel each other in the last of the ninth. This was a classic Japanese showdown, or shobu. Under the unwritten rule, there could be no nibbling the corners or dirty tricks; it had to be a head-on challenge, strength against strength. Murayama's first pitch was a forkball, for a ball. Next another forkball, for a strike. Then a fastball, which Nagashima fouled back. Another fastball was outside, making the count 2-2. Then he uncorked still another fastball on the inside. Nagashima swung and parked it ten rows into the left field stands. To this day Murayama insists it was foul. But Nagashima circled the bases before the royal box, to be mobbed by his teammates waiting at the plate. Nagashima went on to win the batting championship. Murayama went on to strike out 294 men in 295 innings; he won 18 and lost 10, with a 1.19 ERA, and won the Sawamura Award. But nothing could erase the memory of that one fateful home run. Nagashima was invited to the palace for an audience. There was no imperial audience for Murayama, however. Ever after, he waited for his revenge. When he neared the 1,500th strikeout of his career, he announced that he would get it against Nagashima; he did. Then he announced he was saving number 2,000 for Nagashima as well, and he delivered on that promise too. In 1961 Murayama was 24-13; in 1962, 25-14 with a 1.20 ERA to lift the Tigers to the pennant. It was a partial revenge at least. That fall Murayama took part of his anger out on the visiting Detroit Tigers. Murayama had been hit hard by the Americans earlier in the tour. But this day his fastball and forkball were snapping. He struck out the first two hitters, Chico Fernandez (.249) and Bill Bruton (.278). Norm Cash (.243) walked, but Al Kaline (.304) was the third out. For the next six innings not another Detroiter got on base. "I was keeping every ball down," Murayama said later. "My slider and forkball were working well. I was thinking no-hitter." Former American League pitcher Tom Ferrick watched the game and repeated what he had said before: Murayama was the best pitcher in Japan; his fastballs were jamming the hitters, and he delivered both the fastball and the forkball with the same deceptive motion. "No major leaguer could have hit Murayama today," Ferrick said. For seven innings, no major leaguer did. In the eighth Dick McAuliffe (.263) led off with a walk, the first Detroit base runner since the first inning. Murayama retired Bubba Morton (.262) and Steve Boros (.228). Then Mike Roarke (.213) lined one into left field to break up the no-hitter. Lefthanded Bobo Osborne (.230) pinch-hit and popped to second. Murayama got Fernandez out to open the ninth. Then Bruton dropped a bunt and beat it out for the second--and last--hit. Cash walked again. But Kaline lifted a foul to shortstop, McAuliffe hit a high fly to left, and the Tigers were finished. It was the first shutout a U.S. big league team had ever suffered in Japan. The Detroiters probably didn't know what hit them, or why. As Murayama said, "I have become what I am because of Nagashima." His final stats: 222-147, 2.09. Yutaka Enatsu One of the most amazing athletes in Japanese baseball, in 1968 Enatsu struck out 401 men in 329 innings--that's eleven every nine innings. He was only twenty years old and just two years out of high school. The lefty was one of the few pitchers who could get Nagashima and Oh out consistently. As a result his pennant-hungry managers worked him like a slave in every series against the Giants. Enatsu pitched the first and third games of a three-game series, and sometimes relieved in the middle game as well. In 1970 he shut the Giants out twice in three days, then pitched the final game of the season with no rest and lost it 2-1 in ten innings. The Giants won by two games. In 1971 Enatsu had elbow trouble and won only 15 games--but six of them were against the Giants, including 34 straight scoreless innings. And in the All-Star Game that summer he pitched three innings and struck out all nine men he faced. (In 1984 Suguru Egawa of the Giants almost matched him. He whiffed the first eight men on thirty-seven pitches, or about 4.5 per man, then got two fastball strikes on batter number nine. He shook off a sign for another fastball and instead threw a curve, which the batter hit on the ground for the final out.) Enatsu was a free spirit who rebelled against the strict samurai-style workouts, saying he wanted to save himself for the season--the way they worked him, he was probably right. To dramatize his revolt one spring, he lay down in the outfield and went to sleep while the other pitchers ran. The Tigers finished last that year. They fired the manager and kept Enatsu. Another time he was suspended for accepting a watch from a gambler. In 1973 the Tigers were making a hard run at ending the Giants' pennant streak. On August 30, with one day of rest, Enatsu tossed an eleven-inning no-hitter, winning it himself 1-0 with a home run. In September he pitched a fourteen-inning one-hitter, retiring thirty-three straight batters in a row--the equal of eleven perfect innings--then lost 1-0. When the Giants arrived for the climactic series, Enatsu faced them with two days rest and lost. As usual manager Murayama put him in to pitch the third game. The exhausted pitcher was leading 3-1 in the seventh, when he loaded the bases on a walk, a single, and a bunt, with Oh at bat. Enatsu got two strikes on Oh, then walked him on four straight pitches. Nagashima followed with a single to win the game and, eventually, the pennant. Enatsu ended with 24-13. It was his last great year as a starter. He became Japan's greatest relief ace and bounced to the Hawks, Carp, and Lions, fighting with most of his managers. Finally, at the age of thirty-eight, he came to America to try out with the Brewers. It was too late; his arm was gone. Fifteen years earlier, and who knows how he might have done? Red Schoendienst called him one of the greatest lefties he'd ever seen. Enatsu's final record: 206-158, plus 193 saves. And 2,987 strikeouts. After retiring, Enatsu's last strikeout victim was himself. His personal life was in turmoil, and in 1993 Enatsu was arrested on a drug possession charge and sentenced to two years in prison, which he has appealed. Hideo Nomo (He-day'o) Japan's "Doctor K," Nomo is the modern strikeout king. His fans raise "K" cards for every strikeout he records--and they've raised 1,078 cards in 937 innings over his first four seasons, 1990-93. Mixing a fastball and forkball, the former Olympian righthander whiffed 17 men in his first pro game to tie the Japanese record. He went on to strike out 287 men in 235 innings and lead the Pacific League in just about every category. It took Nomo only three years to break the record for double-digit strikeout games, 43, set by Suzuki over a twenty-year span. Like oldtime U.S. pitcher Freddie Fitzsimmons or Luis Tiant, Nomo turns his back on the hitter, as if coiling a spring, then turns and unwinds, with his whole body behind the pitch. His nickname is "the Tornado," or twister. Nomo's father taught the four-year-old Hideo to emulate Muyayama, who also put his whole body into the pitch. His mother fed him lots of eel to make him loose on the mound. Gaijin--Foreigners "East is East, and west is West, and never the twain shall meet."--Rudyard Kipling Next to trade policy, no area of U.S.-Japanese relations contains the seeds of more controversy than baseball. The two games may appear the same from the left field stands, but the two nations actually play two quite different games. The differences can sometimes lead to bitter misunderstanding. According to U.S. observers, among the differences are: Japanese managers . . . - Conduct spring training like marine boot camp. - Overwork their pitchers. - Bench players in midgame for one error or one strikeout. - Overemphasize home runs. - Resent advice. - Are too conservative. - Won't let Americans excel. Japanese players . . . - Take half an hour batting practice every day. - Don't miss signs. - Don't dive for fly balls. - Won't break up double plays. - Don't block the plate. - Don't backhand grounders. - Don't chew tobacco. Japanese pitchers . . . - Throw sidearm and underhand more than in the States. - Have good curves but mediocre fastballs. - Throw brushback pitches to American hard hitters. - Throw 300-500 pitches a day--just to stay in shape. - Burn out early. Japanese fans . . . - Eat sushi instead of hotdogs at the game. - Throw foul balls back. - Never stop cheering with drums and trumpets throughout the game (big noise). According to the Japanese, among the differences are: American players . . . - Are overpaid, stuck up, and out of shape. - Won't work hard. - Don't follow orders. - Play dirty baseball. - Bait the umpires. - Are quick to punch opponents. - Look down on the Japanese. - Won't learn the language. - Don't like Japanese food. Still, like lovers having a quarrel, the two nations can't stay away from each other on the ballfield. The Japanese have used 400 foreigners--in Japanese, gaijin, which means "outside people." There is an ambivalence toward these aliens. On the one hand, teams are tempted to use them to gain a competitive advantage (there's a cap of three per team). On the other hand, the Japanese yearn for the day that an all-Japanese team will win a real world series and reign as kings of the baseball world. Although the Japanese regularly import players, they are paranoid about exporting any to the U.S. majors. America has a very favorable "balance-of-baseball" trade. And the currently devalued dollar means Japan can afford even more American shortstops--more Yanks for the yen. In 1987 they gave Bob Horner of the Braves $1.4 million dollars. He rewarded them with six homers in his first four games and put an estimated quarter of a million more people in the park. But he spurned a $3 million offer to stay, preferring to go home to the Cards for $1 million rather than play "something like baseball." The Japanese offered Dave Righetti a reported $8 million for two years and Reggie Jackson $2 million for one. They turned it down. But the Japanese teams landed Bill Madlock for $1 million, Bill Gullickson for $1.1 million, and Doug DeCinces for $1.5 million--this only four years after Japan's commissioner had announced a plan to ban all gaijin. (Gullickson returned from Tokyo after signing his contract to report that he saw only two English words there--Sony and Mitsubishi.) However, 1989 was the most successful year for gaijin players, winning MVP and three batting titles of both leagues except the RBI title of the CL. Here are some of the best--and the worst--foreigners to play in Japan. Victor Starffin Now that baseball is an Olympic sport, the Russians have set themselves the goal of winning a gold medal some day. A preview of what the future may hold was big (six-four) Victor Starffin, the White Russian whose parents brought him to Japan fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution. He took to baseball like Khrushchev to vodka and became the greatest Russian baseball player of all time. Joining the Dai-Nippon team, Starffin towered over the Japanese and opened a rivalry with teammate Sawamura. Vic was 28-11 in 1937, 33-5 in 1938, 42-15 in 1939 (two-thirds of the team's wins), and 38-12 (1.01) in 1940. Those 42 wins remained the record until Inao tied it in 1961. On the U.S. tour in 1935, Americans assumed he spoke English. He didn't, once telling a waitress, "I am a chicken." (He later learned the language.) Excused from military service as a stateless person, Starffin served as a Russian translator at the Tokyo war crimes trials. He spent his postwar years with some tailend teams but finished at 303-176, Japan's first 300-game winner. He was killed soon afterward when he was driving his car home while drunk and hit a train. His plaque in Japan's Hall of Fame is inscribed in both Japanese and Russian. Henry "Bozo" Wakabayashi (Wa-ka-bah-yah'-shee) The son of a Japanese immigrant to Hawaii, Wakabayashi first played in Japan in 1928, graduated from one of Tokyo's "Big Six" universities, and pitched for the Osaka Tigers from the beginning of pro ball in 1936. A finesse pitcher, Wakabayashi threw seven different pitches ("seven-color magic pitches"). In 1939 he was 30-7 with a 1.25 ERA. For six years in a row, 1939-1944, he had ERAs of under 1.81; his best was 1.06 in 1943. Twice MVP, his most famous game came in the first Japan Series in 1950 at the age of forty-two, when he was the surprise starter in Game One against the Robins, who boasted a team batting average of .287. Bozo beat them 3-2. Wakabayashi retired at 240-141 and 1.99 and remained a baseball ambassador for decades. Bucky Harris Bucky Harris, another American (no, not the Senators' manager), was the Japanese home run king in the spring season of 1938 and the first foreigner to win the MVP. A veteran catcher from the American PCL, he had a good throwing arm and repeatedly won exhibitions throwing through a barrel at second base. He studied hard to learn the language and, given a day of honor at his retirement, replied with a sayonara speech in Japanese. Wally Yonamine (Yo-na'-mi-nay) The Jackie Robinson of Japan, Yonamine introduced a slashing, running game and blazed the way for American players there. This Hawaiian-born Nisei didn't know a word of Japanese when he left the San Francisco 49ers' backfield to join the Yomiuri Giants in 1951. (He'd played some baseball in the low U.S. minors; Brooklyn's Billy Loes, who pitched against him, said he was the toughest out he ever faced.) Wally carried a double stigma. Not only was he an American, when the wounds of the war were still fresh, he was a Nisei (son of a Japanese who chooses another country), who was regarded by the Japanese in about the same way as Americans would regard a fellow countryman who had defected to Russia. The Giants put him in center field and batted him leadoff, and he promptly hit .354. He also ran out sacrifice bunts, which surprised the Japanese, and threw rolling blocks into second basemen on the double play, which horrified them. And he played center like his stateside contemporary, Dom DiMaggio, who also wore glasses. A Yonamine single, a hit-and-run, and a base hit by Kawakami was the usual Giant formula. They rose from third to first in Wally's first season and won the flag every year he was with them except one. Wally and Kawakami were rivals for hitting honors, and a jealousy arose. Yonamine was much the better fielder and won three batting titles and one MVP, made seven All-Star teams, and ended with a .311 average, one of the highest in Japan. Against the Dodgers in 1956 Wally hit .347. The Japanese hailed him as the greatest leadoff man in their history, and he's probably still the biggest American star to play in Japan. Another Nisei, Jun Hirota, caught for the Giants. When the New York Giants arrived in 1953, manager Leo Durocher, coaching at first, abandoned signals and merely told his runners to "go down on the next pitch." Hirota calmly threw them out. Leo didn't know Jun was a graduate of the University of Hawaii. When Kawakami took over as Giant manager, he eased Wally off the team. Yonamine got his revenge, however. As manager of the Dragons in 1974 he nipped Kawakami's Giants by one game, or .001 points, to end Kawakami's record of nine straight pennants. Thereafter the U.S.-Japan baseball romance was a rocky one. Some Americans made a big hit. Others were big bombs. Ugly Americans Don Newcombe and Larry Doby The first big-name American stars in Japan, Newcombe and Doby signed with the Chunichi Dragons in 1962. Both were in retirement, and Newk especially arrived overweight and out of shape. He pitched only 4 innings but batted .262 in 81 games in the field. Larry hit .225 with 10 home runs, although some of them were eye-popping 500-footers. The Dragons, who had finished second before they came, finished third with them. The pair were not invited back. Marshall, Logan, Stuart, Johnson, Howard, Davis. Instead, in 1963 the optimistic Dragons signed Jim Marshall, a reserve first baseman for San Francisco with a .242 big league average, for $40,000, more than either Nagashima or Oh were making. Marshall stayed for three years, averaging .268 and 26 homers a year. The thirty-seven-year-old Johnny Logan, a former star shortstop for the Milwaukee Braves, joined the Nankai Hawks in 1964. He hit .189 and set a Japanese record by going 38 straight at-bats without a hit. Dick Stuart came well touted in 1967. He hit 33 homers his first year, but in his second fell to 17 homers and .217. They sent him home, where he signed with the California Angels, the first Japanese reject to return to play in the U.S. majors. In 1973 Davey Johnson hit 43 homers for Atlanta, a record for big league second basemen. The next year the Tokyo Giants obtained him to replace the great Nagashima and integrate the Giants once again. It was a job no mortal man could fill, and Johnson didn't. He hit .197, as the Giants finished dead last. He did make a comeback the next year, and so did they, hitting .275 with 26 homers, as the Giants won the pennant. But Dave was happy to go home to the Phils, where he hit .321. Big Frank Howard cost the Lions $80,000 in 1974. He hurt his knee, came to bat twice, and didn't get a hit. His salary came to $40,000 per at-bat. In mid-season 1988, Dick Davis was arrested for cocaine possession and immediately was dismissed from the Buffaloes. Joe Pepitone In 1973 the Yakult Atoms forked over $140,000 to Pepitone, a .258-hitting former Yankee. He arrived with shoulder-length hair, got a headache from bumping his head on low hotel room doors, complained about the food and high prices, played 14 games, hit .163, developed a "bad leg," and refused to play--but discoed into the morning. He finally flew home, leaving his roommate a $2,000 phone bill, and the Japanese with a new noun, pepitone, meaning "a goof-off." The Japanese players' union protested against these high-priced foreigners who were taking jobs away from Japanese and getting paid more for doing less. Some Handsome Americans Blasingame, Boyer, Kirkland Thank goodness Don Blasingame came to Japan in 1967 after hitting .258 for several teams in the States. He hit 20 points better for the Nankai Hawks, learned to speak good Japanese, was cheerful to his teammates, respectful to his manager, and popular with the fans. When home run champ Katsuya Nomura took over as manager, he appointed "Blaser" as his head coach and de facto bench manager, while Nomura concentrated on his play in the field. They got along splendidly and won the pennant in 1973. Clete Boyer, possibly the greatest fielding third baseman of all time, also won friends and influenced people as a gritty player for the Taiyo Whales in 1972-1975. He also enjoyed the people, spoke their language, ate their food, and showed them the same sensational play he had shown Yankee fans back home. Willie Kirkland hit .240 with 20 homers a year for the San Francisco Giants and others before he joined the Hanshin Tigers in 1968. He gave them 37 homers his first year, stayed for six years, joked in Japanese with fans in the outfield, and thrilled them with long distance blasts--three in one game against the hated Giants. He hit .246, the same as he had in the States, and averaged 21 homers a year. Leron and Leon Lee Leron Lee, a vet of four big league teams (.250), owns the second highest lifetime batting average in Japan, .320, plus 283 homers in 11 seasons, 1977-1987. He almost won the Triple Crown in his rookie year, got an 800 percent raise, and brought his kid brother Leon over. Leon, who never played in the majors, was almost as good, hitting .309 with 268 homers. Both were considered "good gaijin," on and off the field. Leon learned Japanese well enough to act as Bob Horner's interpreter. Xenophobia The Japanese have not been blameless in their handling of the cross-cultural experiments. Sometimes their bias against gaijin is subtle, sometimes blatant. Daryl Spencer A 33-year-old infielder with fair power and a .244 big league average, Spencer, at six-three, was a "monster" in Japanese eyes. In his first year, 1964, he hit 36 homers, second to Nomura's 41, and lifted the Hankyu Braves from last to second. The next year Spencer was hitting .300 and leading Nomura by six homers in August, when, he said, his own coaches took him aside and told him to concentrate on the batting title and forget home runs, because Nomura usually finished strong. Spencer refused, so the Japanese pitchers sent their own message--they began walking him. At one stretch he got 16 straight balls. He even stepped into the box holding his bat upside down and still drew a walk. Of course, Nomura's Nankai Hawk pitchers were the most flagrant evaders of Spencer's strike zone. Nomura won the home run crown, 42-38, and took the batting crown too, .320 to .311. (He also won the RBI title for a Triple Crown.) The Braves fell to fourth. A student of the game, Spencer analyzed every pitch and defensive alignment. One of his ideas: move the left field fence in ten feet to help him hit more homers. Spencer played for seven years. He told Whiting that his manager resented his advice. "I spoke my mind once too many times," Spencer told Whiting, "and I think I'm blackballed." Japanese observers, however, understood that manager Yukio Nishimoto had welcomed Spencer's help. Other Americans felt a similar sense of discrimination. In 1968 Dave Roberts, a .239-hitting utility man with several big league clubs, hit 40 homers for the Sankei Atoms, to Oh's 49. The next year Roberts was leading for the Triple Crown, when a Giants pitcher ran into him at first base, breaking his shoulder. Dave was out for the rest of the year, and Oh and Nagashima took the three batting titles. George Altman In 1968 the former National League outfielder (.269, fair power) started a new career in Japan at age thirty-five. He was an immediate success, hitting .320 with 34 homers and 100 RBI. In 1970 he helped pull the Lotte Orions into first place with .319 and 30 homers. In 1969, George said, he got nothing but balls from the pitchers and nothing but strikes from the umps. He slumped to 21 homers and .269. In 1971 Altman had his best year--39 homers and 103 RBI, and was in a race for the batting title with his teammate, Shinichi Eto. When Eto came up, he noticed, the infielders suddenly left a big hole between first and second, and Eto punched four hits through it in one game. "That," Altman told Whiting, "is when I figured my chances of winning the title were almost zero." Randy Bass Big, bewhiskered Randy Bass played a little first base for the Padres and Rangers (batting .212) before joining the Japanese Hanshin Tigers in 1983. In 1985 he burst into stardom, winning the Triple Crown with .350, 134 RBIs, and 54 home runs. He was just one home run short of tying Oh's Japanese record, with one game left--against the Giants, managed by Oh. The Giant pitchers walked him all four times he came to bat. But Bass did lead the Tigers to the pennant over the hated Giants, and his home runs won two Japan Series games as the Tigers took the Japanese championship in seven games. He became a media star, his poster advertisements appearing all over Tokyo. He even agreed to shave his beard for a razor blade company. Bass left the team suddenly in 1988 when his son contracted hydrocephalus. Although given a leave of absence, Bass was fired when he didn't return after five weeks. Under his contract, the Tigers had agreed to pay his family's medical bills, but they hadn't bought insurance and balked at the bill of $2 million. The dispute was eventually settled for $1.5 million, but during the negotiation a Tigers executive jumped to his death from a hotel window. The affair left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, and Randy was blackballed, despite his batting production. Warren Cromartie A nine-year veteran and .280 hitter with the Montreal Expos, in 1985 Cromartie--the "Black Cannon"--became the first genuine major league star to play in Japan. He reported facing prejudice as a gaijin, especially a black gaijin, but he learned to speak Japanese and stayed with the Tokyo Giants for five seasons, earning a record $3 million a year. (He made some more yen on the side, cutting a rock record in Tokyo; Cro played drums.) Giants manager Sadaharu Oh helped Cromartie out of a bad slump his first year, 1984, and the two became close friends. (Cro's daughter's middle name is Oh.) A controversial player, Cromartie trotted around the bases on home runs with his right fist raised--the Japanese called it his "guts pose." Sometimes after making a hit he would point to his head as if telling the pitcher, "I'm smarter than you." ("just trying to psych him," Cromartie said.) After a homer he led the center field fans in loud banzais. Cromartie's hot-dogging angered anti-Giant fans, but in 1987 he helped Oh win his only pennant. In 1989 Cro flirted with .400 and led a patched-up team of rookies into the Japan Series. They lost the first three games until Cromartie's pep talk sent them out to win the last four. He was named MVP. Cromartie hit .321 with 171 banzai blasts in his Japanese career. In 1991 he returned to the Kansas City Royals and batted .313. Ralph Bryant The former Dodger outfielder set a Japanese record for strikeouts with 198 in 1992. He broke that in 1993 with 204--is that a world record? Bryant's longest home run, in 1990, hit the speaker atop the Tokyo Dome, 146 feet above the field and 318 feet from home. If it had continued unimpeded, it is estimated, it would have struck the center field scoreboard 558 feet away. Because the Japanese had offered a #250,000 prize for reaching the scoreboard, the speaker cost Bryant a cool quarter million. Gaijin Champions In the last twenty years westerners have done very well in the races for major batting titles. Of 120 titles (BA, HR, RBI in each league), gaijin--not counting Chinese and Korean players--have shared or won 45. This comes despite the improvement among Japanese players in recent years. On the other hand, most of the Americans have arrived with major league experience. Some minor leaguers have done well in Japan. Jack Bloomfield won two batting titles in 1962 and 1963. Pitcher Joe Stanka won an MVP, with 26-7 for the Nankai Hawks in 1964. Gene Bacque (Bock'-ay) won a Sawamura (Cy Young) for pitching the Tigers to the 1964 pennant with a mark of 29-9. However, his brushback pitches appalled the Japanese. When he tried one against the great Oh, the whole Giants team mobbed him. In the melee, Oh says, coach Hiroshi Arakawa, Oh's best friend and an aikido black belt, broke Gene's thumb and put him out for the rest of the season. Clarence Jones won a home run crown in 1974. Boomer Wells won the Triple Crown and MVP in 1984. Richard Lancellotti was home run king in 1987 while batting .218. New Trend: "Cup of Tea" Gaijin Cecil Fielder's great success--.302 with 38 homers in 106 games in 1989-- illustrates a new trend of U.S. players traveling to Japan for a "cup of coffee." Far from being over the hill like most earlier U.S. arrivals, Fielder was ]only twenty-five when he arrived from the Blue Jays after a frustrating .230 season, when he was platooned against lefthanders only. He replaced long-time favorite Randy Bass of the Hanshin Tigers, even wearing Bass' uniform number, 44. Japanese pitchers soon discovered Fielder's weakness, the high inside fastball, and his strikeouts earned him the nickname, "The Big Fan." However, in June he came back with home run after home run, and his long shots excited the fans. He knocked two balls completely out of the park in one day. By September he was leading the league in homers (two more than Larry Parrish). Then Cecil, angry after a strikeout, tossed his bat, which bounced back, breaking his finger and ending his season. But with his new-found confidence, he returned to the States to blast 51 home homers for the Tigers. In 1989 pitcher Bill Gullickson, twenty-nine, came off a 4-2 season with the Yanks to sign the Tokyo Giants for two years. He posted won-lost records of 14-9 and 7-5 before returning to Houston, where he was 10-14. In 1991 he won 20 games for Detroit. Others who went from the U.S. majors to Japan and back to the majors were Vance Law, Warren Cromartie, Goose Gossage, and Tony Bernazard. One investment fizzled badly. In 1992 the Japanese put out $1.5 million for the Dodgers' Mike Marshall, thirty-two, but he batted only .246 with 9 homers and was sent back home at the end of the season. That year former Angel third baseman Jack Howell, thirty, had a great initial season in Japan. He won the Central League home run (38) and batting (.331) titles and was voted MVP. It earned him a 1993 contract for $1.5 million, tying Marshall's gaijin record but leaving him $500,000 short of former Yankee Mel Hall. Japanese in America Mashi Murakami Many Japanese have played in the U.S. minors and one in the majors. The big leaguer was Masanori "Mashi" Murakami, who almost caused a complete rupture in U.S.-Japan diamond relations. Murakami was one of three members of the Nankai Hawks sent over to gain experience with the San Francisco Giants' farm teams in Fresno and Magic Valley in 1964. The twenty-year-old did so well (11-7) and was so well liked (bowing to teammates who made good plays behind him) that he was promoted to the Giants. He made his debut against the last-place Mets before 50,000 fans at Shea Stadium and pitched one inning of shutout relief. That year he won one and saved one with a 1.80 ERA. He struck out 15 men in 15 innings and walked only 1. At this point the Giants invoked the fine print in their contract--the paragraph giving them the right to buy any of the three who made the parent club. The Japanese had never anticipated this development! They said Murakami had only been on loan. Besides, they said, he was homesick and didn't want to go back to the States. The boy dutifully agreed. The Hawks even charged that the contract was a forgery, thus enraging the Giants. Who did they think Murakami was, club president Chub Feeney demanded--Christy Mathewson? U.S. Commissioner Ford Frick threatened to break relations with Japan if they didn't honor the contract. This could have cut off all further U.S. players going there to play. At last a compromise broke the impasse. Murakami would play one more year in the States, then would be free to choose his own destiny. Mashi flew back to San Francisco, won 4 games, lost 1, saved 8, and struck out 85 men in 74 innings. He was a darling of the San Francisco Nisei community. In 1966 the Hawks enticed him home with a $40,000 contract, twice what the Giants had offered. The Hawks rubbed their hands in anticipation of seeing Murakami obliterate every pitching record in the book. Alas, he never lived up to his promise. He won a total of 9 games his first two years. He had only one good year, 1968, when he was 18-4. He was the first and last Japanese to play in the U.S. majors. The Young Lions In a second experiment, the Taiheiyo Lions bought a U.S. minor league team in Lodi, California, and stocked it with nine of their rookies plus a coach, along with U.S. players. But the Japanese players, like some Americans in Japan, couldn't adjust to the food and the language. After two years the Lions sold their Lodi club and brought their players home. Undaunted, in 1982 the Seibu Lions (bought by Seibu Railway Co. after the 1978 season) signed a working agreement with the Baltimore Orioles' Class A farm team at San Jose and each year have sent several rookies there for experience. The plan paid off big. The Lions won the pennant five of the next six years, and experts attributed it in part to their San Jose graduates. Most famous of the group was Koji Akiyama, the 1987 Japanese home run king. The young Lions are now the seasoned veteran Lions. They've won nine pennants in eleven years, 1983-93. They built their empire with strong administration on the U.S. model--good scouting, a strong farm system, and a huge wallet. Third baseman Ishige (Ishi'-gay), at $1.5 million the second-highest-paid player in Japan, provided the leadership beginning in 1981. In 1985 outfielder Akiyama and the magic-gloved second baseman Tsuji arrived. Slugging first baseman Kiyohara (six foot three) followed in 1986. The Lion pitchers included 251-game-winner Higashio and "the Orient Express," Kuo (Gwaw) Tai-yuan, a 1984 Olympic star. In 1989 Cuban-born Orestes Destrade arrived as DH and won home run crowns in 1990-92 before joining the Florida Marlins. In 1991 the Pacific League all star team had lions at eight positions. However, they are not bringing up new stars, and in 1993 they lost the Japan Series to the Swallows in seven games. Destrade was sorely missed, and free agency threatens to end their dynasty. Manager Ma-aki Mori was a catcher for the Tokyo Giants when they won nine straight Japan championships under Tetsuji Kawakami. His experienced teams play a steady, cunning game, but it is also sometimes boring, as Mori has his hard-hitting team bunting even in the first inning. In spring 1990, American baseball fans were irritated when a Japanese whiskey company, Suntory, bought the Birmingham Barons (AA). The "Magic" Manager, Mihara Two of the greatest managers in Japanese history were Osamu Mihara and Shigeru Mizuhara. Their duels are compared to the legendary duel of the greatest swordsmen of literature, Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Mihara and Mizuhara attended rival high schools on Shikoku Island and went to rival colleges in the highly competitive Tokyo Big Six Conference. In 1931, before 65,000 fans, Mihara stole home against pitcher Mizuhara to lead his school to victory. In 1934 both played on the All-Japan team against Babe Ruth's Stars. Then Mihara went into military service; Mizuhara toured the States with Dai-Nippon, sparked the Giants to several pennants (he was MVP in 1942), and then was drafted himself. Mizuhara languished in a Soviet POW camp for four years after the war, while Mihara took over the Giants and rebuilt that once proud club into champs in 1949. But Mihara's triumph was spoiled when Mizuhara was repatriated that same year. "I am Mizuhara," he announced. "I have returned." Mizuhara was given the manager's job and won eight pennants in ten years, 1950-1959. Mihara was kicked upstairs, where he spent his time playing go. Then Mihara left to manage a new club, the Nishitetsu Lions, in far-off Kyushu. He lived in the dorm with his players, mostly recent high school kids like Nakanishi and slugging shortstop Yasumitsu Toyoda, and built them into champs in 1954. They won again in 1956 and beat Mizuhara's strutting Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series. They did it again in 1957 and 1958. In the last year the Giants won the first three games, but the Lions, behind Inao, won the last four. In 1960 Mihara moved back to the Central League with the Taiyo Whales, who had finished last for six straight years. Shades of the Mets! In Mihara's first year, he whipped the Giants for the pennant by 4 1/2 games, then swept the Japan Series in four straight! No wonder they called him "the Magician." Olympics Japan stunned the Americans at the 1984 Los Angeles Games (where baseball was still a demonstration sport) by taking the gold medal over a team headed by Will Clark, Mark McGwire, and Shane Mack. At Seoul in 1988, again in a demonstration, the Americans extracted revenge as hurler Jim Abbott beat Japan in the Gold Medal finals 5-3. Cuba beat everyone at Barcelona in 1992, and a surprising Taiwan knocked both Japan and the United States out of the running for the silver medal. Taiwan's Chien-fu Kuo Lee made the Japanese hitters look foolish with his breaking pitches--so they signed him to a Hanshin Tiger contract. Japan and America had to settle for the playoff for the bronze, which the Japanese won. A Real World Series Matsutaro Shoriki died in 1969 with one dream still unfulfilled--a real World Series between his Giants and the winner of the American World Series. It's a goal every Japanese fan keeps before his eyes. In frequent series against U.S. big league teams, the Japanese have already established one thing: the Americans can still win, but they have to field strong teams and play hard to do it. In 1966 the Giants played seven games against the NL champion Dodgers and won four of them. Overall, the Dodgers were 9-8-1 in Japan. Of course, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale didn't make the trip. But their number three pitcher, Claude Osteen (17-14), did and was bombed out of the box five times. In 1968 the NL champion Cards (Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, etc.) arrived fresh from the World Series. Beset by jet lag, they lost two of their first three games but came back to win 12 of their last 15 for a 13-5 record overall. The Japanese might have done better if Nagashima had not missed the series with an injury. Oh hit .356 with six homers. In 1971, after a 9-6 spring training record against U.S. teams, Kawakami announced that "the Americans have nothing more to teach us." The nation looked confidently forward to the arrival that fall of the AL champ Orioles for what the Japanese were hailing as the long awaited "world series." Bowie Kuhn even threw out the first ball. The Japanese knocked Jim Palmer (20-9) out three times, but Pat Dobson (20-8) pitched three shutouts, including a no-hitter. The O's held Oh to a .111 average. Nagashima hit .258, and the Orioles won 12 games to two, with four ties. But when the Americans sent subpar teams--the fifth-place Mets in 1974 and the fifth-place Orioles in 1984, the competition was closer. The U.S.-Japan Series Satellite TV brings U.S. major league games to fans in Japan, and as a result major league caps, jackets, and T-shirts sell well there. In 1990 Japan stunned a visiting U.S. all star team, winning 4 games against 3 losses and a tie. The major leaguers included Barry Bonds, Cecil Fielder, Roberto Alomar, Kelly Gruber, Bobby Thigpen, Ramon Martinez, Dave Stewart, and others. Following Japan's 1984 Olympic gold medal, the results started speculation that the Japanese were approaching U.S. major league caliber. However, in 1992 Roger Clemens led another all star squad to Japan, and they won handily, 7 games to 1 with a tie. It seemed clear that Japan has not produced the formidable players it did in the 1960s, such as Oh, Nagashima, Nakanishi, Inao, Kaneda, etc. There is still about a twenty-pound difference between the average U.S. and Japanese big leaguer, which means that today's Japanese player is about as big as a major leaguer of Babe Ruth's day. Some Japanese doubt that Japan can ever catch up with the U.S. majors. They say the Olympics are a better arena for competition--Japan won the "demonstration" Olympic title in 1984, defeating the United States in the finale. Will we ever see a real World Series? If so, when? In this generation? The next? Japan's economic miracle, which surprised the world, suggests that one thing is certain--don't bet on anything. Pennant Winners: Japan Pro-Baseball League ---------------------------------------------------------------- YEAR TEAM WON LOST PCT. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1936 FALL TOKYO GIANTS 18 9 -- 1937 SPRING TOKYO GIANTS 41 13 .759 FALL OSAKA TIGERS 39 9 .813 1938 SPRING OSAKA TIGERS 29 6 .829 FALL TOKYO GIANTS 30 9 .769 1939 TOKYO GIANTS 66 26 .717 1940 TOKYO GIANTS 76 28 .731 1941 TOKYO GIANTS 62 22 .738 1942 TOKYO GIANTS 73 27 .730 1943 TOKYO GIANTS 54 27 .667 1944 HANSHIN 27 6 .818 1945 Play Suspended 1946 KINKI GREATRING 65 38 .631 1947 OSAKA TIGERS 79 37 .681 1948 NANKAI HAWKS 87 49 .640 1949 YOMIURI GIANTS 85 48 .639 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Pennant Winners: Central League ----------------------------------------------------------------- YEAR TEAM WON LOST PCT. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1950 SHOCHIKU ROBINS 98 35 .737 1951 YOMIURI GIANTS 79 29 .731 1952 YOMIURI GIANTS 83 37 .692 1953 YOMIURI GIANTS 87 37 .702 1954 CHUNICHI DRAGONS 86 40 .683 1955 YOMIURI GIANTS 92 37 .713 1956 YOMIURI GIANTS 82 44 .646 1957 YOMIURI GIANTS 74 53 .581 1958 YOMIURI GIANTS 77 52 .596 1959 YOMIURI GIANTS 77 48 .612 1960 TAIYO WHALES 70 56 .554 1961 YOMIURI GIANTS 71 53 .569 1962 HANSHIN TIGERS 75 55 .577 1963 YOMIURI GIANTS 83 55 .601 1964 HANSHIN TIGERS 80 56 .588 1965 YOMIURI GIANTS 91 47 .659 1966 YOMIURI GIANTS 89 41 .685 1967 YOMIURI GIANTS 84 46 .646 1968 YOMIURI GIANTS 77 53 .592 1969 YOMIURI GIANTS 73 51 .589 1970 YOMIURI GIANTS 79 47 .627 1971 YOMIURI GIANTS 70 52 .574 1972 YOMIURI GIANTS 74 52 .587 1973 YOMIURI GIANTS 66 60 .524 1974 CHUNICHI DRAGONS 70 49 .588 1975 HIROSHIMA CARP 72 47 .605 1976 YOMIURI GIANTS 76 45 .628 1977 YOMIURI GIANTS 80 46 .635 1978 YAKULT SWALLOWS 68 46 .596 1979 HIROSHIMA CARP 67 50 .573 1980 HIROSHIMA CARP 73 44 .624 1981 YOMIURI GIANTS 73 48 .603 1982 CHUNICHI DRAGONS 64 47 .577 1983 YOMIURI GIANTS 72 50 .590 1984 HIROSHIMA CARP 75 45 .625 1985 HANSHIN TIGERS 74 49 .602 1986 HIROSHIMA CARP 73 46 .613 1987 YOMIURI GIANTS 76 43 .639 1988 CHUNICHI DRAGONS 79 46 .632 1989 YOMIURI GIANTS 84 44 .656 1990 YOMIURI GIANTS 88 42 .677 1991 HIROSHIMA CARP 74 56 .569 1992 YAKULT SWALLOWS 69 61 .531 1993 YAKULT SWALLOWS 80 50 .615 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Pennant Winners: Pacific League ---------------------------------------------------------------- YEAR TEAM WON LOST PCT. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1950 MAINICHI ORIONS 81 34 .704 1951 NANKAI HAWKS 72 24 .750 1952 NANKAI HAWKS 76 44 .633 1953 NANKAI HAWKS 71 48 .597 1954 NISHITETSU LIONS 90 47 .657 1955 NANKAI HAWKS 99 41 .707 1956 NISHITETSU LIONS 96 51 .646 1957 NISHITETSU LIONS 83 44 .648 1958 NISHITETSU LIONS 78 47 .619 1959 NANKAI HAWKS 88 42 .677 1960 DAIMAI ORIONS 82 48 .631 1961 NANKAI HAWKS 85 49 .629 1962 TOEI FLYERS 78 52 .600 1963 NISHITETSU LIONS 86 60 .589 1964 NANKAI HAWKS 84 63 .571 1965 NANKAI HAWKS 88 49 .642 1966 NANKAI HAWKS 79 51 .608 1967 HANKYU BRAVES 75 55 .577 1968 HANKYU BRAVES 80 50 .615 1969 HANKYU BRAVES 76 50 .603 1970 LOTTE ORIONS 80 47 .630 1971 HANKYU BRAVES 80 39 .672 1972 HANKYU BRAVES 80 48 .625 1973 1st HALF [*] NANKAI HAWKS 38 26 .594 2nd HALF HANKYU BRAVES 43 19 .694 1974 1st HALF HANKYU BRAVES 36 23 .610 2nd HALF [*] LOTTE ORIONS 38 23 .623 1975 1st HALF [*] HANKYU BRAVES 38 25 .603 2nd HALF KINTETSU BUFFALOES 40 20 .667 1976 1st HALF HANKYU BRAVES 42 21 .667 2nd HALF HANKYU BRAVES 37 24 .607 1977 1st HALF [*] HANKYU BRAVES 35 25 .583 2nd HALF LOTTE ORIONS 33 24 .579 1978 1st HALF HANKYU BRAVES 44 20 .688 2nd HALF HANKYU BRAVES 38 19 .667 1979 1st HALF [*] KINTETSU BUFFALOES 39 19 .672 2nd HALF HANKYU BRAVES 36 23 .610 1980 1st HALF LOTTE ORIONS 33 25 .569 2nd HALF [*] KINTETSU BUFFALOES 35 26 .574 1981 1st HALF LOTTE ORIONS 35 26 .574 2nd HALF [*] NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS 37 23 .617 1982 1st HALF [*] SEIBU LIONS 36 27 .571 2nd HALF NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS 35 23 .603 1983 SEIBU LIONS 86 40 .683 1984 HANKYU BRAVES 75 45 .625 1985 SEIBU LIONS 79 45 .637 1986 SEIBU LIONS 68 49 .581 1987 SEIBU LIONS 71 45 .612 1988 SEIBU LIONS 73 51 .589 1989 KINTETSU BUFFALOES 71 54 .568 1990 SEIBU LIONS 81 45 .643 1991 SEIBU LIONS 81 43 .653 1992 SEIBU LIONS 80 47 .630 1993 SEIBU LIONS 74 53 .581 ---------------------------------------------------------------- [*] playoff winner Japan Series --------------------------------------------------------------------------- YEAR TEAM/LEAGUE WON TEAM/LEAGUE WON --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1950 MAINICHI ORIONS, PL 4 SHOCHIKU ROBINS, CL 2 1951 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 1 1952 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 2 1953 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 2 1 TIE 1954 CHUNICHI DRAGONS, CL 4 NISHITETSU LIONS, PL 3 1955 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 3 1956 NISHITETSU LIONS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 2 1957 NISHITETSU LIONS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 0 1 TIE 1958 NISHITETSU LIONS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 3 1959 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 0 1960 TAIYO WHALES, CL 4 DAIMAI ORIONS, PL 0 1961 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 2 1962 TOEI FLYERS, PL 4 HANSHIN TIGERS, CL 2 1 TIE 1963 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NISHITETSU LIONS, PL 3 1964 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 4 HANSHIN TIGERS 3 1965 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 1 1966 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 2 1967 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 2 1968 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 2 1969 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 2 1970 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 LOTTE ORIONS, PL 1 1971 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 1 1972 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 1 1973 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NANKAI HAWKS, PL 1 1974 LOTTE ORIONS, PL 4 CHUNICHI DRAGONS, CL 2 1975 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 4 HIROSHIMA CARP, CL 0 2 TIES 1976 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 3 1977 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 1 1978 YAKULT SWALLOWS, CL 4 HANKYU BRAVES, PL 3 1979 HIROSHIMA CARP, CL 4 KINTETSU BUFFALOES, PL 3 1980 HIROSHIMA CARP, CL 4 KINTETSU BUFFALOES, PL 3 1981 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS, PL 2 1982 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 CHUNICHI DRAGONS, CL 2 1983 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 3 1984 HIROSHIMA CARP, CL 4 HANYKU BRAVES, PL 3 1985 HANSHIN TIGERS, CL 4 SEIBU LIONS, PL 2 1986 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 HIROSHIMA CARP, CL 3 1 TIE 1987 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 2 1988 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 CHUNICHI DRAGONS, CL 1 1989 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 4 KINTETSU BUFFALOES, PL 3 1990 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 YOMIURI GIANTS, CL 0 1991 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 HIROSHIMA CARP, CL 3 1992 SEIBU LIONS, PL 4 YAKULT SWALLOWS, CL 3 1993 YAKULT SWALLOWS, CL 4 SEIBU LIONS, PL 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Major League Batters in Japan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Yrs G HR BA Titles Won ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Adair, Jerry 1 1971 90 7 .300 Adduci, Jim 1 1987 82 13 .268 Allen, Kim 2 1982-83 125 5 .265 Allen, Rod 3 1989-91 245 45 .288 Alou, Matty 3 1974-76 262 14 .283 Altman, George 8 1968-75 935 205 .309 68 rbi, 71ba Andrews, Mike 1 1975-76 123 12 .231 Arnold, Chris 3 1978-81 330 43 .274 Aspromonte, Ken 3 1964-66 295 31 .273 Ault, Doug 1 1981 102 18 .307 Barbier, Jim 1 1970 93 9 .188 Barfield, Jesse 1 1993 104 26 .215 Bass, Randy 6 1983-88 614 202 .337 85-86 hr-ba-rbi, 83-84 ba, 85 MVP Bathe, Bill 2 1991-92 156 16 .236 Batista, Rafael 1 1975 48 3 .204 Baumer, Jim 5 1963-67 690 82 .251 Bean, Billy 1 1991 7 0 .208 Bernazard, Tony 3 1988-90 308 67 .289 Bertoia, Reno 1 1964 20 1 .175 Blasingame, Don 3 1967-69 366 15 .274 Boisclair, Bruce 1 1980 80 1 .249 Boles, Carl 6 1966-71 577 117 .265 Boyer, Clete 4 1972-75 419 71 .257 Bradford, Buddy 1 1977 56 4 .192 Bradley, Phil 1 1991 121 21 .282 Braggs, Glenn 1 1993 72 19 .345 Brant, Marshall 2 1984-85 118 25 .244 Brantley, Mickey 1 1993 13 0 .182 Breedon, Hal 3 1976-78 260 79 .251 Brewer, Tony 3 1986-89 389 82 .310 Briggs, Dan 2 1982-83 176 18 .258 Briggs, John 1 1976 47 7 .227 Brouhard, Mark 2 1986-87 140 23 .265 Brown, Marty 2 1992-93 229 46 .256 Brown, Mike 1 1990 70 7 .282 Bryant, Ralph 6 1988-93 620 214 .261 89 hr-MVP, 93 hr-rbi Budaska, Mark 1 1982 86 3 .208 Buford, Don 4 1973-76 490 65 .270 Cage, Wayne 2 1981-82 252 62 .235 Chance, Bob 2 1969-70 143 22 .271 Christian, Bob 2 1971-72 232 27 .263 Coggins, Frank 1 1973 13 2 .125 Corey, Mark 1 1984 31 3 .215 Cosey, Ray 1 1981 120 15 .251 Cromartie, Warren 7 1984-90 7779 171 .321 89 ba-MVP Cruz, Hector 1 1983 58 4 .240 Cruz, Tommy 6 1980-85 712 120 .310 Dade, Paul 1 1981 37 1 .219 Davis, Alvin 1 1992 40 5 .275 Davis, Dick 5 1984-88 461 117 .331 Davis, Willie 2 1977-78 199 43 .297 Dayett, Brian 4 1988-91 145 121 .268 DeCinces, Doug 1 1989 84 19 .244 Destrade, Orestes 4 1989-92 471 154 .264 90-92 hr, 90-91 rbi Diaz, Mike 4 1989-92 350 114 .281 Distefano, Benny 1 1990 56 39 .215 Doby, Larry 1 1962 72 10 .225 Dodson, Pat 1 1989 6 0 .313 Doyle, Jeff 2 1984-85 243 29 .263 Duncan, Taylor 1 1980 64 14 .235 Dupree, Mike 1 1980 127 10 .266 Easler, Mike 2 1988-89 142 26 .302 Edwards, Mike 1 1983 53 1 .291 Emery, Calvin 1 1970 94 8 .213 Essegian, Chuck 1 1964 110 15 .263 Ewing, Sam 1 1979 119 15 .286 Fernandez, Chico 1 1965 52 1 .144 Fielder, Cecil 1 1989 106 38 .302 Gaines, Joe 1 1969 51 3 .205 Gainey, Ty 1 1993 98 23 .290 Gardner, Art 2 1981-82 218 30 .272 Garrett, Adrian 3 1977-79 384 102 .260 Garrett, Wayne 2 1979-80 192 28 .241 Gentile, Jim 1 1969 65 8 .256 Gonzales, Dan 1 1981 9 1 .174 Gonzalez, Denny 2 1991-92 41 9 .248 Gonzalez, Tony 1 1972 31 0 .297 Goodwin, Danny 1 1986 83 8 .231 Green, David 1 1986 67 10 .270 Grunwald, Alfred 1 1962 70 3 .211 Hadley, Kent 6 1962-67 781 131 .260 Hall, Mel 1 1993 129 30 .296 Hammond, Steve 1 1987 115 9 .274 Hampton, Ike 1 1981 72 15 .230 Hansen, Jimmy 2 1977-78 232 31 .271 Harlow, Larry 1 1982 42 4 .164 Harper, Terry 1 1988 10 2 .143 Harris, Vic 3 1981-83 280 35 .253 Hengel, Dave 2 1990-91 21 4 .183 Hicks, Jim 2 1973-74 183 33 .247 Hilton, Dave 3 1978-80 251 38 .284 Hinshaw, George 1 1989 53 8 .294 Horner, Bob 1 1987 93 31 .327 Hopkins, Gail 3 1975-77 360 69 .282 Hostetler, Dave 2 1986-87 254 42 .270 Howard, Frank 1 1974 1 0 .000 Howell, Jack 2 1992-93 234 66 .313 92 hr-ba-MVP Hudler, Rex 1 1993 120 14 .300 Ireland, Tom 2 1983-84 204 18 .275 Jackson, Lou 3 1966-68 329 68 .257 Jacoby, Brook 1 1993 18 2 .183 James, Skip 1 1980 111 21 .269 Jestadt, Garry 2 1975-76 256 27 .239 Johnson, Dave 2 1975-76 199 39 .241 Johnson, Frank 1 1972 101 13 .232 Johnson, Greg 1 1982 104 10 .256 Johnson, Randy 2 1987-88 142 9 .306 Johnson, Stan 1 1969 96 5 .242 Jones, Bobby 2 1979-80 174 20 .284 Jones, Clarence 8 1970-77 961 246 .239 74, 76 hr Jones, Ruppert 1 1988 52 8 .254 Keough, Marty 1 1968 134 17 .231 Kirkland, Willie 6 1968-73 723 126 .246 Kostro, Frank 1 1970 37 1 .200 Klaus, Billy 1 1963 62 3 .257 Krsnich, Mike 5 1963-67 506 90 .265 Lacock, Pete 1 1981 90 10 .269 Laga, Mike 2 1991-92 136 35 .231 Larker, Norm 2 1965-66 224 14 .267 Lancellotti, Rich 2 1987-88 200 55 .207 87 hr Law, Vance 1 1990 122 29 .313 Lee, Leron 11 1977-87 1315 283 .320 80 ba, 77 hr-rbi Lefebvre, Jim 4 1973-76 330 60 .263 Lezcano, Sixto 1 1987 20 3 .217 Lind, Jack 1 1977 65 7 .237 Lis, Joe 1 1978 95 6 .206 Llenas, Winston 1 1976 101 6 .227 Locklear, Gene 1 1978 108 8 .240 Logan, Johnny 1 1964 96 7 .189 Lolich, Ron 3 1974-76 272 56 .238 Lopez, Arturo 6 1968-73 750 116 .290 Loman, Doug 1 1986 126 14 .291 Lum, Mike 1 1982 117 12 .269 Lyttle, Jim 7 1977-83 876 166 .285 Macha, Ken 4 1982-85 473 82 .304 Madlock, Bill 1 1988 123 19 .263 Manuel, Charlie 6 1976-81 621 189 .303 79-80 hr, 80 rbi, 79 MVP Marshall, Jim 3 1963-65 408 78 .268 Marshall, Mike 1 1992 67 9 .246 Martin, Gene 6 1974-79 746 189 .272 May, Carlos 4 1978-81 415 70 .309 McFadden, Leon 1 1972 54 2 .283 McGuire, Mickey 2 1973-74 207 11 .265 McManus, Jim 2 1962-63 190 20 .236 McNulty, Bill 1 1975 64 13 .190 Medina, Luis 1 1993 3 0 .333 Mejias, Roman 1 1966 30 0 .288 Millan, Felix 3 1978-80 325 12 .306 79 ba Miller, John 3 1970-72 382 79 .245 Mitchell, Bobby 4 1976-79 474 113 .250 78 hr Money, Don 1 1984 29 8 .260 Morton, Bubba 1 1970 48 3 .173 Moseby, Lloyd 2 1992-93 133 29 .289 Motley, Darryl 2 1992-93 44 7 .222 Murphy, Dwayne 1 1990 34 5 .229 Muser, Tony 1 1979 65 2 .196 Nettles, Jim 1 1975 84 3 .234 Newcombe, Don 1 1962 81 12 .262 Nieman, Bob 1 1963 110 13 .301 Nyman, Chris 2 1984-85 246 55 .276 Oglivie, Ben 2 1987-88 224 46 .306 O'Malley, Tom 3 1991-93 366 59 .320 93 ba Ontiveros, Steve 6 1980-85 686 82 .312 Ortenzio, Frank 2 1979-80 149 30 .250 Paciorek, Jim 6 1988-93 698 86 .315 90 ba Paredes, Johnny 1 1992 53 3 .242 Parker, Wes 1 1974 127 14 .301 Parrish, Larry 2 1989-90 235 70 .260 89 hr Patterson, Mike 1 1985 88 16 .225 Palys, Stan 4 1964-67 446 66 .275 Pepitone, Joe 1 1973 14 1 .163 Perlozzo, Sam 1 1980 118 15 .281 Peterson, Carl 3 1961-63 357 58 .272 Pierce, Jack 1 1977 95 13 .227 Pointer, Aaron 3 1970-72 302 40 .230 Ponce, Carlos 5 1986-90 533 119 .296 87 rbi, 88 hr-rbi Powell, Alonzo 2 1992-93 185 40 .313 Putnam, Pat 2 1986-87 243 37 .266 Qualls, Jimmy 2 1972-73 162 15 .252 Raines, Larry 3 1953-55 330 31 .302 54 ba, 53 sb Rajsich, Gary 3 1986-88 317 76 .283 Rawdon, Wade 2 1989-90 149 24 .289 Ray, Johnny 2 1991-92 159 13 .269 Reid, Jessie 2 1991-92 128 20 .250 Reinback, Mike 5 1976-80 565 94 .296 Repoz, Roger 5 1974-77 526 122 .262 Reynolds, R.J. 3 1991-93 335 52 .288 93 rbi Rivera, Bombo 2 1985-86 158 37 .240 Rivera, German 1 1989 123 25 .260 Roberts, Dave 7 1967-73 814 183 .275 Robson, Tom 1 1976 37 3 .209 Rodgers, Andre 1 1969 49 4 .210 Roig, Tony 6 1963-78 779 126 .255 Rosario, Jim 2 1975-76 131 5 .215 Rose, Bobby 1 1993 130 19 .270 Ryal, Mark 2 1991-92 124 24 .286 Scheinblum, Rich 2 1975-76 239 33 .295 Schu, Rick 1 1993 128 24 .270 Scott, John 3 1979-81 279 48 .262 Sheets, Larry 1 1992 131 26 .308 92 rbi Shirley, Bart 2 1971-72 246 15 .183 Sipin, John 9 1972-80 1036 218 .297 Smith, Chris 2 1984-85 68 5 .202 Smith, Reggie 2 1983-84 186 45 .271 Smith, Willie 2 1972-73 170 29 .259 Solaita, Tony 4 1980-83 510 155 .268 81 hr-rbi Sorrell, Bill 2 1972-73 183 20 .278 Spencer, Daryl 7 1964-70 731 152 .275 64, 65 ba Spikes, Charlie 1 1981 26 1 .122 Stairs, Matt 1 1993 60 6 .250 Stanton, Leroy 1 1979 121 23 .225 Stephens, Gene 1 1966 109 5 .224 Stroughter, Steve 1 1983 28 5 .276 Stuart, Dick 2 1967-68 208 49 .257 Tatum, Jarvis 1 1971 31 1 .192 Taylor, Robert 3 1973-75 358 30 .259 Testa, Nick 1 1962 57 0 .136 Thomas, Lee 1 1969 109 12 .263 Thomasson, Gary 2 1981-82 167 20 .249 Tolan, Bobby 1 1978 98 6 .267 Tolentino, Jose 1 1993 30 1 .152 Torve, Kelvin 2 1992-93 192 20 .271 Traber, Jim 2 1990-91 247 53 .287 Tracy, Jim 2 1983-84 128 20 .301 Tyrone, Jim 3 1979-82 435 74 .287 Upshaw, Willie 2 1989-90 174 39 .245 Valentine, Fred 1 1970 123 11 .246 Venable, Max 2 1992-93 214 20 .270 Versalles, Zoilo 1 1972 48 4 .189 Vidal, Jose 1 1971 39 2 .221 Vukovich, George 2 1986-87 222 32 .256 Walls, Lee 1 1965 108 14 .239 Walton, Danny 1 1978 75 9 .215 Ward, Jay 1 1966 104 14 .238 Wells, Greg 10 1983-92 1148 277 .317 84 hr-ba-rbi-MVP, 87 rbi, 89 ba-rbi 92 rbi Werhas, Johnny 1 1971 100 8 .214 White, Jerry 2 1984-85 218 37 .251 White, Roy 3 1980-82 362 54 .283 Whitfield, Terry 3 1981-83 374 85 .289 Williams, Bernie 6 1975-80 718 96 .258 Williams, Dallas 1 1988 100 10 .242 Williams, Eddie 1 1991 49 5 .252 Williams, Walt 2 1976-77 239 44 .277 Wills, Bump 2 1983-84 203 16 .259 Wilson, George 2 1963-64 225 27 .258 Wilson, Jim 1 1990 6 1 .059 Windhorn, Gordon 6 1964-69 641 86 .255 Winters, Matt 4 1990-93 507 138 .269 Wolfe, Larry 1 1982 88 14 .224 Woods, Ron 2 1975-76 192 19 .263 Wright, George 2 1988&93 183 20 .247 Wynne, Marvell 1 1991 123 13 .230 Zimmer, Don 1 1966 87 9 .182 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Major League Pitchers in Japan [*] -------------------------------------------------------------- Name Yrs Won-Lost ERA -------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander, Bob 1 1959 2-5 4.67 Anderson, Scott 2 1991-92 18-21 4.00 Austin, Rich 1 1974 1-1 2.33 bannister, Floyd 1 1990 3-2 4.04 Beene, Andy 1 1985 2-2 7.25 Birtsas, Tim 1 1991 3-5 5.61 Burnside, Pete 2 1964-65 10-22 3.10 Cary, Charles 1 1992 3-5 3.61 Castillo, Bobby 1 1987 1-1 7.84 Comstock, Keith 2 1985 8-10 4.47 Culver, George 1 1975 1-4 6.50 Davis, Ron 1 1989 4-5 3.97 Eichelberger, Juan 1 1989 0-3 7.04 Foytack, Paul 1 1965 2-3 3.16 Gale, Rich 2 1985-86 18-18 4.42 Gibson, Bob 1 1988 7-11 4.87 Gossage, Goose 1 1990 2-3 4.40 Grunwald, Alfred 1 1962 2-8 4.50 Gullickson, Bill 2 1988-89 21-14 3.29 Hoffman, Guy 3 1989-92 20-19 4.33 Kekich, Mike 1 1974 5-11 4.13 Keough, Matt 4 1987-90 45-44 3.73 Kiely, Leo 1 1953 6-0 1.80 Krueger, Rich 1 1979 2-1 4.66 Kuhaulua, Fred 1 1978 3-4 4.32 Lesley, Brad 2 1986-87 7-5 3.00 Ley, Richard 2 1974-75 5-5 4.09 Mickens, Glenn 5 1959-63 45-51 2.50 Newcombe, Don 1 1962 0-0 4.50 Paine, Phil 1 1953 4-3 1.77 Palmquist, Ed 1 1963 0-1 3.00 Perez, Yorkis 1 1992 0-1 7.11 Rajsich, David 1 1984 0-1 3.18 Reynolds, Bob 1 1977 0-0 9.00 Rochford, Mike 1 1990 0-3 8.61 Sanchez, Luis 2 1986-87 4-4 2.54 Schulze, Don 3 1990-92 12-11 4.94 Shirley, Steve 2 1983-84 5-7 4.17 Smith, Willie 1 1972 0-1 81.00 Stanka, Joe 7 1960-66 100-72 3.03 64 mvp Stone, Dean 1 1964 0-0 3.75 Tillotson, Thad 1 1971 3-4 6.40 Tunnell, Lee 3 1991-93 10-19 4.90 Wright, Clyde 3 1976-78 22-18 3.97 Young, Raymond 2 1991-92 1-2 5.95 TOTALS 405-422 -------------------------------------------------------------- [*] Lists compiled from Wayne Graczyk, Americans in Japan 1950-1986, and Isao Chiba, "Kiroku no Techo (Record Notes)," Shukan Baseball, March 28, 1988, and April 4, 1988.