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12/11/2002 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Arakaki Shows Some In-"ten"-sity"
The Artist Still Known as Nagisa Arakaki
No matter where you go, if you go into a pro baseball locker room, you will see a variety of superstitions on display. But Daiei Hawks number two draft choice Nagisa Arakaki may have taken the cake yesterday with an uncoventional request on how to write his name. The righthander wants quotation marks put around his moniker. Why? "Because I don't want the opposition to score runs off of me." Now you may be saying, "huh?"
Let me explain. In Japanese, things such as decimal points, periods and quotation marks are called "ten," which has nothing to do with the english number of the same name. Also, a run or point in Japanese is called a "ten." For example, a run scored is called a "tokuten." An RBI is called a "daten." Consequently, Arakaki reasons that if he puts the "ten" around his first name, the opposition can't take it. Being scored on in Japanese is "ten wo torareta," or, literally, "having a point taken from you." The staid Japanese baseball world can use a little looniness, so here's to "Nagisa" Arakaki.
Mariners, A's Japan Schedule Disclosed
The itinerary for the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners' trip to Japan in 2003 has been announced today by NPB. It reads:
March 22: Mariners vs. Seibu Lions at Tokyo Dome (game time is noon)
March 22: A's vs. Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome (game time is 7 p.m.)
March 23: A's vs. Daiei Hawks at Tokyo Dome (game time is noon)
March 23: Mariners vs. Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome (game time is 7 p.m.)
March 25: Mariners vs. A's at Tokyo Dome (game time is 7 p.m.)
March 26: Mariners vs. A's at Tokyo Dome (game time is 7 p.m.)
Hot Shots....
According to the Boston Globe, the Boston Red Sox have no interest in Norihiro Nakamura. The burly slugger's agent, Masami Shigeta, also reiterated his client's vow that he isn't going to go cheap. It is also said that Nakamura wants a three year deal from his new team....The Japanese baseball owners are apparently going to take up a players association proposal that would allow free agency after seven years rather than the 9-10 that it now takes to qualify. This plan, though, would permit the player to move only to a Japanese club and not MLB....Orix centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani signed for $1.6 million, a $480,000 increase. He is only the second Japanese player on the team to make that much, the other being Ichiro....Chunichi outfielder Koichi Sekikawa had his salary reduced by $80,000 to $560,000....Yokohama lefty Yuji Yoshimi got a bit pay boost, about $180,000, to $280,000....Nippon Ham, for God only knows what reason, signed reliever Hiroshi Shibakusa to a three year pact that gives him a raise of $120,000 to around $625,000 this coming season plus a signing bonus of almost $300,000. Shibakusa, 33, then told reporters that he wants to play ten more years
....Lotte ace Tomohiro Kuroki had his salary slashed by $320,000 to about $1.1 million after missing the entire season due to a bad shoulder....Hideki Irabu will wear number 41 next season....Hiroshima starter Masayuki Hasegawa was upped to $335,000, an increase of 130%....At the press conference formally annoucing the signing of draft choices Yoshimi Sakurai and Norberto Semanaka, who were each born in Brazil, the pair spoke alternately in Japanese and Portuguese and translated for each other. Semanaka, a power hitting first baseman, plans to take Japanese citizenship....Sankei Sports wrote an article today asserting that the posting by Samsung of closer Im Chang-yong will hurt the market for Kintetsu closer Akinori Otsuka. Are they wacked in the head?. The paper does say, though, that Im, who maxes out at 92mph, is more highly thought of by MLB scouts. Even so, there are plenty of MLB teams who need bullpen help, so both men should do fine. In addition, Hochi Sports says that we should know who submitted the winning bid for Otsuka on the 17th.... Kintetsu reliever Motoyuki Akahori absorbed a salary reduction of $104,000 to about $375,000. Also, swingman Ken Kadokura, who will switch to number 17 next season, accepted an $80,000 cut to $400,000. Utilityman Akihito Igarashi was knocked down by $40,000 to $190,000....Yakult closer Shingo Takatsu complained today about the small size of the family waiting room at Meiji Jingu Stadium. The area provided for relatives to await the emergence of a Yakult player from the locker room is about ten tatami mats (a mat is roughly 6' x 3'). He also said that while he has no special admiration for MLB, he wouldn't mind pitching there one day....Yomiuri great Kimiyasu Kudoh will train in Phoenix this offseason, the first time he had prepared for a new season on the U.S. mainland.
Hanshin Gets More Patient With Nakamura
Like they really had any other choice. See story at: Japan Times Article
Nakamura Asks Mets for Number 5
See well done story at: NY Times Article
No Offer Made to Nakamura Yet
See story at: Stamford Advocate
Nakamura Gets Grand Tour
See story at: MLB.com Article
Nakamura Munches
See story at: NY Post
Nakamura, Matsui Topics of Discussion at Winter Meetings
See story at: Daily Record Article
Godzilla Thankful for Mets Interest
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Cox Leaving for Japan
See story at: Devil Rays.com Article
MLB Winter Meetings Start Friday
See story at: Knoxville News Article
Kazuhiro Sasaki Named Goodwill Ambassador
See story at: Japan Today Article
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for December 11th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1954, Shochiku, which had merged its pro baseball team, the Robins, with the Taiyo Whales the year before, withdrew from the team's ownership group and the name reverted from the Taiyo Shochiku Robins to the Taiyo Whales.
