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01/23/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Kinkade Ready for Japan; Matsui Has Them Lining Up"
Team Reports
Hanshin New import Mike Kinkade is working out in cold and rainy Washington state in preparation for leaving for Japan on the 29th. He told Sankei Sports that he has been researching the ballclub on the internet (hopefully that has included a stop here at Baseball Guru.com) and also had discussions with pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii about Japanese baseball. He said that he doesn't know all that much about Japanese culture, but he will take each game one at a time and sees each one as a must win situation. The former olympic gold medal winning team member also averred that it is up to coaches to decide where he will play and that all he can do is abide by their decisions. Kinkade would like to hit in the three hole and wouldn't mind even playing some catcher. He spent some time fishing with reliever Jerrod Riggan after the Dodgers season ended and then has been working out just about every day since and thinks that he is in top condition and hopes to bring another pennant to Nishinomiya. When asked what he wants to do in Japan outside of playing baseball, Kinkade replied that he would like to see a sumo match and has even watched ESPN's taped replays of sumo tournaments. Too, Japanese food agrees with him, as sushi is one of his favorite meals, though, oddly, he doesn't really care for sashimi. The interview closed with Kinkade offering that he isn't stats obsessed, but is rather more pre-occupied with doing what it takes to win that day's ballgame....Because it was discovered that his right eye is weaker than his left, shortstop Takashi Toritani will wear a contact lens in that right eye....Hanshin officials visited Meiji University to display interest in pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba. They will also go after Shidax hurler Nomaguchi, according to Hochi Sports. There is MLB interest in both men as well.
Chunichi Reliever Eiji Ochiai threw about 50 pitches, if you can call them that, at half speed Thursday in a workout with rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome. It was actually more of a glorified pepper game. Both men then did some running before Fukudome then took 100 swings off of a tee, spraying a lot of balls to left....Pitcher Daisuke Yamai was part of that workout, too and said he was ready for spring training and hopes to win a rotation slot.
Yomiuri Manager Tsuneo Horiuchi said that he will try to help speed up Giants games in order to keep them less than three hours in duration. "People lose their concentration after three hours," he told reporters. Horiuchi, who was attending an event for Yomiuri flagship television outlet NTV, appears to be answering what may be a call by company officials to help boost the team's flagging ratings. Indeed, Japanese pro baseball management has often been criticized for turning games into glorified Noh plays where the action feels as if it is progressing only incrementally. On the other hand, NTV and other television outlets have hurt the prestige of the game by suddenly cutting contests short or interrupting them for news breaks and/or to air dramas that draw bigger female audiences. So Yomiuri has only itself to blame to some degree. Moreover, when you begin to make on field decisions for non-baseball reasons, it not only becomes the tv tail wagging the baseball dog, but it could also hinder the team's chances of winning the day's battle....First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara, perhaps trying to prove that his hamstring and knees aren't going to limit him this season, spent an hour or so running windsprints. The only thing is, however, that the dyed silverhair that the burly slugger is sporting makes him look like a retiree. In any event, a Giants training coach was pleased with what he saw from Kiyohara from a mobility standpoint, informing reporters that Kiyohara's legs are about 80-90% of full strength....Second baseman Toshihisa Nishi took his first batting practice of the offseason Thursday, taking hacks at about 150 pitches. He worked on going to the opposite field a lot, an approach that could perhaps help reduce his strikeouts and raise a batting average that has sunk the past couple of campaigns....Reliever Yuya Kubo is having back pain that he suffered while doing stretching exercises and took a massage treatment Thursday. He isn't able to throw and it is doubtful that he will be ready by the start of spring training on February 1st....Owner Tsuneo Watanabe is going to resign as Giants owner in August, according to Sankei Sports. Unfortunately, it also looks as if he will still be behind the scenes like an undiscovered malignant tumor even as he turns most of his attention to being the chairman of the Yomiuri media group.
Yakult Righthander Ryota Igarashi hopes to be able to pick up the baton from now departed closer Shingo Takatsu, who will be wearing number 33 with the Chicago White Sox for $750,000 in salary plus a signing bonus this coming season (see stories below). The fireballer complemented Takatsu for often playing in pain and making no excuses for failures. Igarashi was given a better an $150,000 raise to over $900,000 and will have another $95,000 available to him in incentives....Getting back to Takatsu for just a moment, the second year of his deal calls for a raise to $2.5 million or, if that option isn't picked up, a $250,000 buyout....Lefty Hirotoshi Ishii, who is likely to alternate with Igarashi in a so-called "double stopper" role, said that he learned a lot from Takatsu and will be rooting for him. Ishii wants to be posted, so they could end up foes in the near future....Shortstop Shiny Miyamoto needs just 40 more sac bunts to get into the top five all time. He currently has 242 after putting down 50 last season. Former Seibu catcher Tsutomu Itoh is third with 302, so Miyamoto should be able to eclipse that sometime next year. After that, he would take on number two Ken Hirano, a former Lotte outfielder, at 451 and then ex-Giants infielder Masahiro Kawai's world record 514.
Yokohama Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki told a reporter that he is enthusiastic about former Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki coming back to town to pitch with the Bay Stars. "What this would mean is that it would change the atmosphere on the team in so many ways. With Sasaki waiting in the wings to come in, our starters and relievers can approach things differently than in the past." Sasaki did a phone interview with the Japanese comedy program Waratte Ii to mo, but he didn't really have that much to say about where he's going to end up, though he did express some nervousness about perhaps nobody wanting him. At least six Japanese teams have said they aren't interested...Manager Daisuke Yamashita watched his number two draft choice, Teruaki Yoshikawa. throw his first bullpen session of the new year Thursday and was impressed. Yoshikawa will probably be inserted into middle relief....A daughter of former Yokohama skipper Akihiko Oya, Yoko Oya, has been appointed the team's "official reporter," who is essentially the face of the Stars public relations arm.
Kintetsu Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura is denying rumors that he will ask to be posted after the season is over, insisting that "I'm not thinking about it." Team officials are also naysaying the whispers.
Lotte Number one draft choice Tatsuya Uchi had his muscular strength tested Thursday and didn't do well at all. Uchi indicated that he had never lifted weights in high school or anything like that. A conditioning coach believes that foretells Uchi would being able to improve his velocity as they put him on a strengthening program. We'll have to see. There is more to pitching than just sheer muscular develpment. Uchi's body fat percentage is only 9.2%, so it's not like he's all flab. It should, though, help improve his stamina....Pitcher Hiroya Tani, who was signed this offseason after being released by Yomiuri, will be with the top team when it opens spring training. However, all six of Lotte's draftees will begin in the minors.
Nippon Ham Reserve infielder Shigeyuki Furuki's wife gave birth to son Yudai Thursday in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. Both mother and child are doing fine.
Orix Batting instructor Leon Lee has left the team due to "problems at home," according to Sankei Sports. Manager Haruki Ihara, who says that he has known Lee for 30 years, was saddened at this turn of events since he was looking forward to working with the onetime Lotte great....Pitcher Masato Yoshii disclosed to a Nikkan Sports reporter that he would like to pitch in the majors one more time before he hangs it up. Does that mean that this will be the former Met's final year in Kobe? Of course, it's dubious that an MLB side would give Yoshii much in 2005 considering that he will be 39. So we'll have to see how this shakes out.
Miscellaneous Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui took part in a charity bowling event Thursday along with reliever John Franco and 18 other team officials and players. But the day before that, Matsui signed more than a thousand autographs while sitting alongside closer Braden Looper at a Mets team store in NYC. Many fans, who braved sub-freezing weather to sit in an estimated 100 yaard long line, brought baseballs for the ex-Lions superstar to sign, in a couple of cases telling Looper that they only wanted Matsui to autograph the ball and not him. Hochi Sports estimates that 60% of the attendees of the event were there to see the PL Gakuen High School grad.
In the News
Takatsu Signs with Chicago
See story at: Chicago Daily Southtown Article
Then this piece claims Takatsu throws as hard as 92mph. Since when? He usually was more like 85-86mph this past season and one Japanese report said he was throwing as low as 83mph in his most recent workouts. Anyway, see story at: MLB.com Article
See another related story at: Mainichi Shimbun Article
Nomo Debuts New Team
See story at: Associated Press Article
A Keystone Crop for Mets
See story at: Newsday Article
Players Union Won't Obstruct Sasaki Defection
See story at: MLB.com Article
Yonamine Commemorated at Honolulu Airport
Note: there is a factual error in this article. Yonamine was not the third foreign born player to play in Japan. He may have been the third foreigner to be with Yomiuri, though. I don't have complete enough stats available right now to determine that, but here is a rundown of just the position players listed as foreigners who came to Japan to play before Yonamine:
Isamu Uchio
Den Yamada
Fujio Ueda
Yoshio Ueda
Harrison "Bucky Harris" McGaillard
Kiyomi Hirakawa
Chikayoshi Honda
Tadashi Kameda
Fujihito Horio
Kiyomitsu Nogami
Isao Odate
Kano Omoda
As far as I know, almost all of them first saw the light of day in the states.
Pre-Yonamine Yomiuri position players:
Adelano Rivera (who was discovered on a Giants tour of the Phillipines).
I'm also not sure of the charge that most Japanese considered Nisei to be traitors, as Japanese-Americans continued to come over to play in Japan throughout the 50's, though there were some who were relegated to the minors. There might have been some anti-Nisei sentiment among the rabid right wingers, but I believe those were in the minority of the Japanese public. Kawakami, though, who actually taught at a Japanese military school during WWII, almost certainly harbored those ideas.
Okay having said that, see story at: Honolulu Star-Bulletin Article
Alderson Still Working to Keep Baseball in the Olympics
See story at: Honolulu Star-Bulletin Article
MLB Piggybacking on Super Bowl
This is kind of sad in a way, but perhaps inevitable. See story at: New York Times Article
Replies: 1 Comment
I had the honor and pleasure of visiting Sam Uchida at his home in LA a few years ago. That same week I met George Matsura's sister and son. All three gave me much insight into baseball and life in America and Japan.
Denny Matsura said that in 1936, Harrison McGaillard, George Matsura, and Herb North were recruited from the LA Nippon teams to play in Japan. They were joined in September by the "mysterious" Jimmy Bonna (possibly the first African-American in Japanese Pro Ball).
Posted by Robert Kiyoshi Shadlow @ 01/23/2004 12:02 PM EST
