This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
This outburst by Watanabe did not suprise me much. This is the man that is single handedly destroying baseball and sumo in Japan. My wife works for the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo). She said that when the President of Rengo found out about Watanabe's comments, he had his own tantrum. Watanabe's comments about not meeting with the Players' Union is basically illegal. If the players want to meet with him, under Japanese labor laws, he has to.
Watanabe is currently the Chairman of the owners' committee. Sometime in the next few weeks, the president of Rengo and Furuta are going to meet in order to dicuss how Rengo may be of service to the Players' Union.
Question: Why haven't the English newspapers picked up on this? According to my wife, it has been widely reported in the Japanese language papers.
Last comment. I have never liked Yoshinobu Takahashi as a player, but I have a lot of respect for the man after his comments about a possible strike while playing for the team owned by "The Man." It takes a big pair to do that.