Japanese baseball Fan

Well, Kuwata is still around. However, I think this may be his last year. Of course, he sold his soul to Watanabe-owner to get out of dept from his real-estate deal gone sour when he was a young, naive lad, so he'll most likely continue working is some way for Nabetsu until the day he dies.

Ah, but yes, it's always nice to chat about the "good old days." A recent article I read featuring "ON" staring in the upcoming OB game in November at Sapporo Dome started me thinking of the last Old Timers' game I went to. It was Willie McCovey Day at Candlestick. My childhood hero was retiring that day to join Maze on the OT circuit. Nastalgia is great.

Wow...

Seems like the people here all used to be pro players or played in Japan.

Nice.

It's too bad about Kuwata. I've always thought he had very good stuff me being a pitcher myself.

For one thing, I think Japanese baseball is very "constricting" to the personal player. I mean, I'm thinking players in Japan don't get too much freedom to do what they want. Too much pressure.

Seems like the people here all used to be pro players or played in Japan.

I'm not sure where you got that impession. I'm afraid we're all just fans around here. I know that a few people involved with a couple of teams lurk here from time to time, but if they post, they do so annonymously and vaguely enough to not give away who they are.

And I also think it's too bad about Kuwata. But he, like Saitoh and Makihara, are getting phased out. They're all part of a generation that's pretty much gone. I doubt if they'd take a position with another club, but if the Giants release them (without signing them as coaches), then it wouldn't surprise me if some Pacific League teams looking for the Giants' name brand try to convince them to come over. (The Giants' brand is often more important than being over the hill.)

In all, though, I feel that Kuwata has gotten abused quite a bit by the Giants. Watanabe-owner speaks of him as though he were a slave being scolded for thinking of running away at times. The coaches this year verbally abused the veteran in front of the press, one coach saying that he'd never see the lights of Tokyo Dome again at one point. (That same coach then had high praise for him a few weeks ago when he did return to 1-gun and pitched well, even in a losing effort.)

Makihara, after one exceptional season, got a pay cut, being threatened to sign or walk. I've never really been a fan of Makihara (I had nicknamed him "Make-hara" at one point since he seemed to find a way to lose most of the games I saw him pitch in), but when Nabetsu cut Makihara down like that several off seasons ago, I felt for the poor guy.

Pressure is on all public figures, especially professional sports players. If you can't overcome the pressure, you don't belong on the field. The amount of freedom any public figure can get depends greatly on just how big a star they are. Ichiro couldn't go anywhere without a crowd of photographers following him around. Pretty much any player for the Giants is the same way. But that's not a problem for just Pro Yakyu, but geinojin (celebreties) of any kind as well. That's where not being a star can really help.

Wow westbaystars...

You seem to know a lot of the happenings in Japan! Are you living in Japan at the moment?

Care to introduce yourself more?

My name's Corey. I own an internet gaming cafe and I also work in the technology industry.

Play a lot of ball too.

It's a shame, many years ago I read Cromatie's book about playing in Japan and in it he mentioned Kuwata as wanting to play in the States.

Yeah, I really feel for those players. In Japan, everything's different I guess. And what you said surprised me, because I thought all that "abuse" and "coach power" was slowly being removed since it's now what... 2001?? I mean, those type of "management styles" and coaching styles just ain't gonna work and I thought the Japanese (Whom I respect as very smart people) are better than that... oh well... some things never change... no wonder the kids dress like they do nowadays... haha!

Yeah.... Giants.... it's the brand, and the "saga"... it's not the players...

I personally like Seibu Lions!! ^_^

> Wow westbaystars...
>
> You seem to know a lot of the happenings in Japan!
> Are you living in Japan at the moment?
>
> Care to introduce yourself more?

Well, Corey, I guess you're new around here.

My name is Michael Westbay, and lots of personal information about me can be found here. If you subscribe to the Pro Yakyu Mailing List, you'll see me there quite a bit as well. (More so before I started up this site.)

Yes, I do live in Japan, Yokohama in particular. I've been working as a computer programmer at Beacon-IT for 10 full years now, spent 3 years in high school at Yokosuka Navy Base, and one year in college as an exchange student to Yokohama National University. That makes 14 years' Japan living experience. I don't think I can ever go back to the States as most of my adult life has been in Japan. When I do go for training seminars or such, it's usually reverse culture shock.

I created this site a couple of years ago with the gracious donation of a computer by Fantasy Sports Japan". The person in charge of FSJ considers this a marketing tool, whereas I consider it a platform to talk about Pro Yakyu and play with server-side technologies. (I'm a programmer by profession and hobby.)

I changed the forum software that I'm using last weekend, and haven't had a chance to restore all the old articles. That's my goal for this weekend, but only after I've spent some time in the park with the kids. Jovian (2 years old) is really having fun swinging his plastic bat lately, and I don't want him to lose interest. Also, training wheels come off this weekend for both Jovian and his big sister Jobana (spelled "Castle" + "Flower" in Kanji). But, I digress from the topic.

> Play a lot of ball too.

I play for the local softball team where I live. It's pretty much all the excercise I get any more.

> [...] And what you said
> surprised me, because I thought all that "abuse" and
> "coach power" was slowly being removed since it's now
> what... 2001??

A lot has changed. Things aren't nearly as bad as Cromartie wrote about 12 years or so ago. It seems to me that many things in "Wa" (Robbert Whiting) are now relegated to Pro Yakyu myths. But change is slow in this part of the world. While there have been great improvements, some parts are still quite old and in need of replacement.

> I personally like Seibu Lions!! ^_^

Well, they took a couple of sayonara losses in a row these past couple of days to drop to 3rd place. Those two losses really hurt. But they're still very much in the race.

When I first saw your handle "farrariboy," my first thought was that you bought Shinjo's (former Hanshin Tiger, now NY Met) Farrari. I think it's still for sale!