Author: rwhiting1942

YUKAN FUJI.2022 SHOEHI OHTANI MVP 2021: A HIGHER LEVEL 2021 was quite a season for Shohei Ohtani. He nearly won the home run crown and might have won the Cy Young award with a little more run support from his teammates. He led all MLB in WAR. He won a slew of awards, capped by…

TOKYO BLOWHARD By Robert Whiting I have had hundreds of book reviews in my 40 plus years as a writer—both good and bad—but I have yet to respond to any of them. My philosophy has been that the work should speak for itself and let the chips fall where they may. But Jason Morgan’s piece…

on the list of the Esquire Magazine best baseball books ever https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g38201485/best-baseball-books-ever/

‘Spaceman’ Studiously bizarre new team manager’s been out of baseball, busying himself as TV celebrity and clothing modelBy ROBERT WHITINGNOVEMBER 12, 2021Print I have seen a lot of strange appointments to the post of baseball club manager in my long career as a journalist, but perhaps none so strange as the recent Nippon Ham Fighters front…

JAPAN Yakuza death sentence won’t stop organized crime While gang boss’s subordinates may think twice about murder, they’ll continue to operate pretty much as beforeBy ROBERT WHITINGOCTOBER 11, 2021Print Satoru Nomura, the 74-year-old head of Japan’s infamous Kudo-kai crime syndicate, made news in August when he became the first active yakuza boss to receive a death sentence.…

POSTCARD FROM JAPAN Japan counts the cost as Olympic hangover sets in With some negative aftereffects of the 1964 Olympics still felt in Tokyo, the 2021 Games’ legacy may be even worseBy ROBERT WHITING OCTOBER 5, 2021Print The 2021 Tokyo Olympics is over and, in some respects, it was a successful one. The nation was entranced…

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Sports/Shohei-Ohtani-gives-Japanese-baseball-a-moment-to-savor SPORTS Shohei Ohtani gives Japanese baseball a moment to savor https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Sports/Shohei-Ohtani-gives-Japanese-baseball-a-moment-to-savor Country has reached the end of a 150-year spiritual journey Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani is now being called the greatest player in all of baseball.   © ReutersROBERT WHITING, Contributing writerSeptember 5, 2021 09:23 JST TOKYO — Japan is finally where it…

MLB The Colossal Legacy of Ichiro’s Rookie Season, 20 Years Later In 2001, Ichiro Suzuki made his MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners. What happened next was not only the greatest rookie season in baseball history—it was a glimpse at both the past and future of the sport.By Jake Kring-Schreifels  Sep 14, 2021, 8:09am EDT Share this…