Author: rwhiting1942
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You Gotta Have Wa
by Kirkus Reviews (Apr 1, 1989) Eye-popping report on Japanese baseball by a journalist based in Japan. In Whiting’s The Chrysanthemum and the Bat (1976) he provided a hilarious look at the history and customs of Japanese besoboru, here, he zooms in on American major-leaguers who play for big bucks in the land of the rising sun. Most…
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The Enigma of Japanese Baseball-whacky
by Alan Booth (Sep 22, 1989) – Asahi Evening News When major league batting star Bob Horner arrived in Japan in 1987 to play a season for the Yakult Swallows he said: “This place is great.” Twenty-nine games later he said: “I’ve got to get out of here; I can’t believe this shit.” The story…
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After quake and tsunami, public split on baseball’s return to Japan
by Robert Whiting (Apr 11, 2011) – Sports Illustrated Besuboru is finally back in Japan, after a delay caused by the worst earthquake in the nation’s history and an ensuing tsunami that ravaged Northeastern Honshu. The Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) launches its season on April 12, 15 days later than scheduled, and Nippon leaders…
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The Fans in Japan: Why they’re happy when baseball players go on strike
by Robert Whiting (Sep 29, 2004) – Slate They said it would never happen: A baseball strike in harmony-conscious Japan? Yet two weeks ago, after lobbying unsuccessfully to block the proposed merger of two of the country’s 12 professional baseball teams, the Nippon Professional Baseball Players Association walked out for the first time in 70…
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Pitching From Behind: The sad road of Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu
by Robert Whiting (Aug 1, 2011) – Slate Last week, former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead in his Southern California home, having apparently hanged himself. The 42-year-old Irabu, a baseball sensation in his home country of Japan, had a short, tumultuous career in the United States. In his 2004 book The Meaning of…
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DiMuro Debacle was Predictable, Author Says
Jack Gallagher (Jul 10, 1997) For acclaimed baseball author Robert Whiting, a periodic resident of Japan over the past 34 years, last month’s incident triggering the departure of U.S. umpire Mike DiMuro was no surprise. Whiting, who penned such classics as “The Chrysanthemum and The Bat” and “You Gotta Have Wa,” saw the inevitable clash of…
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Billion Dollar Blueprint
Robert Whiting (May 8, 2012) Money. Money. Money. MLB is rolling in it, as indicated by the recent sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers for an astonishing $2 billion, an all time record for a major league team. The $2 billion figure is more than double the previous record for an MLB franchise sale, which…
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Tobaku
Robert Whiting (Oct 21, 2015) I have been reading with interest about the gambling scandal in professional baseball. Kyojinfarm team pitcher Fukuda has admitted he bet on baseball and has lost a considerable amount of money at it in the process. A couple of weeks later, two other players on the ni-gun(the farm team) followed suit. An…
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Otani and Nippon Ham
Robert Whiting (Dec 9, 2012) Congratulations to Nippon Ham for making a successful attempt to convince Shohei Otani to stay in Japan instead of going to the MLB as he earlier vowed to do. It had been widely believed that Otani was going to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, after he said he would…
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‘Besuboru’ Booming in Japan
Robert Whiting (March 1983) “This country has got its national flag all wrong,” remarked one bemused visitor from New York recently during his brief stay in Japan. “Instead of the Rising Sun in the center, there should be a baseball.” The multitude of American tourists who annually visit Japan find the same amazing phenomenon: a…
Tokyo Junkie 