Author: rwhiting1942

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Robert Whiting (Jun 23, 1997) In these days of “borderless” nations, few Americans blink at the idea of a Japanese baseball player like Hideki Irabu crossing the Pacific to pitch for the New York Yankees. But another transoceanic story is a reminder that globalization of the baseball diamond hasn’t ended national antics in the game.…

Equaling Oh’s HR record proved difficult (part 3 of 3)

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Robert Whiting (Oct 31, 2008) The one big black mark on Sadaharu Oh’s reputation was, of course, the unsportsmanlike behavior of the pitchers on his team whenever foreign batsmen threatened his single season home run record of 55. The phenomenon had first surfaced in 1985, when American Randy Bass playing for the Hanshin Tigers, who…

Oh’s career sparkled with achievements as player, manager (part 2 of 3)

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Robert Whiting (Oct 30, 2008) I watched Sadaharu Oh through much of his career with the Yomiuri Giants, living as I did in Tokyo, first as a student, then as an employee in a Japanese company and after that as a journalist. During that time it was impossible to miss what was going on with…

Devoted to the game: Looking back at Oh’s career (Part 1 of 3)

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Robert Whiting (Oct 29, 2008) “He showed us all how much you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. And that’s a beautiful thing.’‘ – Hiroshi Arakawa, Sadaharu Oh’s batting sensei Sadaharu Oh has retired. The legendary baseball figure, suffering from ill health in the wake of cancer surgery, appeared in his last…

Whiting pays tribute to Boyer, Halberstam

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Robert Whiting (Jan 20, 2008) This is a tribute, long overdue, to Clete Boyer and David Halberstam, two class individuals who died last year. The former was an All-Star baseball player, one of the greatest fielding third basemen of all time. The latter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who was perhaps the greatest reporter of…

Coronavirus and the Olympics

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in Articles, Yukan Fuji

Robert Whiting (April 2008) – Yukan Fuji When I arrived in Tokyo in 1962, working for the CIA as a 19-year-old member of the U.S. military, the city was an unsightly sprawl of ramshackle wooden houses, rickety shanties and cheaply constructed stucco-covered buildings that had mushroomed from the wartime detritus left by American B-29 Superfortress bombers. Living conditions…

Baseball writing award for FCCJ’s Robert Whiting

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in FCCJ, Pieces referencing Bob

July 2023 The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is an organization dedicated to the study and research of baseball. It was founded in 1971 and has grown to become one of the most prominent and respected organizations in the world of sport. It comprises fans, scholars, writers, statisticians and former players who share a…

The Hardest Hardball in the World – Los Angeles Times

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in Los Angeles Times, Reviews of Bob’s work

9 July 1989

Japanese Baseball’s ‘Wa’ Factor – International Herald Tribune

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in International Herald Tribune, Interviews with Bob

July 18 1989 The image below can be expanded by clicking on it

Japan’s No-Strike Zone – The New York Times

Jan 20, 2024

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