Category: You Gotta Have Wa
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You Gotta Have Wa – Chicago Tribune Review
by Linda Kay & Mike Conklin (Jun 10, 1989) Required reading: ….that their teams are learning to suck it up without stars Carlton Fisk and Andre Dawson, managers Jeff Torborg and Don Zimmer might consider Robert Whiting’s new book about baseball in Japan. It’s called: “You Gotta Have Wa”. In Japan, “wa” means team spirit.…
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Why the ‘Red Devil’ Wore Out Welcome
by Dave Kindred (Jun 7, 1989) Bob Horner’s arrival in Tokyo two years ago was considered by the Japanese an act of divine generosity. “It was like the angel of the Lord had descended,” said Robert Whiting, whose new book on Japanese baseball, “You Gotta Have Wa,” offers a convincing explanation of Horner-san’s unhappy Oriental experience.…
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You Gotta Have ‘Wa’ – Newsday Review
by Leon H. Carter (Jun 4, 1989) Darryl Strawberry probably would dominate Japanese besoboru, but does he have “wa” – a requirement of all baseball players there. “Wa” means team spirit (strike one, Darryl), unity (strike two), and the ball club always comes first (strike three). In Japan, Strawberry is out before he steps up to…
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‘Wa’ Review – The Washington Post
by The Washington Post (May 28, 1989) You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting (Macmillan, $17.95). The Japanese have been playing baseball for more than 100 years, but their game is only superficially similar to the American game. Instead, Whiting argues, Japanese baseball owes more to Japanese traditions and ideals, such as wa, which means harmony.…
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“You Gotta Have ‘Wa’” – Review, Library Journal
by Morey Berger (May 1, 1989) “Wa,” Japanese for “team spirit,” is the creed of Japanese baseball, played since the 1850s and professionally since 1935. Whiting, a long-time Japan resident, concentrates on the two pro leagues. The Japanese leagues, he reports, believe their severely coached game to be superior to the U.S. game. They discourage…
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In Japan, Baseball’s Played by the Code of the Samurai
by Ed Hinton (May 17, 1989) The great gaijin Robert Whiting is at it again, reminding us that American baseball players have it even easier – by far – than we thought. To read Whiting-san’s work is to see that baseball as we play it and follow it here is more than laid back – it is…
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You Gotta Have Wa
by Orel Hershiser, James Fallows, and David Halberstam (Apr 15, 1989) “The Japanese certainly have the same kind of enthusiasm for baseball as Americans…they just play the game a little differently, and Bob Whiting captures those differences perfectly.” Orel Hershiser Bob Whiting has done it again! THE CHRYSANTHEMUM AND THE BAT was a comic masterpiece,…
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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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How Japan Stacks Up – Los Angeles Times on You Gotta Have Wa
1 October 1989 The image below can be expanded by clicking it.
Tokyo Junkie 