Tag: mlb
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Strike Three – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2009) As many of you vividly recall, Ichiro Suzuki was thrown out of a game late in the season for arguing a called third strike, the first ejection in his entire baseball playing career. According to present MLB custom, it is absolutely forbidden to argue judgement calls—which include called balls and strikes—so…
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Hard Luck Ichiro – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2009) Ichiro just can’t win. On September 13, Ichiro broke a record that has stood for over 100 years when he got his 200th hit for the 9th season in a row. It was a remarkable achievement combining batting artistry, durability and dedication. One has to play a lot of games every…
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Albatross – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2009) “It has been the best of times and the worst of times.” These days, for Japanese baseball in the United States, Charles Dickens’ opening line in “A Tale of Two Cities”—may be the most fitting. On the one hand, Japanese baseball’s reputation in the USA hit an all-time peak in the…
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The 100 pitch limit mistake – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2019) It’s been 44 years since the first so-called Tommy John surgical procedure, which occurred September 25, 1974, and, according to the popular website 538, half of the recorded surgeries have occurred in the nearly six and a half years since April 1, 2012. Why is that? Some American commentators say that the…
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Valentine’s Way: book review – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2021) Bobby Valentine, the former manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, has published a memoir, with some interesting observations about Japan in it, among other things. The memoir covers Valentine’s covers his entire career as player, manager and media personality that started in 1969 when Valentine was a star high school athlete…
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Shohei, Boog and Big Mac
By Robert Whiting YUKAN FUJI (2018) ESPN analytics whiz Sam Miller did an extensive evaluation of Shohei Ohtani, 2018 Rookie of the Year, as a batter and came to the conclusion that the MLB player most like is former Baltimore Orioles slugger Boog Powell, Powell, 6’3” 235 pounds in the prime of his playing days, was a line drive hitting first baseman who averaged 30…
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Wall-to-wall coverage of Shohei Ohtani is more than justified
By Robert Whiting – October 28, 2024 It’s impossible to live in Japan and not know who Shohei Ohtani is. The baseball star of the Los Angeles Dodgers dominates the media. His in-game exploits usually occupy the front page of Japan’s ubiquitous sports dailies, whose combined circulation runs in the millions. Most of the time…
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The Chrysanthemum and the – what? And The making of ‘The Chrysanthemum and the Bat’
by Tom Chapman (Jul 10, 1977), Tokyo Weekender Early Fall – and the excitement and tension of baseball pennant races occupy the thoughts of fans of the ancient and honorable sport wherever it’s played. And especially in Japan with the almost fanatical adventure of Yomiuri Giants’ slugging hero Sadaharu Oh approaching, tying and finally last…
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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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