Besuboru Guy—Foreign Friends

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One year ago on Round and Square (11 June 2012)—The Real Ideal: Introduction
Two years ago on Round and Square (11 June 2011)—Living and Learning: Losing the Way

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 鈴木!

Let 'er rip, Suzuki!  OR
Fly to base, Suzuki!

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Suzuki is a common surname, like "Jones")

And one that that Japanese teams decide to let 'er rip (and fly to base) is to sign foreign players. 

[b] Enculturation/acculturation RF

If you are a fan of American major league baseball, this should come as no particular surprise. American teams have Dominicans, Cubans, Canadians, and, well, Japanese players. The sky (and a vast bank account) is the limit to signing the best from all over the world.

So what is the big deal about Japanese teams having foreign players?

Well, because they have a little rule—no more than four foreign players on any roster. Period.

Like U.S. teams, rosters are twenty-five players. Twenty-one from Japan and four from foreign countries. It's like a Canadian academic department.

The rules are a little more nuanced, too. You can't have four pitchers among that group, nor can you have four position players. In other words, you need to mix and match. 

Oh, and there is technically no limit to how many foreigners you can sign. You just can't put them on the active roster. That pretty much settles it.

Foreign talent—it's never looked quite like this before. 

[If you don't read Japanese, but want to have some sense of the Japanese kana and kanji in these posts, just copy the phrases and paste them into translation software such as Babylon or Google Translate].

[c] Playing the percentages RF

[Originally posted on August 11, 2014]