Round and Square: Besuboru Guy

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Showing posts with label Besuboru Guy. Show all posts

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Keepin' Up

Click here for the "Celebrity Commentary" Resource Center—(all posts available)
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Celebrity Commentary" (coming soon)
This is a "small" (小) post—click here for an explanation of Round and Square post lengths.

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On this day in Round and Square History
11 September 2012—Middles: Calendars and Memory
11 September 2011—Middles: Commemoration

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 川口!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Kawaguchi is a common surname, like "Anderson")

And Japanese professional baseball players will let 'er rip (and fly to base) long after my time at Round and Square is up.

And that will be today—right now, even.

So how can you keep up with the most exciting baseball on the planet?

[b] Ongoing RF

Well, here are a few good places to start.

Japanese Baseball 1

Japanese Baseball 2

Japanese Baseball 3

And I won't be far away. I'll pop in every once in a while, along with my friends Liam, French Bulldog Pup, Roll Tide Guy, and Lederhosen Pug.

I am now a member of the RSQ Columnist-Emeritus community.

[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] Shrine ball RF

[Originally posted on August 31, 2014]

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Split Season History

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On this day in Round and Square History
10 September 2012—The Cortex Chronicles: Contrapuntal
10 September 2011—Styling Culture: Using Chicago Style Citation

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 川口!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Kawaguchi is a common surname, like "Anderson")

And, for one brief stretch, Japanese players let 'er rip and flew to base with changing rewards.

For a decade-long period during the 1970s and into the early 1980s, Japanese baseball experimented with what is called a split season.

[b] Split RF

This kind of season remains quite common in various nooks-and-crannies of baseball all over the world. The basic idea is this. [1] Play hard for half a season, win the half-season title, and you have a place in the playoffs at the end of the full season. [2] Play hard and lose in the first half of the season...and you still have a chance. The winner of the second three-month half-season also gets a place in the playoffs.

It sounds compelling, doesn't it?

Well, most people who watch it (while seeing its potential)...agree that it just doesn't work.

And Japanese baseball got rid of it in 1982. Like their American professional peers, they learned that letting a full-season runner-up into the playoffs (we will call this "Wild Card") works much better, no matter what the purists say.

Split seasons. Split focus. Major (League) distraction.

[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] Linkage RF

[Originally posted on August 30, 2014]

Friday, August 29, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Baseball Distribution

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On this day in Round and Square History
6 September 2012—The Cortex Chronicles: Punting Down
6 September 2011—Styling Culture: Margins and Fonts

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 川口!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Kawaguchi is a common surname, like "Anderson")

And Japanese baseball players let 'er rip (and fly to base) all over the islands. You see, there are two leagues (not unlike the National and American that structure professional baseball in the United States).

In general terms, the Pacific League teams play in the "west" and the Central League teams play in the "east."

[b] Distribution PD

On many maps, these look like "south" and "north," respectively, but (trust me) almost everyone in Japan looks at the matter as "east-west."

Now look at the map.

It's not quite so crystal-clear, is it? Hokkaido (the Wisconsin of the Japanese islands—a land of milk and cheese) is home to the Pacific League Hokkaido-Nippon-Ham Fighters. Want more? Two Central League teams play west of Kyoto.

The advantages should be obvious. Both leagues are all over Japan. And more? Well, the "Central" teams are at least relatively landlocked (this is a relative term in Japan, of course) and the "Pacific" teams are coastal.

The result? Great baseball from ocean to shining sea.

[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] Big baseball RF

[Originally posted on August 29, 2014]

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Besuboru Guy—High School Baseball

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On this day in Round and Square History
4 September 2012—Just Do It Over—Nine Lives (b)
4 September 2011—Hurtin' Country—Two Doors Down

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 中山!

Let 'er rip, Nakayama! OR
Fly to base, Nakayma!

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Nakayama is a very common surname, like "Daniels")

And some of the most popular players to let 'er rip (and fly to base) are otherwise busy Japanese high school students.

The annual high school baseball tournament in Japan is so popular that almost anything other than the professional pennant races and playoffs pale in comparison.

[b] Spirit RF

National audiences watch the best high school teams from all over the islands compete for the honor of playing in Kōshien Stadium—the oldest and most storied baseball stadium in all of Japan.

High school baseball doesn't work exactly like it does in the United States, and these tournaments also create a sort of feeder system to the pros. The names of great players who have participated is long, and the drama is intense (and televised both locally in the opening rounds...and nationally for the final rounds).

Americans are often drawn to compare it to the NCAA basketball tournament in terms of popularity, and the comparison is apt. Still, I have what I regard as an even better parallel:

The Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament.

Riveting.

[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] Venerable Kōshien RF

[Originally posted on August 27, 2014]

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Golden Spirit Award

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On this day in Round and Square History
3 August 2012—Reviews: Introduction
3 August 2011—Seinfeld Ethnography: Code-Cracking

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 細川!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Hosokawa is a common (enough) surname, like "Bradley")

[b] Golden sprite RF

And every year, the player who best exemplifies the spirit of ベスボル let's 'er rip (and flies to base) with a little added recognition.

It is called ゴールデンスピリット賞, the "Golden Spirit Award." If you don't read katakana, just realize that the phrases are "alike," if not "exactly." And the winners form a pretty impressive bunch, from Hideki Matsui to Bobby Valentine and beyond.

Golden Spirit. It has to start young.

And it means more than just "most congenial."

[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] Spirit training RF

[Originally posted on August 24, 2014]

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Larry Doby

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On this day in Round and Square History
2 August 2012—The Accidental Ethnographer: Mammoth, Masterful, Immortal China
2 August 2011—Longevity Mountain: Stone Cold Poetic

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 細川!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Hosokawa is a common (enough) surname, like "Bradley")

And one of the all-time greats—icons, in fact—who let 'er rip (and flew to base) was the American Hall of Famer, Larry Doby.

You may recall that Larry Doby broke the color barrier in the American League just six months after Jackie Robinson started with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

[b] Dragon barrier RF

His is a story of success (a World Series title with his Negro Leagues teammate Satchel Paige and the Cleveland Indians), relative historical anonymity ("second" doesn't usually get the play that "first" does, just ask Buzz Aldrin or, better yet, Michael Collins), and grit.

He was great though, and that was just in American baseball.

Larry Doby Bio

But there is more. At the age of thirty-nine, Doby went with an (American) Major League baseball cohort that held a series of baseball events (not games, but "teachin' stuff").

And there is even more. He liked it so much that he stayed and played the entire Japanese baseball season in 1962—the third American to do so. He and the Chunichi Dragons will always now be linked in Japanese baseball lore. Only in the United States would being second and third in these weighty cultural matters be almost forgotten.

But Larry Doby is not forgotten in Japan. He is the stuff of statuary.

[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] Statuesque RF

[Originally posted on August 23, 2014]

Friday, August 22, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Sadaharu Oh, My...

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On this day in Round and Square History
1 August 2012—The Accidental Ethnographer: How to Read a Geil
1 August 2011—Longevity Mountain: Regaining the Ancient Path

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 細川!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Hosokawa is a common (enough) surname, like "Bradley")

And nobody in the history of baseball has ever let 'er rip (and flown all around the bases) more than 800 times...except one big Besubor-OH Guy.

[b] Mechanics RF

Arguably the best player ever to take up a bat (in Japan), Sadaharu Oh had 868 career home runs in a storied career.

And, Oh (yes, get used to it)...there is more. He didn't only post a Hall of Fame career. N(Oh), he has been a stellar manager and baseball official who guided Japan to the inaugural World Baseball Classic championship.

And don't give me crap about "Oh...he played in Japan." Take a look at how Japanese players are doing today in the American major leagues. I suspect strongly that Sadaharu would have sent plenty of OMGs toward the Fenway, Wrigley, and Yankee Stadium bleachers.

Sadaharu Oh

H..OH..me Run

Oh, my...

[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] Lifelong Talent RF

[Originally posted on August 22, 2014]

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Hall of Fame

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On this day in Round and Square History
31 July 2012—The Accidental Ethnographer: Means of Ascent
31 July 2012—Hurtin' Country: Much Too Young to Feel (This Damned Old)

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 細川!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Hosokawa is a common (enough) surname, like "Bradley")

And the very best players who let 'er rip (and fly to base)...eventually go to that big baseball diamond in the sky.

[b] Hall of Dome RF

We are going to spend the last eleven posts looking at Japanese baseball greats. Before we look at the pitchers, sluggers, and crafty infielders, why not take spend a day thinking about the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

It is as much as research area as a place to celebrate great players, and now resides in the Tokyo Dome. It is not quite Cooperstown...yet, but the players there are the best of the best (and no one should ever say "...for Japan." Heck, which country has won two World Baseball Classics (and finished third the other time)? Um, Japan.

[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] Let 'er rip! RF

[Originally posted on August 21, 2014]

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Besuboru Guy—World Baseball Classic

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One year ago on Round and Square (30 July 2012)—The Accidental Ethnographer: Nesting Rinds
Two years ago on Round and Square (30 July 2011)—Longevity Mountain: Into the Valley of Buddhist Sound

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 山本!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Yamamoto is a common surname, like "Jenkins")

And sometimes Yamamoto let's 'er rip (and flies to base) in international competition.

[b] Ichi(ro ban RF

Japan has been extraordinarily successful in games against the world's baseball-playing countries. Of the three World Baseball Classics that have been held, Japan has won twice and finished third the other time.

That is quite amazing. As a contrast, the United Stats have finished fourth...once.

Could this be because of the team-oriented and harmonious traditions of my mother country (and the somewhat selfish and individualistic qualities of the American teams)?

Um, I'm Besuboro Guy's not talking (success has a way of speaking for itself).

[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] World watching RF

[Originally posted on August 20, 2014]

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Strike!

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One year ago on Round and Square (19 June 2012)—Fieldnotes From History: Provincial Elections (b)
Two years ago on Round and Square (19 June 2011)—Hurtin' Country: Meetin' Hank

[a] Individual and Society RF

可飛ばせ, 山本!

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

—Common Japanese baseball chant
(Yamamoto is a common surname, like "Jenkins")

[b] Looking for a strike RF

And if Yamamoto wants to let 'er rip (and fly to base), he needs a good pitch down the middle of the plate. The pitcher needs to throw strikes, and the hitter should learn to hit those pitches. That's beseboro.

But this post is about the strike of 2004. Yes, Japanese baseball shut down in September 2004. And you know what? The fans sided with the players. The issues weren't salary or work conditions so much as how league play would be shaped (including the interleague play that we saw yesterday). The owners caved, everyone made up, and baseball got back on-track.

2004 Strike CNN

2004 Strike Slate

2004 Strike Voice of America

But still, there was a strike in Japan. That still makes me shake my Besuboro Guy head.

[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] One kind RF

[Originally posted on August 19, 2014]