Round and Square: Japanese baseball

From Round to Square (and back)

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Showing posts with label Japanese baseball. 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]

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Sacred Soil

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On this day in Round and Square History
5 September 2012—The Cortex Chronicles: Punting and Strategy (a)
5 September 2011—Displays of Authenticity: Canine Devotion

[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 sometimes high school players let 'er rip (and fly to base) in the hallowed lines of
Kōshien Stadium, where the finals are played before a national television audience.

And one side has to lose. That is the cruel nature of sport (and nature).

[b] Win-loss RF

And sixty years ago, a despondent young man scooped up a handful of the sacred infield and took it away with him. At least, he said, he could remember the time he spent at baseball's still point of a moving world.

Over the next few decades, a few other losing players did the scoop-n-go-home drill.

And now almost everyone does.

Sacred Dirt of Kōshien Stadium

Only in a society in which valiant losing is treasured could such a tradition truly take root. It remind me of one of my favorite books about Japan, too. The title? The Nobility of Failure.

Sacred soil and losing the good battle. It is a splendid combination.

[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] Sacrality RF

[Originally posted on August 28, 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]

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Little League World Series

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On this day in Round and Square History
5 August 2012—Rural Religion in China (1)
5 August 2011—Longevity Mountain: Academy on High

[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 players who let 'er rip (and fly to base) are Little Leaguers.

[b] Gearing up RF

Yes, Japan is known for Little League baseball excellence, and has played in the Little League World Series two dozen times. In fact, since 2007, the winner in Japan receives an automatic berth in the series (and doesn't have to play Taiwan for a spot).

That's how good they are.

And what's more, Japan has won the Little League World Series nine times, including 2013.

From Little League to the World Baseball Classic, we're talkin' mastery.

[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] Where champions are made RF

[Originally posted on August 26, 2014]

Monday, August 25, 2014

Besuboru Guy—Best Nine Award

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On this day in Round and Square History
4 August 2012—Rural Religion in China (Introduction)
4 August 2011—Mid-Mountain Temple Road

[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 the very best players at each position who let 'er rip (and fly to base) in each league (Pacific and Central) are given the Best Nine Award (ベストナイン (日本プロ野球).

[b] Power point RF

In Japan, even the awards have a little team harmony coursing through them.

Voted on by a panel of journalists, the most productive players are awarded, and this is a great positive. The homer-cracking right fielder will be rewarded in multiple ways for his talents, but what about the middle infielder who has power? Or the multiple talents of the wiley catcher—the most important position on the diamond?

In Japan, they each have their own MVP award.

It's just another way that teamwork comes together (in the idiom of individuality).

And check out the Japanese New Year's card from 1932—Year of the Monkey power.

[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] Year of the Monkey New Year's Card, 1932 RF

[Originally posted on August 25, 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]

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]