My first exposure to Japanese baseball was the strange batting stances, pitching styles, stadiums, and names in those great baseball games for the 8-bit NES, such as Bases Loaded and Baseball Stars. Then my brother spent the summer of 1992 in Japan and brought home a couple of small Japanese baseball cards with rounded corners. One of the cards was a rookie for the Buffaloes named Hideo Nomo, who three years later would be a MLB rookie for the LA Dodgers. Since then, there has been many Japanese stars and non-stars playing in the MLB.
The past few years I've had intentions of following the Nippon Professional Baseball league a little closer, but never remembered to do so. Each year it seems like either another NPB star is moving to the MLB, or some other interesting baseball story comes out of Japan, such as Bobby Valentine becoming a huge celebrity over there by managing the Chiba Lotte Marines to the title in 2005, or the combined perfect game pitched by the Chunichi Dragons in the 2007 Japan Series. Not to mention that Japan has won the first two World Baseball Classics. It's good baseball over there, and I want to be more familiar with the league, teams, and players.
I generally don't follow professional sports unless I have a favorite team, but I'm not just gonna pick a favorite NPB team out of a hat. When I was a kid, my criteria for a favorite team consisted of cool team name or logo, cool player names, and my favorite color. My favorite team became the LA Dodgers and favorite player Fernando Valenzuela. His name barely fit on the baseball cards. That's so cool. Ever since I renewed my interest in baseball about eight years ago, I've used different criteria to determine which teams I am intrigued by. Team history, play style, unique ballparks, etc.
Using a combination of my childhood coolness criteria and my current baseball interests, I've identified some NPB team that pique my interest. The ebbs, tides, drama, excitement, and disappointment of the 2009 season will determine which Japanese team I will hitch my wagon to forevermore. Or at least until the NPB and MLB merge into one league.
The Main Contenders
Orix Buffaloes. I like their blue and yellow colors and their "Bs" logo. Unlike the MLB, where artificial playing surfaces and domes are now rare, in the NPB they are common. They also seem to have more character than the cookie-cutter parks of MLB past. The Buffaloes primary home field is the Osaka Dome, which has a unique exterior and a plain but functional interior. Their secondary home field is Skymark Stadium in Kobe, which is one of the few grass surfaced ballparks of the NPB. The aforementioned Japanese baseball pioneer and Dodgers star Hideo Nomo played for the Buffaloes. So did Norihiro Nakamura, who has hideously crooked teeth and couldn't hit a lick in his 17 games in the MLB with the Dodgers, but he made the most sensational tumbling short-hop pickup of an errant throw that I've ever seen a first baseman make. Super slugging gaijin Tuffy Rhodes plays for them this year.
Hiroshima Carp. The Carp have a lovely name and something of a "lovable losers" aura to them. It seems they have been the bottom feeders of the Central League for much of their existence. The Carp ownership are thrifty, with the lowest team player payroll and having never have signed a free agent player. They moved into an attractive new grass surface ballpark this year, officially called the Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima. Previously, they played at the lovable Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, which had small dimensions and an all-dirt infield. The Dodgers only current Japanese player, Hiroki Kuroda, is the only MLB player produced by the Carp. Their cartoon batter logo is fun, in a Chief Wahoo kind of way. It looks like they have solid pitching this year.
Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Naming baseball teams after birds is a great tradition. The Swallows' ballpark is the ancient Meiji Jingu Stadium, with a time-less and lived-in feel to it. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig once played there on an exhibition tour of Japan. Kazuhisa Ishii was a Swallow before coming over and having a few decent years with the Dodgers. Like the Carp, the Swallows typically have a low payroll and are thus perpetual underdogs, especially compared to their enormous neighbors, the Yomiuri Giants.The "Could capture my heart with a memorable season" Contenders
Chunichi Dragons. The Dragons have the same colors a similar script logo as the LA Dodgers, so you'd think I'd be all over them. But I just find them rather boring for some reason. Their Nagoya Dome has a similar interior compared to the Buffaloes' Osaka Dome, but the exterior is boring. They do seem to have a well-balanced team, though, and consistently place near the top of the league.
Hanshen Tigers. The Curse of the Colonel is great. Their logo is a super mean looking Tiger. Their ballpark is the historic and charming Koshien Stadium. Might be too surreal for me.
Nippon Ham Fighters. The Fighters of Nippon Ham play in the spectacular Sapporo Dome in Hokkaido. Theoretically, I should be a big fan of their star pitcher Yu Darvish, but he seems like a prick to me.At the end of the season I'll post again about the chosen team. Most English-language websites with NPB content are rather bland, with little more than stats and standings. A nice change of pace compared to the overwhelming coverage of MLB these days. Reminds me of when I was a kid on the farm and I'd run out to the mailbox as I saw the mailman driving up, so I could get the newspaper and check the scores from last night and study the standings and stats. For an informative and colorful look at Japanese baseball from an American fan in Japan, check out Marinerds.
Woohoo! The Carp shutout the Yomiuri Giants last night, 5-0.
No comments:
Post a Comment