Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine and the team owner Akio Shigemitsu wave during a Japan Series parade in 2005. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) This week, I wrote a web exclusive story for the Boston Globe. Valentine left his mark on Japanese baseball. and here are some excerpts: From “Bobby Beer” and “Bobby Burgers” to turning [...]
Patrick Semansky/AP Red Sox season is suddenly over. . . . . .It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it [...]
Giants’ Brian Wilson and his epic beard, as well as Ray’s Sam Fuld are from New Hampshire. The Red Sox are in a rut. They lost three of the last four games, including two against A.L.-West-worst Seattle Mariners, whose winning percentage is .437. (To be fair, they are better than Kansas City .413, Baltimore .390, [...]
I absolutely love this photo. Ichiro Suzuki and Sadaharu Oh after Japan’s first win of the WBC tournament in 2006. (Photo by Chris Carlson/AP) This week, I tweeted about Hideki Matsui’s pep talk on a bok by Ex-Yankees batboy (“Kick ass. Pop champagne. And get some ho’s.”), MLB playing hardball (no-pun intended!) with Nippon Professional [...]
Jacoby Ellsbury was mobbed by teammates after hist first walk-off RBI of his career. (Jim Davis / Boston Globe Staff via Boston.com) Ellsbury and Josh Beckett were heroes yesterday, and they seem to have different guy stepping up every game. But the reason I am so excited about this team this year is they have [...]
Team Japan hold up the banner after beating Sweden. (AP Photo) After winning the match, Japan’s women’s soccer team held up the banner that read “To our friends around the world – Thank you for your support.” I thought that was really nice. In the quarterfinals, Japan beat a two-time defending champion, ranked-number-one German team [...]
This is just fantastic and I had to post this. (Also cross-posted to blog.japaneseballplayers.com). I got notice on SABR’s new SABRNation social networking site‘s Asian Baseball Committee group about an event by Nisei Baseball Research Projects and Fresno Grizzlies, Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, Nisei Tribute Night which took place May 7th. So [...]
Good write up of 2011 Japanese Professional Baseball league by Asahi.com’s Rob Smaal. NPB/ Central League ’11: Usual suspects led by Giants expected to lead CL race Once again, the Central League looks to be made up of the “haves” and the “have-nots.” It would appear that the Yomiuri Giants, Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers [...]
Sports: Baseball, a set by Boston Public Library on Flickr. Just amazing stuff. In today’s Globe, there was a story about photographer Leslie Jones, who worked for Boston Herald and Boston Traveler from 1917-1956. Here is a little excerpt from Andrew Ryan’s story: After Jones died in 1967, his family honored his final wish and [...]
Actually, it was 10 years ago yesterday, but as a title, it is much nicer sounding. On April 4, 2001, Red Sox RHP Hideo Nomo pitched a no-hitter against Baltimore Orioles. It was his Sox debut, walking three and striking out 11. This no-hitter was the first in the 10-year history of Oriole Park at [...]
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