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Major League Baseball Players in Japan - Strangers in Paradise
The last match-up of the World Baseball Classic featured two teams from countries where Baseball is a beloved sport - Cuba and Japan. Both countries are noted for producing fine American players, some of them enjoy stellar careers. At present are Ishiro Matsui from Japan and two of the best and most consistent player in the majors. Making it in the big leagues in America is big business in Japan, a country that loves Baseball embraced and their own professional teams.
American teachers for the first time the game on the island state in the 1870s, and it took root firmly. With the turn of the Century it was a sport throughout the nation and in 1936 the first professional teams were established. The current professional structure was created in 1950 to play with teams in either the Pacific League or the Central League.
The exchange of players between the Japanese leagues and Major League Baseball is not one way. The first American to Baseball in Japan play in post-Second World War was Wallace Kaname Yonamine, an American who had played NFL Football Baseball Club Nisei Japanese, but never a spot on a Major League. Yonamine had a Hall of Fame career in Japan.
When major leaguers from America began to compete in the Japanese League, they were often at the end of their careers. In 1962, handed pitcher Don Newcombe, was right the first MLB player to sign and play with a team in Japan. During his 10 years in the majors, Newcombe posted a 149-90 mark with 1129 strikeouts and a 3.56 ERA. He is still the only player to win the Rookie of the Year, MVP and Cy Young. Newcombe was the first of many Americans to play in the Far east to what many know as the American Sports.
Over the past ten years, something changed in relation to the emigration of professional players from America to Japan. The men go to the league, the Japanese are no longer at the end of their careers. They are now, more often than not, mid-career players who can not seem to find a team everyday role on a Major League. Often, these players decide to go to Japan because they have a chance to wear every day.
Some players find a home away from home in Japan, while others go and some of the daily experience and come back to parlay that into a starting position Role in MLB. Still, others struggle in their foreign environment and come back to us in the big leagues to play, even if it as a utility player.
Alex Cabrera is an example of the first type of player, while Lou Merloni seemed as if he might fit the bill category for the second but not quite get a break in Japan or the cut when he came Kapler returned to his homeland. Administration shows a player in the last and least desirable of the three groups.
First baseman Alex Cabrera, spent nine seasons in the minors with the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks, finally, his chance of playing in the 2000 Major League Baseball. In 31 games he hit 5 Homer runs, scored 10 runs, knocked in 14 RBI and .262 BA accumulated. Then, in 2001, Seibu Lions of the Japan Pacific League bought his contract from the Diamondbacks. For Cabrera it was the perfect move at exactly the right time.
Cabrera immediately became a star in Japan. In his first season he hit .282 with 124 RBI and 49 HR. In 2002, his second season he won the Pacific League MVP award and tied the single season homerun mark (55) set by the Babe Ruth of Japan, Sadaharu Oh. (Tuffy Rhodes, another former MLB player also tied the 2001 record in.)
In 2004, Cabrera hit two homeruns in game three, including a Grand Slam, and a massive to help things in the seventh game of the series in Japan, the Seibu Lions defeat the Chunichi Dragons 7-2 to lead his team their first championship since 1992.
Cabrera a dead .308 BA with 413 RBI and 147 HR in his first four years with the Lions. Life is great for the first baseman and he loves Japanese ball. Except for one thing. In a Interview with ESPN.com he acknowledged his frustration is not allowed, by Sadaharu Oh break record.
Cabrera stated that "All my teammates wanted me to record to break. Most of the players on other teams wanted me to break them, too. want to throw the cans, but I feel the managers and coaches do not let them. "
"She would not hold me Get it," he acknowledged. "All records are for the Japanese. The last 20 at-bats the season, I think I only saw one strike. "
There are aspects of the game with the MLB players have difficulty. Cabrera said it very clearly when he complained: "Here, if you hit a Home Run bat on first, they walk to the next three. In America, you get a chance to hit more home runs. You ask yourself. "
observed in the same article, former Japanese player and present Yankee Hideki Matsui, "In the past it has more of these Kind of injustice, "said Matsui, sympathizing with Cabrera." But it has declined in the last few years and I just hope that it will be better in the future is. "
Although the Lions Cabrera has found a home with, he is certainly ready to come back and play in America. In fact, he is anxious to prove that he hit big league curveballs - something scouts claim he can not - and 40-pound plus round trippers per season in the majors.
Lou Merloni and Gabe Kapler both have their time in Japan for the same reasons and with similar results. Merloni and Kapler were enticed by the missed opportunity to play every day, something that had them when they were both with the Boston Red Sox.
In 2000, the Yokohama Bay Stars Merloni with the understanding he would be the team the regular third baseman. But the player he would replace the team decided to stay with, and so Merloni spent much of the season on the bench. Although he found it a frustrating season, He also thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience.
The game is pretty much the same, unless there is a rule prohibiting tie games, more than Three extra innings, which means the game is a draw. First there are the pre-game workouts and warm-ups, lasting hours. Then there's all the cigarette smoke - Japanese Player Light very much. There's also the fact that if the club is on the way to the hotel each dress for the game on because it has no visiting locker rooms.
The media is not tired of asking the third baseman, if he want to marry a Japanese woman. When Merloni answered questions, he often felt his translator was his Processing of comments to reporters' queries.
Together with the possibility of an everyday player there's the bump in salary a player who the states have been realized in. They usually make six to 10 times what they made in MLB! That's quite a payday. After Japan, Merloni came back to the Red Sox and played go for it and the AAA team for the next three seasons before on several other major league clubs. He seemed like he might have found season starting in 2003 Role with San Diego part way through that, but after 65 games, they dealt him back to the BoSox.
Gabe Kapler was in 2005 provided an opportunity, in a similar, and like Merloni, he took it. With a contract for approximately $ 2,000,000, assessed the utility outfielder culture was always excited to play every day and experience a completely others. But after he seemed a part of Boston's first World Series winning team in 86 years, Japanese ball home to spark his game playing.
Missing were overly expressive fans, the rich heritage and the Knock 'Em Down rivalries. Kapler also meet the expectations and was on the bench in the second Half of the season. When he returned to the States and was signed by Boston for the rest of the 2005 season, he was overjoyed, how many Red Sox fans, who always admired Kapler's hustle, work ethic and intelligent play.
In a strange twist of fate, outfielder, who was on first base when Tony Graffanino Homer arrived tore the Achilles tendon after rounding his second. As Kapler lay in the base path and not get up in excruciating pain, it was clear that his 2005 season was over.
In 2006, he was no longer on a major league squad and was neither Merloni, who had played a utility role with Cleveland in 2004. For both players, Japan is never run, while Alex Cabrera has achieved more than most Japanese players. The irony is that for Cabrera, despite his winning ways, the Japanese League will never accept it. The non-acceptance, the player seems strange to contribute to all is one thing that definitely separates baseball in Japan from baseball in America.
About the Author
This article was written by Paul Mroczka sponsored by http://www.stubhub.com/. If you're looking for tickets to see your favorite teams live in action, look no further than Stubhub.com where fans buy and sell the hottest baseball tickets. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.stubhub.com/