Japanese Baseball
With Shohei Ohtani hitting MLB this year, and trying to pitch as well as hit, I think it's interesting to look back at a little of Japanese baseball history. The game has a rich history in Japan, and I would be remiss if I didn't inform my readers that I am a 4th Generation Japanese-American. I have been to several games in Japan, and the atmosphere there is second to none. People drum and play trumpet, yelling all game long, even when the outcome is all but decided. I used this big plastic clapper thing that I smashed together all game long to make as much noise as possible. The games are fantastic. I would also recommend "You Gotta Have Wa" by Robert Whiting, which is a very good and easily accessible read about Japanese Baseball.
While people are making comparisons between Ohtani and Babe Ruth, which is understandable given the pitching/hitting dichotomy, we shouldn't forget about the "Real" Japanese Babe Ruth, Sadaharu Oh. He played his entire career for the Yomiyuri Giants (think: the Japanese New York Yankees) and smashed 868 home runs. He also happens to be Chinese-Japanese in ancestry and overcame significant barriers in his professional life to be one of the best hitters of all time. We'll never know how he would have done in MLB, but he was well respected by his American contemporaries, including Hank Aaron. There's been a little shade thrown on his single season record (now since broken), but he's on record as requesting his pitchers to throw strikes to those batters threatening the record. Noone has come close to his career record.
He's also been a tremendous ambassador to the game, and continues to be involved on the national and international level. I'd love to see him in a modern set, but the cards I have of him seem to be from old baseball card convention/show where he signed a number of phone cards, back when phone cards were a thing. If anyone has a line on some other stuff, I'd definitely be game.
While people are making comparisons between Ohtani and Babe Ruth, which is understandable given the pitching/hitting dichotomy, we shouldn't forget about the "Real" Japanese Babe Ruth, Sadaharu Oh. He played his entire career for the Yomiyuri Giants (think: the Japanese New York Yankees) and smashed 868 home runs. He also happens to be Chinese-Japanese in ancestry and overcame significant barriers in his professional life to be one of the best hitters of all time. We'll never know how he would have done in MLB, but he was well respected by his American contemporaries, including Hank Aaron. There's been a little shade thrown on his single season record (now since broken), but he's on record as requesting his pitchers to throw strikes to those batters threatening the record. Noone has come close to his career record.
He's also been a tremendous ambassador to the game, and continues to be involved on the national and international level. I'd love to see him in a modern set, but the cards I have of him seem to be from old baseball card convention/show where he signed a number of phone cards, back when phone cards were a thing. If anyone has a line on some other stuff, I'd definitely be game.
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