Based on the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから
“Hats off to you, James, because you’ve been able to do something that I have put off for too long. You wrote a book. You’re a published author. If nothing else, you’ve got something to show your kids and grandkids and say, ‘I wrote this.’”
Not only does James McKnight have two books to his name (Yellow & Black Fever and its sequel, Bad Foreigner), but he’s had the first of those translated into Japanese so that the nation that probably cares the most about its content will be able to enjoy it.
Backtrack to 2000, when McKnight made a trip out to Japan with his family. During their stay in Osaka, James branched off on his own and found his way to Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo. Now, the Tigers were not a good team back then — not by any means — but that did not stop this tourist from having the time of his life. He even befriended some local fans, one of whom would later become the best man at his wedding. Nicknamed O’Malley in the book and one of its primary characters, he had this to say about getting to know McKnight: “We were the first Japanese people he got close to. We acted so crazy in the ballpark, and we were so crazy at parties after games. For a long time, he misunderstood that we weren’t typical Japanese. It wasn’t until he found a job in Japan and made friends there that he realized that we (Tigers fans) were special among Japanese people.”
As O’Malley alluded to, in 2001, McKnight found himself in a spot that was extremely similar to my own situation in 1998: new to Japan, filled with excitement but also with a tinge of loneliness. Though McKnight was stationed in Midori City, Gunma (a few hours north of Tokyo), he still made frequent trips to Koshien to cheer for his new favourite team: the Hanshin Tigers. A native of Tucson, Arizona, McKnight was definitely not your typical baseball fan.
“I cheered for the Cleveland Indians, who held their spring training near Tucson. Back then, it was really easy to get close to the players: autographs, broken bats, baseballs… a kid’s dream come true!”
So really, rooting for a lousy team that was situated nowhere near his own home base was nothing new to McKnight.
Long story short, upon returning to America in 2013, McKnight started sharing his story — orally — with his friends and really, to anyone who would give him the chance to talk about Japan and the Tigers. “This is really good! You should publish this!” People often urged McKnight to put his stories into print, and fortunately for him, the journals he had kept while sitting at his desk as an Assistant Language Teacher, pretending to work, were excellent primary source material for what has turned into two books, and may even merit a third! (Again, I can relate completely to the mundane ‘pretending to work’ aspect of ALT life in Japan from my early years here!)
McKnight’s stories are not just about the Tigers, though. They are about friendship, love, fitting in, overcoming hardship, and so much more. Former Tigers infielder George Arias, also a Tucson native, concurs. “It’s great that he is able to share this story with people about what it takes to overcome the language and cultural barrier in Japan. I could relate to it, having been there myself.” The two of them got to know each other when McKnight went searching for Arias, who used to have a baseball training facility in Tucson. (Note: Arias now scouts for the Yomiuri Giants, with whom he also played in 2006.)
If you need something to do this offseason while waiting for baseball to resume in 2023 (and let’s face it, we’re all counting down the days… right?), why not pick up a book or two that will help you better understand what life as a Tigers fan was all about at the turn of the century?