From 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 Earlier this month, I had the privilege of being invited to Koshien Stadium two times in three days. Both were job requests of sorts, so I had an agenda upon arriving at the ballpark. The first of these was CNN – that’s right, Cable News Network. They…
From 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 The Hanshin Tigers have begun their first season as defending champions in 38 years. That said, to date (April 4), they have not looked much like victors. That said, we’ve only just begun. I have promised myself to not get too high or too low after any…
From 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 You know you’ve found the perfect job when you find yourself shaking your head going, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this. Honestly, I’d do it for free.” At the end of February, I found myself in exactly that situation. (Don’t tell my boss what…
From 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 Ever feel like you didn’t belong somewhere? Like you were way out of your league? I bet the young Hanshin Tigers players are feeling just that as they head to spring training. I mean, they are standing alongside the champions of Nippon Professional Baseball and trying to…
From 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 This offseason, just like so many in the past, has left baseball fans pining for the return of their favorite pastime. At the same time, two of Japan’s most hallowed playing grounds were converted into a different surface for one game that would determine a different sort…
From 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 The Hanshin Tigers have won the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years, ending the second-longest drought in NPB. (The Carp have now gone 39 seasons without a championship, and will be playing for their first in 40 years next season.) Thanks in large part…
From 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 The Hanshin Tigers have been having themselves a dream season, winning their first Central League pennant in 18 years and sweeping their way through the Final Stage of the Climax Series. On the other side of NPB, the Orix Buffaloes won the Pacific League by a long…
The professional baseball Climax Series is underway and things are heating up. The Hanshin Tigers won their first Central League pennant in 18 years. Through covering the team, we have come across various passionate fans. What exactly draws them to the team so powerfully? This time, we look at a foreigner and an artisan, and…
Source: Sankei Newspaper (October 4, 2023) “What’s All the Ruckus About?” A Canadian Delivers Tigers News as Kansai Celebrates Hanshin’s Pennant The passionate fan base of the Hanshin Tigers, winners of the Central League pennant for the first time in 18 years, is not limited to Kansai or even Japan. A Canadian living in Nishinomiya,…
From 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 So this is what it feels like to be a fan of the champs. The Tigers nation, myself included, is still basking in the glory of it all, in part because of the frantic pace at which the team went from tenuously holding the lead in the…