Hanshin Tigers English News
Ride the Tiger - 騎虎之勢
HTEN: Today we are privileged to talk with a legend of Japanese baseball. He played in the Osaka area primarily, with the Hankyu/Orix Braves, which ultimately became the Orix Buffaloes. We welcome none other than Greg “Boomer” Wells, who was a superstar with the team back in the 1980s. Mr. Wells, thanks for joining us today.
BW: Thank you for having me.
From America to Japan
HTEN: It’s our pleasure. I was doing some reading up on your past, and I noticed you were drafted in the NFL as well. Can you tell us a little about your football history?
BW: Yeah, I played college football at Albany State in Georgia, and was drafted by the New York Jets. But I got hurt in the preseason, and that sort of ended my football career. It just so happened I was a better baseball player than I was football player, and so the rest is history.
HTEN: You were with the Blue Jays for awhile, and then the Minnesota Twins. How did you go from the MLB to joining Hankyu?
BW: Well, I was playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, and Minnesota just sold me to Hankyu. I had no choice in the matter. Basically, they made me go to Japan. I was feeling like they should have traded me or something. But once I got over to Japan and started playing baseball, I really enjoyed it. My thing is that I just enjoyed playing baseball regardless of where I was, and the fans over there were so great and I loved it over there. I played my best the whole time.
HTEN: Well, ten years, led the league in RBIs four of those seasons, led in home runs once, won a Triple Crown. You even won a pennant in your second year with the Hankyu Braves, is that right?
BW: Right.
HTEN: So before you came to Japan, I heard that you talked to Charlie Manuel, and you got a little information from him before you came over?
BW: Right, Charlie Manuel was one of my coaches, a roving batting instructor in the States, and he talked a lot about Japan. He kept saying, “You’ll see” when I was with the Twins. I never thought that he meant that the Twins were going to sell me to Japan, but I guess maybe he already knew that. But what he said came true.
HTEN: What were some of the things he told you about Japanese baseball that stuck with you, or maybe were hard to believe when you heard?
BW: He told me one story that in one game, his team was getting a lot of hits off this pitcher, and scoring a lot of runs. The manager called timeout, came out and changed the catcher. And after that, they stopped hitting the pitcher so well. I thought he was just joking, but when I came to Japan, well, I can’t remember who we were playing… it might have been spring training, maybe against the Tigers. We were hitting the pitcher really good, and scoring lots of runs. There was a timeout, and they changed the catcher, and I remembered what Charlie had told me, and I was like, “Wow!”
HTEN: What were your expectations when you came to Japan, and how were those expectations met (or not met)?
BW: I sort of had an open mind. I didn’t have any set expectations about what it was going to be like, because I wanted to see for myself. I didn’t really ask other people who had played over there what it was like. So when I came over, I was just going to roll with the punches and see what it was going to be like. I didn’t expect the spring training to be so rigorous. I like to think I was in shape when I first got over here, but I learned that regardless of what kind of shape I was in when I came to Japan, I was never in enough shape! I used to joke about when I would come home and start working out right away. I was getting in shape in order to get in shape for Japan! People were like, “What?” I said, “Regardless of how many miles I run or whatever exercises I do, I am still not in the kind of shape that I’m going to end up being in once I get to Japan and go through the training.”
HTEN: So the rigorous training was obviously quite hard. What were some of the benefits that you felt from going through that, as opposed to what you would have gone through in America?
BW: Well, you were in better shape, lasted longer during the season, and didn’t get tired during the year. I always enjoyed running anyways, and what people in Japan didn’t realize is that once the season was over with, I’d go home and I’d take maybe two or three weeks off, and then I’d start training for the next season.
Memories of Japan
HTEN: Can you tell me about some memories you have of your managers or teammates?
BW: Well, (Toshiharu) Ueda-san was the best manager I ever had. Even the other foreigners that played in Japan used to always tell me, “You got the best manager to play for.” As long as you worked hard and played hard, he left you alone. He noticed from the first day I got over there, that I was going to work hard and play hard, so he’d just sit back and watch me play. He gave me hints on baseball in Japan, so it was always easy to play for him. He was a hands-off type unless he really needed to tell me something. Chico Barbon, my interpreter, made it easier for me to transition from American baseball to Japanese baseball. Regardless of what you might think, it is different! So I listened to Barbon, I listened to Ueda-san; they were the main people that I listened to.
HTEN: So you were here at the same time and living in basically the same area as Randy Bass when he was with the Hanshin Tigers. Did you have any connection with him?
BW: Yeah, Randy was a good friend of mine. He was the other league, but we used to compare notes and stuff. When he was going for his Triple Crown, he was saying that he was hurting. He asked me what I thought, and I told him that he should keep playing. Because if he took any time off, somebody would make sure that another guy would catch him in one of those categories. And so he kept playing and he ended up winning it that year.
HTEN: Speaking of Triple Crowns, you became the first foreigner ever to win one in 1984. What was that like? Obviously, only a handful of guys have ever done that. Was there any other official recognition or accolades poured on you?
BW: Well, I won MVP that year, and just about every award that was given out, I won that year. Our pitcher (Yutaro) Imai was having a good year, I think he won like 21 games. And although I was leading the league in those categories, they basically told me that if I didn’t win the Triple Crown, that Imai was going to be the MVP. So I had a challenge. (Hiromitsu) Ochiai (Lotte – Triple Crown winner in 1982, 85, 86) was always a challenge, and it got to a point where if Ochiai didn’t swing at a pitch, it wasn’t called a strike. And it was great to see (Braves pitcher Hisashi) Yamada, who never complained about pitches, ever, actually complained when we played Lotte and he threw some good pitches to Ochiai but didn’t get the called strikes. I felt good about that, because he never complained before then. Until then, if the umpire would call a ball on his good pitches, the catcher would complain and Yamada would stand on the mound and flip his glove like, “Give me the ball, let’s go. Come on, give me the ball, it’s OK.” But when he threw a strike to Ochiai and he took it and the umpire called it a ball, he complained. That was great to see.
HTEN: Sounds like a good teammate. Was 1984 your best memory, your best time in NPB, or was there something else that stood out?
BW: Well, I basically have great memories of the whole time I was there. I made great friends, and when I first went over there, I went over with Bump Wills. Bump was the major leaguer, a free agent. I was sort of like an afterthought, so all the older players gravitated towards Bump, and I basically hung with the young guys, so it was myself, (Hiromi) Matsunaga, (Kazuhiko) Ishimine, (Hiromasa) Fujita, (Masafumi) Yamamori, (Osamu) Yonemura… those guys. We sort of gravitated toward each other, hung out, and talked and laughed together. Once the older guys saw that I played hard every day, wanted to win, and did whatever it took to win, then they started pulling me in, and gravitating toward me, and we got to be more of a team than we were before. Usually, the young guys didn’t really associate with the older guys, except for the respect aspect of it, you know, getting them coffee and stuff like that. Ueda-san would see that, and he enjoyed it. He saw that everybody started coming together, we’d all laugh and talk while we exercised. But sometimes I’d come to the ballpark, and I wouldn’t be in the mood to joke and laugh, and I’d keep to myself. Ueda-san would call Barbon to come and find out what was up. I’d say, “There’s nothing wrong!” And he’d go back and tell him, and later on, Ueda-san would say to me, “Something’s wrong. You’re not laughing and joking like you always do, so something must be wrong.” I’d say, “I don’t joke and laugh ALL the time. Sometimes I am a little serious. I have things on my mind. If I went 0-for-3 the day before, I’m not in a joking mood!” But I sometimes felt like I had to put on a face and laugh and joke even when I didn’t feel like it, just so they would stop bugging me and asking if I was sick or something.
Life Away from the Field
HTEN: Sounds like you had a good time on the field. Let’s talk about life off the field. What were some of your favorite foods while you were living in the Osaka area?
BW: Oh, I liked the tempura and unagi. The teppanyaki, we had this favorite place called Onishi’s in Kobe. It was great! Great food. Basically, I enjoyed all the food in Japan, but there was one I never tried, and I didn’t want to try. Yamada and (Yutaka) Fukumoto, they wanted me to try the pufferfish. I said, “I don’t want to try that. If they cut it wrong, it’s poison. I don’t want to try it!” They’d say, “But it’s really good! And the chef is really good!” And I said, “Yeah but the chef has been doing shots of sake with us ever since we’ve been here, so no, I don’t trust him now, I’m sorry, I don’t want any of that. Thanks but no thanks!” And I never tried it.
HTEN: What about spending time out on the town? Were there any favorite hangouts in Osaka or Kobe?
BW: When I was in Kobe, I had a friend that was from Atlanta, he sang at a place called Garage Paradise. And the foreign players, whenever they were in town, we’d all meet up there and have some drinks and laugh and listen to him sing.
HTEN: What about The Attic, where Marty Kuehnert was?
BW: Yeah, we used to hang out at The Attic, because as you know, it was a foreign bar, and Marty would always invite us to hang out at the Attic, so there and Garage Paradise were the two places we used to hang out.
Visiting Korea in 2020…
HTEN: So what are you up to now? Obviously, you retired in 1992, and what has life been like since then? What have you been up to stateside?
BW: Well, I give hitting instructions to different people when I am called to, but other than that, just relaxing, traveling, and that’s about it.
HTEN: Is that the purpose of you being in Korea right now? Are you traveling, or is there something going on there?
BW: No, my daughter lives in Korea. She’s getting ready to have our first grandchild!
HTEN: Congratulations!
BW: We’re here for that.
HTEN: What is she doing in Korea?
BW: She teaches. She’s married, and getting ready to have our first grandchild!
HTEN: Do you think her having spent her early childhood in Japan influenced her to head out to Korea?
BW: Well… (woman’s voice in the background) Yes!
BW: She can hear you, she said, yes it did. Haha. I know it influenced her in traveling. She loves to travel, so…
HTEN: How long was she in Japan? How old was she when you guys left?
BW: She was five when we left.
HTEN: So, are you keeping up at all with Japanese baseball, anything going on currently?
BW: Yeah, I don’t keep as much as I used to. I always pull for Orix, but they always seem to be a little short every year. I’d love to help them. I’d love to be a spring training instructor or something like that to help them out, but I can only offer, and hope that they would accept my services and bring me in. But I don’t know.
HTEN: I noticed just looking at your stats, your numbers, that it looks like you never struck out more than 43 times in a full season. What do you attribute that to?
BW: Well, I was always blessed with great eyesight, and I always worked on my hand-eye coordination. Also, my father was my baseball coach when I was in high school. He used to tease my brother and I about striking out, so we never wanted to strike out. He would always tell us, “If you’re going to go down on a strikeout, you may as well swing!” So we never took a third strike, that’s for sure! But we didn’t like striking out either way.
HTEN: Well, I don’t have any contact with Orix, but I would definitely love to see them call you in and help with spring training or something. Obviously, it’s too late for this year, but maybe down the road sometime, or fall camp or something. With your daughter just across the pond, it would be a two-in-one! You come here and teach a little baseball, and then you go there and you visit your… is it going to be a grandson or granddaughter?
BW: Granddaughter.
HTEN: There you go! Excellent. Well hey, I appreciate you taking the time to chat with us today. I don’t want to keep you much longer, but thanks for taking the time to catch up with you. I really appreciate it.
BW: My pleasure.
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