While I enjoyed the first book I read by current Hanshin manager Tomoaki Kanemoto (Prepare and Proceed, 2008), I still questioned its timing. He was still mid-career and was not coming off any major event (championship, surgery, retirement, etc.). But this book is a different story. Written the offseason after he retired in 2012, this…
Full Title: The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports As a (relatively) casual fan of the game, and as an avid fantasy baseball player, the words “Tommy John” and “arm issues” were rather impersonal to me. They meant “look for another pitcher on the waiver wire” and “never draft this…
It’s not just that the Hanshin Tigers season is all but over. It’s also that I need good reading material for on train and bus rides (my commute to work is almost 2 hours one way). So I have a decent stock of books to get me through until next spring, or at least I…
If “You Gotta Have Wa” is the ultimate book to shed light on the American’s experience playing baseball in Japan, then “Cherry Blossoms Over the Stars and Stripes” is the opposite. Though likely not intended to be so, this book, written by Robert Whiting (of “Wa” fame) gives the Japanese audience a look into the…
This book, written by current manager (and former player) Tomoaki Kanemoto, is only a mystery to me because of when it was released. Kanemoto was still in his playing days and still extending his ironman streak from game to game, season to season, at this point. Why did he write a book and have it published…
Masayuki Kakefu is easily one of the most prolific and recognizable hitters and names in Hanshin Tigers history. He made his way into the heart of the order quite quickly after joining the club, and remained there for most of his playing years, which unfortunately ended too soon. For decades after his retirement, he mysteriously…
First of all, what is a “scorer” (スコアラー) anyways? Before picking up Hiroshi Miyake’s memoirs, I would not have thought of them as anything more than guys who keep track of each at bat in a game – tracing lines on a scoresheet to indicate which runners made it how far in every inning of…
Anyone who has followed Matt Murton while he played for the Hanshin Tigers knows that the man is a Christian, and a vocal one at that. While his faith may not appeal to everyone, there are certainly people within the Christian community that root for him based solely on his beliefs. Contrarily, there are people…
Former Hanshin Tigers manager (2004-2008) Akinobu Okada must have seen something in the Yutaka Wada regime that he couldn’t find in his successor, Akinobu Mayumi. Apparently the Tigers went from being a winner (2003 and 2005 Central League champs) to somewhat of a loser until 2013. Having become a sports analyst, he decided to write…
Now I’m going to sound like a spoiled child, but my father-in-law called up his daughter (my wife) the other day and said, “I found something your husband might be interested in. Can you come over sometime this week and check it out? If he wants it, it’s his. If not, that’s OK, I can…