Daily Sports Column (Japanese) here / トレバーの虎場（デイリースポーツ）から I can still remember July 1998 like it was yesterday. I wouldn’t call myself traumatized by what happened. Just shell-shocked. I had just come to Okinawa, Japan, and the town Board of Education threw me a welcome party. There I was, sitting at a table with a bunch…
From T-Ray’s Daily Sports Column (Japanese) / トレバーの虎場（デイリースポーツ）から I can’t remember the exact day it dawned on me that I would never be a professional athlete, but I clearly recall my ambitions changing very quickly from athletic to journalistic. Like, if I could not be in that locker room celebrating a Stanley Cup with my…
As always, I feel like I need to preface my criticisms with a clarification: I am not a baseball player, coach, manager, front office person. Never have been. Probably never will be. As such, my words do not hold a whole lot of weight. Let me also say that I was excited about Tomoaki Kanemoto‘s…
Hanshin has recently announced the signing of first baseman Jason Rogers. Apparently he is quite excited to be joining the team, as he answered a random fan’s direct messages on Twitter about his arrival date (before the deal was officially announced), and simply tweeted the words “Hanshin Tigers!!” a day later. (The tweet has since…
Hanshin’s slogan for the 2016 season was 超変革 (chohenkaku) – ultra reform. The idea was that the team’s attitude and atmosphere under manager Tomoaki Kanemoto would change. Gone would be the old way of thinking, of practicing, of reflecting on games won and lost. In would be a new work ethic. Practice extremely hard but…
Some time before the end of the year, I hope to post a top 10 Hanshin Tigers stories of 2016 article… but time is of the essence! In the meantime, here’s a shorter one for you: my personal five top moments as a follower of the team. And… here we go! 5) Going to spring…
Name: Matthew Donald Hague Name (Japanese): マット・ヘイグ Date of Birth: August 20, 1985 Position: Third Base Height: 191 cm (6’3″) Weight: 102 kg (225 lb) Throws/Bats: Right/Right Wore #: 36 Originally signed by: Pittsburgh Pirates, 2008 (Round 9) Joined the Tigers on: November 30, 2015 Released by the Tigers on: November 17, 2016 Walk-up Song: Drake – Big Team Cheer Song: …
Farewell to the 2016 Gaijin The Tigers made it official today. My hometown player, Matt Hague, is among the foreign-born players that won’t be returning to the Tigers in 2017. Honestly, it was to be expected. He only hit .231 with two home runs for Hanshin, and that’s after his 2015 season in Buffalo, where…
Original article can be found here 元の記事はこちら Hanshin officials divulged on the 15th that the team will not be signing infielder Mauro Gomez (32) to a contract next season. Team management has said they are “leaning towards cancelling his contract.” In his third year with the club, Gomez appeared in 139 games, hitting .255 with…
Message from T-Ray: Just for fun this offseason (and maybe into 2017 and beyond), I will be accepting writing pieces from outsiders who want to share their thoughts on the Tigers. If you’re interested, send your thoughts my way! t-ray@thehanshintigers.com Of course at first, all submissions must go through me, but I also want your…