An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
This is part two of a three-part interview series with some of the regulars from the NPB mainstream and independent media. Click here for part one: OYWI: NPB Moving Forward? After a detailed trip through some of the prevailing wisdom on NPB in general, which we’ll return to in the next edition of this interview [...]
Tokyo Swallows fans witnessed it all in 2010: the resumption of the 2009 slump which ended up consuming the first two months of 2010; a change in manager; the addition of a cleanup bat; veteran pitchers refinding their form; an authoritative return to winning; and a bit of flirtation with the third and final playoff spot. With any luck, 2011 [...]
Could #2 on the Tsubamegun‘s perennial wishlist come to fruition? Depends on how you see fervent denials. Jiji reported today that Susume Fujita, CEO of online ad agency CyberAgent, firmly denied that his firm had any plans to purchase the Swallows or that he had been approached by Yakult with such an offer. He also [...]
YakyuBaka reported this morning that the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, now led by media star Senichi Hoshino, have managed to lure Akinori Iwamura away from MLB. Iwamura has been quoted saying that he preferred to stay in North America but that he really just wanted to play for a team that needed him. I’d be very [...]
*Interested in buying this Swallows shirt? Get it in the SHOP. Not really news or anything, but it’s interesting to see who else around the world ‘gets’ the double meaning within the team name. This time around, it’s Johnny Knoxville showing some love both to the team and his baby boy, Rocco. With the new Jackass movie to [...]
There’s an article up today on the online version of the Daily Y*****i about our very own Josh Whitesell. Have yourselves a read, but remember to wash your screen down with disinfectant afterwards considering it’s source. Alternatively torch your computer and buy a new one just to be on the safe side.
Gen over at Yakyu Baka has put together a phenomenal, stats-laden post that compares the 2009 and 2010 production of Tokyo’s cleanup–Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel. The results don’t exactly jive with what the team and the media are saying about these guys. Most Japanese baseball aficionados won’t find it surprising that D’Antona and Guiel particularly [...]
The Japan Times‘s Jason Coskrey sounds off in the mainstream press on the futility of allowing Tokyo’s manager, Shigeru Takada, to keep his job until the end of the season. Valid points abound in the article, all of which are in lockstep with what has been uttered on this website and elsewhere. Here’s one choice [...]
Ryozo Kato, NPB commissioner and former Japanese ambassador to the United States (2001-08), is thinking big about the future of Japanese baseball, the dominance of the US in the baseball world, and how to grow baseball as a worldwide sport. Japan Times sports writer, Jason Coskrey, fills us in on what was said at a recent [...]
