I’m not going to lie to you. My first impressions of Katsuya Nomura were not good. I remember him calling Masahiro Tanaka a god while he managed the team (I’m not a big fan of deification), and then the very first Japanese baseball book I read was his scathing analysis of why Hanshin will never be a winner. Sounds like a dad who has given up on his son, doesn’t it?
Anyhow, since then, I have learned more about the game and its history, and have seen how much Nomura knows and cares about baseball. Not only is he the second-most prolific home run hitter in league history, but he is one of the game’s more successful managers.
This book, called 野球のコツ (Yakyu no kotsu) and published in 2014, is divided into nine parts (one per inning?) and explains some of the ins and outs of baseball. Now, if you are an expert of the game (either as a player or coach or analyst), perhaps this book doesn’t have as much to offer you as it did to me. But I appreciate how it was broken down, and how it introduced a whole slew of players I had never heard of before, plus told stories of guys I had previously read about.
Chapter by chapter, he gives bits of baseball advice, based on his experience playing with and against players of old, plus his experience managing some guys, plus his point of view while he watches yet other guys.
1) Pitching: the importance of control, how to handle different counts, what adding another offspeed pitch will do, and more.
2) Hitting: Four types of hitters, how to hit offspeed stuff, how to better execute hit-and-runs, how to transfer your weight, more.
3) Catching: One eye on the ball, one on the batter, three zones and what type of results to expect, why and how to throw the same pitch consecutively to the same hitter, more.
4) Base stealing: From the runner’s POV (what to look for), the catcher’s POV, and from the pitcher’s POV.
5) Defense: Infielders, the importance of pitchers who can field, outfielders, more.
6) Managers: How to develop players (when to ignore, praise, reprimand them), the difficulty of being a player-manager, more.
7) Front Office: How to build a roster, finding the ultimate utility and role players, the importance of supporting coaches, more.
8) Data in Baseball: Importance of blood type (?), using scorer (advance scout) information, more.
9) Rebuilding: Trades, converting players (new positions), developing raw talent, revamping declining veterans, more.
As I said earlier, this is not just Nomura preaching what he knows. This is him giving baseball lessons while exploring how they played out in the careers of individual players he teamed up with, played against, managed and observed. Naturally, there is plenty of first-person narrative about how he grew in all of these areas as a player and manager.
While not really a Bible of baseball know-how or biographies, it definitely gave me a fuller idea of who has shaped the game and how. Most importantly, it has added to my respect and appreciation for one of the most influential men in the history of baseball in Japan. Good instructional booklet for a wannabe like me.