In case you missed it, there was a bit of a brouhaha in the middle of last night’s game. With runners on first (Jefry Marte) and second (Koji Chikamoto) and Teruaki Sato at the plate in the top of the fifth, play stopped mid-at-bat. Voices from both benches were raised to the point that they could no longer be ignored by the umpire. Check this out:
So it would seem that Chikamoto was allegedly signaling to Sato that the catcher was setting up inside. Swallows third baseman Munetaka Murakami noticed and pointed it out. To which Hanshin manager Akihiro Yano apparently said, “ゴチャゴチャ言うなや！ 絶対やってへんわ！ ボケ！ アホ！” (Roughly: Quit talking nonsense! We don’t play like that, you idiot! Fool!) Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu allegedly replied, “それなら動くな！” (Roughly: Then tell your guy to stop moving like that!) The umpire stopped play and they talked things over like good gentlemen do. No fisticuffs, no ejections. Still, fans wondered what had just happened.
Yano explained it a little in his post-game interview:
“This is what you really wanted to ask me, right, more than anything else? When they saw how Chikamoto was moving at second base, they misconceived that he was sending signals to the batter. Even while I was a player, but now as a manager too, I have never done stolen signs. If I am found to have done that, I will accept any discipline or punishment imposed on me. I am happy to just play the game straight up, winning fair and square. If I were to cheat or anything, and if I won the game or the pennant or whatever, I could never be happy with myself or the result. I could not puff out my chest and say I am a winner. I absolutely do not want to play that style of baseball… and it (both managers coming out of the dugouts and talking) came to that point, and from their perspective, Chikamoto’s movements were suspicious-looking enough to bring it up. I was not watching Chikamoto, but our coaches said, ‘maybe there was something in how he moved that would warrant suspicion.’ So thinking about it calmly, when they say what they say, the only response I can give is, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong.’ Of course, like I said, I confirmed with our coaches that the way Chikamoto moved might have caused the other team some doubt. But to think that we are cheating, is really unfortunate. We obviously will not steal signs from now on, just as we never have. Doing that does not even enter our minds, not at all. If you want to call Chikamoto’s movements ‘misleading’ then perhaps there are some things we need to work on to improve. That’s all I have to say about this topic for today. Are you satisfied?”
It is written in the NPB rulebook, that neither managers, coaches, scouts, scorers, or base runners are permitted to send any kind of message to the batter or any of the base runners. If Chikamoto had that intention, then he is in the wrong. I would love to hear what he has to say about this incident, though I doubt we ever will get that privilege.
In case you want to see another angle, I found this on YouTube: