The book’s full title is Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, & Assassination During the 1934 Tour of Japan. Prior to buying this book, I had heard of Robert K. Fitts and had even read parts of one of his other books, “Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game.” This title came highly recommended…
My original purpose for buying this book was that I thought it would provide me with good introduction fodder for my podcast. I took different clips from the book, paraphrased them, and reported that “Hanshin Tigers fans all around the world gathered to cheer for the team that…” followed by said quirky moment/player in team…
It’s the offseason, and in my attempt to step away from the Tigers for a bit (this never TRULY happens, mind you), I pulled this book off my Kindle shelf and started to read through it. The book takes a look at how the sport – invented by America and exported to Japan – made…
Everybody loves a scandal. And every Hanshin Tigers fan knows that this club never goes very long between scandals. This quick but entertaining read takes fans back in time and presents a clear vantage point on some of the issues that have plagued the club since its inception. While I do wish the team had…
Last year I posted a list of 8 books that I had hoped to plow through during the offseason. I got through most of them, plus a few extras I picked up along the way, and just a day after the 2017 season ended, I completed the final book from that list. Well, I have…
As most of you know, the Hanshin Tigers experienced a long drought between 1986 and 2002. The team had just one 2nd place finish during that spell against 10 last place seasons. They became known as ダメ虎 (Dame Tora = Awful Tigers) and looked to be perennial losers until the end of time. Not only…
When I was looking for a good book to read around this time last year, I happened to also hear about (and soon thereafter, befriend) former Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles GM Marty Kuehnert. I checked his site, saw that he had written a bunch of books, and found a couple of titles that caught my…
In a way, the book title says it all – this is a complete summary of the Hanshin Tigers’ 1965 through 1978 seasons. But actually, it starts the tale in the fall of 1958, when the team signed the best pitcher in its history – Minoru Murayama. After brief recaps of the first seasons in…
Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from all the NPB (and Hanshin Tigers) related books and dive into something a little bit lighter, fluffier, funnier. Dirk Hayhurst tells his life story as a minor leaguer who dreamed of making it to the bigs someday. Written with zest and urbanity but also a casualness that…
I know, I know. I’m following baseball this closely, but have not read perhaps the most important book written about the sport this century? Yes, I’m behind the times. You’re right. I’m humble enough to admit it. One of the premises of this book is that the estimation of players’ values has been looked at…