I was fortunate enough to have pretty good seats at Thursday night’s Hanshin vs. Yokohama tilt. I was also lucky to have my camera on the new import Eric Campbell for his entire at bat that ended in his first career RBI. Check it out:
After every Hanshin Tigers win, the crowd (especially in the right field stands) sing through the cheer songs of all that day’s starting lineup, followed by the team song, Rokko Oroshi. Here’s a video from after today’s win.
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…
The obvious top choice for the draft appeared to be pitcher Seigi Tanaka (from Soka University). Five of the 12 clubs entered the draw: the Fighters, Hawks, Marines, Carp and Giants. In other words, the five teams that finished above .500 this season. Whether the other teams chickened out or had other obvious needs is…
Today, August 13, is Randy Messenger‘s 35th birthday. Happy birthday, big fella! We are so fortunate to have such a steady guy as the anchor of the pitching staff. Here’s a little run-down of Randy’s Hanshin accomplishments: Longest serving foreigner in club history (tied with Jeff Williams and Gene Bacque, but not for long!) Second…
I got notice from one John Gunning (who covers sumo in English in Japan and does it quite well) that he wanted to start to promote sports in Japan to more of a global audience. So he asked me if he could interview me and post the video to his YouTube channel. Of course I…
I stood outside the clubhouse waiting for pitchers to walk past me. Hoped to get a comment or two from the foreign pitchers. Randy Messenger snubbed me, I double-pressed “record” when Marcos Mateo walked past so I got 0.5 seconds of video of him. Rafael Dolis actually said “thank you” to me. That is all….
Here’s a video I did just before the real activities took place on Day 3 of Spring Training…
Here’s a brief look at some of the bullpen pitching I watched over the first couple of days at spring training. Apparently Kyuji Fujikawa was the first man in the pen on Day 1, and then on Day 2 it was Akifumi Takahashi. But once again, Atsushi Nohmi blows everyone away with his work ethic….
The Hanshin Tigers have re-opened their 2016 Official Fan Club for applications. You can apply any time from now until May 22. For details, go to this webpage. If you live overseas or have problems with reading Japanese, send me an e-mail (info@thehanshintigers.com) and I will try to help you out. In the meantime, enjoy…