fujinami

Episode 198: We Got What They Want; We Want What They Got

Episode 198: We Got What They Want; We Want What They Got

Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay fill your ears with team news, the import report, a farm round-up, all the latest Tigers baseball action, our Players of the Month for March/April, and talk about which respects our team is better (and worse) than the competition. All that and more! Check out Koji Chikamoto’s new endeavor, mentioned at…

Episode 191: Why the Tigers Won’t Repeat in 2024

Episode 191: Why the Tigers Won’t Repeat in 2024

Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay share the team’s latest news, including the scoop on the four import players, and Shintaro Fujinami’s signing, and then discuss some of the factors that might result in the team not repeating as CL champs this year. Don’t worry – Episode 192 will look at the flip side of this issue!…

Toreba no Toraba: Foreign Hanshin Fans Across Japan

Toreba no Toraba: Foreign Hanshin Fans Across Japan

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから So this is what it feels like to be a fan of the champs. The Tigers nation, myself included, is still basking in the glory of it all, in part because of the frantic pace at which the team went from tenuously holding the lead in the…

Episode 180: Long Road Trips – Now and Then

Episode 180: Long Road Trips – Now and Then

Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last eight games of Tigers baseball, select their players of the month for July, and look at how the annual August road trip has changed over the years. How many cities did the 1955 road trip span? How long were they away from Koshien? Listen along and…

Obituary: Shintaro Yokota (1995-2023)

Obituary: Shintaro Yokota (1995-2023)

Source: Sanspo The Hanshin Tigers announced the death of former player Shintaro Yokota on the 18th. He was just 28 years old. Yokota was selected in the second round of the 2013 draft out of Kagoshima Jitsugyo High. He made his top-squad debut on Opening Day 2016 against the Chunichi Dragons, batting second. In 2017,…

Episode 179: Manager Okada – Pass or Fail?

Episode 179: Manager Okada – Pass or Fail?

Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last eleven games of Tigers baseball, select their players of the month for June, and evaluate the three facets of NPB managers that Akinobu Okada must fulfill, according to author and anthropologist William Kelly (see my book review here). Check out our Japanese podcast here in video…

Episode 178: School’s Out! Report Card Time!

Episode 178: School’s Out! Report Card Time!

Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last nine games of Tigers baseball, select their players of the month for June, and give all the main Hanshin Tigers players their summer vacation report card grades with some explanations. You can tell that one of us is a teacher! What grades would you have given?…

Toreba no Toraba: Fuji’s Translator Issei!

Toreba no Toraba: Fuji’s Translator Issei!

From our Daily Sports Online column (Japanese) / デイリースポーツの連載コラムから Fujinami: 思いっきり腕を振って勝負していきたい (Omoikkiri ude wo futte sho-bu shite ikitai) Translator: Swing my arm and do what I can do and… do my best. Huh? That doesn’t sound like good baseball English! Come on, translator! You’d be better off saying something like, umm… omoikkiri… hang on a…

Gone in 2022, New in 2023

Gone in 2022, New in 2023

Happy New Year to everyone out there. We are slowly but surely creeping closer to the start of spring training, which means it is time to catch everyone up to speed on roster movements that have taken place between the last playoff game of 2022 and the beginning of official team workouts in 2023! Here…