Sutoraikku: A Japanese Baseball Primer

Here's some of what you should know in order to understand the spirit, style and "wa" of baseball in Japan.

KNOWING THE SCORE

Japanese professional baseball currently fields 12 teams in two six-team leagues. The Central League includes perennial powerhouse Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo. The Pacific League is led by the 1997 Japanese champions, the Orix Blue Wave of Kobe.

Every team has a single farm team in the 12-team minor leagues, divided into the Eastern League and Western League.

The Central and Pacific league champions play each year in the "Nihon Shirizu" - "Japan Series."

TALKING THE TALK

Gaijin - foreigner

Kiai wo ireteiko - "Show your fighting spirit."

Sutoraikku - strike

Sanshin - "three swings," a strikeout

Shinjin - "new man," a rookie

Sekihai - a regrettable defeat

Akkyuu - a wild pitch

Kabu - curveball

Ranningu homa - inside the park home run

Taimuri hitto - a clutch hit

Ganbatte - tough it out

Suketto - "helper," commonly a second-string gaijin

Shooto - screwball

Baka - stupid player

Wagamama - selfish player

Sayonara - winning run

A HISTORY LESSON

Baseball came to Japan in the mid-1800s and by the turn of the century, dozens of college and club teams played throughout the island nation. It wasn't until 1935 that the first pro team took the field, a club called Dai Nippon formed by the Yomiuri Shinbum, a large newspaper.

That same year, Babe Ruth and a group of traveling major league all-stars barnstormed through Japan, drawing huge crowds. The Babe hammed it up for the throngs, once playing in the outfield while holding a traditional Japanese parasol to ward off a rain shower.

Dai Nippon returned the favor in 1935, barnstorming through the Western United States, taking on Pacific League ballclubs and college teams.

When the players returned, club officials changed their name to the Giants in honor of the New York Giants, then one of the dominant clubs in the National League.

The first Japanese professional league started play in 1936 and has played every year with the exception of 1945. Even at the height of World War II, when the Japanese government was forcing entertainers to change their Westernized names and generally purging anything remotely American from the cultural lexicon, baseball went on until nearly the end of the war despite increasingly frequent bombings.

Nine months after the surrender aboard the USS Missouri, baseball was back for the 1946 season. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the American commander in occupied Japan, ruled that the game was important to instill American values of fair play and teamwork.

But to the Japanese, baseball remains their national game, showing their best traits: balance, patience and the common good triumphing over the desires of the individual.

"Baseball is more than just a game - it has eternal value," said Suishu Tobita, who helped popularize baseball in Japan during the mid-20th century. "Through it one learns the beautiful and noble spirit of Japan."

GAIJIN, OR THE BARBARIAN BATTERS

American minor leaguers have played in Japan since the 1930s.The trend of major leaguers going overseas to end their careers began in the early 1960s.

Japanese baseball rules allow each team to start up to three foreign players - two position players and a pitcher. The foreigners are popularly known as "gaijin" (pronounced "guy-jin").

Unlike past years, there is no big-name star from the States playing in Japanese baseball. Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell signed with the Hanshin Tigers, but has been on the disabled list since the start of the year.

Former Angel Bobby Rose of the Yokohama Baystars is an early Triple Crown contender, leading the Central League this year in batting (.386) and RBI (33) and fourth in home runs (10).

Ex-Mariner Alonzo Powell, now with the Chunichi Dragons, led the Central League last year in average (.340), hits (176) and doubles (42).

Balvino Galvez, a one-time Texas Ranger, was the Central League's top pitcher last year, with 16 wins and a 3.05 earned run average. He led the league in innings pitched and complete games and was third in shutouts.

Other current gaijin are ex-Tiger Mark Carreon with the Chiba Lotte Marines, former Los Alamitos High School standout Greg Pirkl with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, and ex-Cub Tuffy Rhodes with the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Former A's DH Troy Neel and ex-Angels pitcher Willie Fraser both play for the Orix Blue Wave.

New York Yankees slugger Cecil Fielder made going to Japan fashionable when, after a mediocre career, he came back from Japan and became the American League's top home-run hitter of the early 1990s.

GAIJIN OLD-TIMERS

Bearded and burly, one-time San Diego Padre Randy Bass is the best-known American in the history of the Japanese game.

After steady but unexceptional seasons in the States, Bass caught fire in Japan. In 1985, Bass came within one of tying legendary Sadaharu Oh's single-season home-run mark. With 54 home runs near the end of the season, Bass didn't see a decent pitch for the final games of the year.

He came back the next year to set the single-season batting average record with a .389 mark.

If Bass was the Babe Ruth of gaijin, former Cardinal Leon Lee was the Cal Ripken. While most gaijin spent a year or two in Japan, then retired or returned to the U.S. major leagues, Lee spent 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s playing for a number of teams. He became the unofficial housemother for new gaijin, the guy to see to learn the ropes or have the incomprehensible explained.

Other former American players who found a home in Japan include ex-Expo Warren Cromartie, who hit .378 in 1989. Jack Bloomfield hit .374 in 1962, while journeyman Larry Raines slapped 184 hits in 1954. Boomer Wells drove in 154 runs in 1984.

But for every player who made his mark there are dozens who came to Japan and made nary a splash. Bob Horner's frustrating single season in Japan with the Yakult Swallows was the centerpiece of "You Gotta Have Wa," the best book on Japanese baseball for American readers. The title refers to a song from "Damn Yankees," but replaces "heart" with "wa" - the Japanese concept of team harmony and balance.

Other gaijin who came and went in Japan include Matty Alou, Floyd Bannister, Don Blasingame, Clete Boyer, Glenn Davis, Rob Deer, Doug DeCinces, Larry Doby, Mike Easler, Rich Gossage, Frank Howard, Jack Howell, Rex Hudler, Pete Incaveglia, Davey Johnson, Jim Lefebvre, Bill Madlock, Don Newcombe, Ben Oglivie, Wes Parker, Joe Pepitone, Johnny Ray, R.J. Reynolds, Luis Sanchez, Reggie Smith and Willie Upshaw.

AMERICAN IMPORTS

Major League Baseball has begun to address the severe imbalance of trade among baseball players between Japan and the United States. With the success of Hideo Nomo and the continued expansion of baseball despite a shrinking pool of competent players, the number of Japanese making the jump to the United States is expected to grow.

DIFFERENCES IN TRANSLATION

Same bats. Same balls (albeit a bit smaller to accommodate Japanese hands). Same rule book, translated a century ago by a British missionary.

But scratch the surface of the usual AstroTurf-lined surface of a Japanese ballpark and you'll find something the Japanese have made very much their own.

Among the many differences:

-- Spring training: Spring training for American players is a time to get in shape. Players work out until they reach a peak performance level - but managers realize that pushing too far will tire their troops.

The Japanese go through a rigorous spring training that would make most American players race for the phone to file a protest with the players association. The practices go on through the season - and into the post-season.

-- Beloved ties: in American baseball, teams keep playing until one wins. Games of up to 26 innings have been played. Once the Atlanta Braves played so late on a July Fourth that the promised aftergame fireworks weren't set off until nearly dawn, causing the police switchboard to light up.

But in Japan, league rules dictate a limit on games. If a game is tied after 12 innings, it's a tie. Fans love the rare tie - it's a well-played contest in which no one "loses face" by being defeated.

-- The blame game: American players in a slump blame their manager, their bat, their cleats, their paycheck, their home life, the weather, the stadium, their teammates. Everyone but themselves.

In Japan, most players see a slump as a loss of will. If a player has a poor season, he may head off to the mountains for a spiritual retreat. Robert Whiting, in his seminal book "You Gotta Have Wa," told the story of pitcher Choji Murata, who would stand under an ice-cold waterfall on the Izu Peninsula for hours in Zen meditation. He hoped that by sheer force of will he could revive his injured pitching arm.

But only an operation by Dr. Frank Jobe, the California surgeon who resurrected Tommy John's career, did the trick.

-- A matter of style: The play on the field can be perplexing to American fans used to what former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver called the "two walks and a home run" style of American play.

With a few exceptions, teams seem to play a game straight out of the deadball era, plinking away at each other by eking out singles, then moving runners along one base at a time. If a hitter gets on base, the manager will often have the next batter bunt him over, even if it leaves first base open with a top power hitter coming up.

In the States, daring runners such as Brett Butler or Rickey Henderson will try to score all the way from first on a double. But in Japan, the coach would invariably put up a stop sign at third - no close plays at home are allowed. Gambling on the base paths is not in the spirit of "wa."

Few pitchers are fastball artists, prefering instead to lob a series of spinning, curving, dropping pitches with sometimes pinpoint accuracy. It is better to walk a batter than let him get a hit. Pitchers frequently run the count full to get batters to swing at pitches out of the strike zone.

HEY, YOU IN FRONT, SIT DOWN

Getting a seat to see a Japanese baseball game takes time, work and sometimes not a small amount of money.

The Japanese baseball season runs from the first week of April to the last week in September.

The Japan National Tourist Office says the best way to get tickets for Japanese games is through the Japan Travel Bureau in New York, the largest tour operator in the United States. Phone 800-235-3523.

As in the United States, ticket prices vary greatly from team to team. Generally, outfield bleacher seats - the cheapest - start at about $13 for the less popular teams. Top seats for top teams can sell for $60 and up.

Many games sell out, especially at the Tokyo Dome, so it's best to try to arrange tickets ahead of time. Most brokers will add a service charge, usually 10 percent.

Some teams such as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and Chunichi Dragons, offer packages including a hotel room and game seats. Japan Travel Bureau has the details.

For general information on Japanese baseball, contact the Japan National Tourist Office in New York, 212-757-5640.