Craig Brazell (クレイグ・ブラゼル) of the Hanshin Tigers put on quite a display in batting practice a few weeks back. He ripped every pitch he saw, most for home runs. He hit the scoreboard and also hit one completely out of the stadium which drew applause even from the home fans.

Then, in the real game, he hit another one completely out of the park, pictured above. Not only that but it was to the opposite field. The guy is having an incredible season. As of this writing, he is on pace to hit over .300 with over 50 home runs.

There aren’t very many Americans playing professional baseball in Japan. Most of the foreign players (only a few are allowed per team) are from other parts of the world. Here are two Americans though, Brazell and Terrmel Sledge. Sledge just singled and Brazell plays first for the Tigers. He came over for a chat. He probably said something like, “Only a single? How did you like my home run that flew out of the stadium?” Sledge hit two dingers himself later in the day.

Posted on July 11th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, people, yokohama. Comments: None

Yokohama Stadium is very similar to Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. Every seat is a good one. I opted for a “bleacher” seat, which wasn’t really a bleacher seat at all as it had a regular back on it. The Hanshin Tigers seats were all taken by the time I purchased my ticket so I sat with the home fans. That turned out to be a good thing as the last place Bay Stars crushed the 2nd place Tigers on this day.

My section was flooded with beer girls whenever the Tigers were up. When the Bay Stars were up they vacated the Bay Stars side of things for the Hanshin side. No kegs on their back in Yokohama.

Posted on July 7th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, beer, yokohama. Comments: None

Guess where I went for Father’s Day?

It was humid and the wind was blowing out. The first batter for the Hanshin Tigers (from Osaka) hit the very first pitch of the game for a home run. That set the tone for the rest of the game which featured two players hitting two home runs each, seven home runs total, and a final score of 14-6, sounds like an American football score.

In the bottom of the first inning Seiichi Uchikawa (featured on the lower, right-hand corner of my media guide) came up for the home team (Yokohama Bay Stars) with a runner on. He took the first pitch from Casey Fossum (the same pitcher who has logged over 230 games in the majors).

The next pitch he knocked over the left field fence to put the Bay Stars up 2-1.

Touch ‘em all.

Posted on July 4th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, yokohama. Comments: None

AT&T Park in San Francisco has nothing on this place. There you have to hit the ball about 400 feet and clear a wall and rows of fans before you “splash down” in McCovey Cove.

At this baseball field, on the Arakawa River (荒川) in Tokyo, water is less than 250 feet away for a left-handed hitter. There are no walls or seats to clear. There were a couple of guys fishing in right field though.

Posted on June 19th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, japan pictures, Tokyo. Comments: None

My first game of the season was a good one. My Lions beat the visiting Nippon-Ham Fighters from Hokkaido.

Half the fun at Japanese baseball games is the cheering. Above is a video I took of one of the many cheers. Get your cheers down before the game for maximum enjoyment. Here you can practice them with music, but you need to be able to read Japanese.

The words to the cheer (for a player named 久) in the video are:
光り輝く　
日はまた昇る　
燃える男だ　
チャンスに久
かとばせ久
Go Go Let’s Go 久

Posted on April 24th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, seibu lions, tokorozawa, video. Comments: 7