The Chrysanthemum and the Bat: The Game Japanese Play by Robert Whiting

Author:Robert Whiting [Whiting, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Japanime Co. Ltd.
Published: 2014-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Big Fish, Little Pond

The burly, hirsute American spits contemptuously into the dirt and steps into the batter’s box. He towers over the frail youth out on the mound as he waves his gigantic hat back and forth. His red eyes narrow; he sneers triumphantly. Glaring out at the mound, he emits a low, menacing snarl and growls: “Come on, baby!”

The count is tsu-nasshingu (no balls and two strikes). The hulking foreigner lashes the first two pitches thrown to him completely out of the stadium, but foul by inches. The young Japanese hurler has been brought in to pitch relief in the ninth inning to protect a one-run lead. He retired the first two men to face him, but after now giving up two near home runs to this beast in the batter’s box, he seems reluctant to pitch again.

Standing alone on the mound, he looks childlike and fragile. He stares at the massive, leering figure and pales. His knees begin to shake and he wonders if he has the strength to throw another pitch. But then, magically, the words of his high school coach come to him: “Otoko dattara yareru” (If you’re a man, you can do it). Simple words, but they somehow strengthen his resolve.

Tightening his lips, he toes the rubber, goes into his windup and lets fly with every ounce of strength he has. Halfway to the batter the ball rises two feet, then drops sharply and does three loops as it crosses the plate. The monster in the batter’s box lets out a terrible groan as he swings with all his might and misses. Spinning around, he falls to the ground with a tremendous crash.

The crowd of 50,000 lets out a mighty roar. The game is over. The home team has won. And the untried rookie has defeated the feared American.

(Scene from the animated television weekly Kyojin no Hoshi, or “Star of the Giants.” The American was patterned on Daryl Spencer, former San Francisco Giant shortstop, who played a number of years in Japan.)

***

The American has been a big, if somewhat unnerving, force in Japanese baseball since 1951—when a young Hawaiian named Wally Yonamine first appeared on the scene. Yonamine, a Nisei, was not the first American to play in Japan,14 but he was by far the most important. Because he was the first American after World War II, he became, in effect, an Oriental Jackie Robinson. Feelings still ran high against Japan’s former enemy, and bringing in an American was a potentially explosive move. Opening the doors to American players, however, was a categorical imperative if Japan was to improve the level of her game, and someone had to be the guinea pig.

Yonamine, perhaps the greatest all-around athlete to come out of Hawaii, began his career as a professional football player. In 1950, the 5’9” 165-pounder starred in the backfield of Frankie Albert and the San Francisco 49ers. When an injury ended his promising career, Yonamine turned to baseball. He signed on with the San

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