Yu Darvish at Jingu Stadium on March 12, 2008
When I was trying to find an article about Joe Nathan's new contract with Minnesota Twins on Yahoo! sports, I found a scary article for me. Jeff Passan, who covers MLB for Yahoo!, writes about Yu Darvish http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArVxNAnDFnqHveOZcylzg5kRvLYF?slug=jp-japandarvish032308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns. Daisuke Matsuzaka left Saitama for MLB last year. Now what? MLB wants Darvish too?? Of course, they do.
I really hate to see great Japanese ballplayers leave NPB for MLB. Since Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui left NPB for MLB, Japanese pro baseball went to South. I mean NPB has become like AAA for MLB. We should blame Japanese teams, its fans, or poor facilities in Japan, not MLB, for this miserable situation in Japanese pro baseball. Most of Ballparks in Japan have been terrible for both players and fans. NPB teams have(had) disrespected its players and fans for so many years. Japanese ballparks have had horrible Astro Turf on the ground for years. Japanese ballparks have(had) had awful facilities for fans; such as, bathrooms are (were) too dirty(old). Japanese teams even give away too many free tickets to its fans; so, it seems fans do not want to pay for the game. It seems Japanese fans do not want to support NPB temas with their wallet. In 2007, Tokyo Yakult Swallows gave away 20,000 free general admission tickets to people for a Sunday game against Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Jingu Stadium. Can you guess how many people showed up for that game? About 20,000 fans. I was there. I paid 1,000yen ($10) for that game. About 1/3 of fans in that game were in reserved seats. So, many people did not even use those free tickets.
Thngs have been changed these days. NPB teams try to make fans to pay for the game. Even though it has been small step; but, NPB teams are making progress for the fans and its players. For example, Seibu Dome put new turf on the ground and new clean bathrooms this year. They are not enough yet; but, it's better than nothing.
I hate those scouts, who work for MLB, come to ballparks in Japan and try to evaluate Japanese players with their stopwatch. I really hate to see them. They're annoying. They shouldn't belong here. I hope they will not come over here unless they just enjoy Japanese baseball as fans.
Some comments Passan makes in his column really annoys me little; but, I don't wanna discuss it here now. I hope Darvish will pitch in the NPB for all of his baseball career; however, I understand NPB needs to be more attractive than MLB to acheive that goal. NPB needs to be way more attractive to its players and fans ever before. I believe money is the key issue here. NPB teams also need to respect its players and fans like MLB teams do.
In today's game between Hawks and Marines at Fukuoka, Naoyuki Shimizu will be the starting pitcher for the Marines. His wife died two months ago. I don't know what to say for what he has been through something like this; but, I hope he will win today.
ついに、MLBがダルビッシュに目をつけたようです。アメリカのYahoo!にダルの特集記事が出てました。ダルもいなくなったら、日本の野球のレベルはますます下がってしまいます。アメリカのAAA以下になるかも・・・。
今日、マリーンズの清水がホークス戦に先発します。悲しみを乗り越えて、がんばって欲しいです。
I really hate to see great Japanese ballplayers leave NPB for MLB. Since Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui left NPB for MLB, Japanese pro baseball went to South. I mean NPB has become like AAA for MLB. We should blame Japanese teams, its fans, or poor facilities in Japan, not MLB, for this miserable situation in Japanese pro baseball. Most of Ballparks in Japan have been terrible for both players and fans. NPB teams have(had) disrespected its players and fans for so many years. Japanese ballparks have had horrible Astro Turf on the ground for years. Japanese ballparks have(had) had awful facilities for fans; such as, bathrooms are (were) too dirty(old). Japanese teams even give away too many free tickets to its fans; so, it seems fans do not want to pay for the game. It seems Japanese fans do not want to support NPB temas with their wallet. In 2007, Tokyo Yakult Swallows gave away 20,000 free general admission tickets to people for a Sunday game against Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Jingu Stadium. Can you guess how many people showed up for that game? About 20,000 fans. I was there. I paid 1,000yen ($10) for that game. About 1/3 of fans in that game were in reserved seats. So, many people did not even use those free tickets.
Thngs have been changed these days. NPB teams try to make fans to pay for the game. Even though it has been small step; but, NPB teams are making progress for the fans and its players. For example, Seibu Dome put new turf on the ground and new clean bathrooms this year. They are not enough yet; but, it's better than nothing.
I hate those scouts, who work for MLB, come to ballparks in Japan and try to evaluate Japanese players with their stopwatch. I really hate to see them. They're annoying. They shouldn't belong here. I hope they will not come over here unless they just enjoy Japanese baseball as fans.
Some comments Passan makes in his column really annoys me little; but, I don't wanna discuss it here now. I hope Darvish will pitch in the NPB for all of his baseball career; however, I understand NPB needs to be more attractive than MLB to acheive that goal. NPB needs to be way more attractive to its players and fans ever before. I believe money is the key issue here. NPB teams also need to respect its players and fans like MLB teams do.
In today's game between Hawks and Marines at Fukuoka, Naoyuki Shimizu will be the starting pitcher for the Marines. His wife died two months ago. I don't know what to say for what he has been through something like this; but, I hope he will win today.
ついに、MLBがダルビッシュに目をつけたようです。アメリカのYahoo!にダルの特集記事が出てました。ダルもいなくなったら、日本の野球のレベルはますます下がってしまいます。アメリカのAAA以下になるかも・・・。
今日、マリーンズの清水がホークス戦に先発します。悲しみを乗り越えて、がんばって欲しいです。
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