Japanese Baseball Trivia

1. During the 1980s, one of the biggest stars of the NBP was Randy Bass. In 1986, Bass went into the record books with a batting average of what?

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: .389

Bass played in the majors from 1977-1982, then played for the Hanshin Tigers from 1982-1988. In 2004, Bass became an Oklahoma state senator.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Pacific League and Central League

In 2002, each league consisted of six teams, the top two of which play off against each other in the Japan Series every October/November.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Joe Lutz

Joe Lutz lasted less than a month at the helm of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, in 1975. In 1979, Don Blasingame was hired to manage the Hanshin Tigers.

From Quiz 'Yakyu' - Japanese Baseball

Answer: ... the national high school championships are being played in their park

The Koshien high school tournament is wildly {popular;} kids lucky to play in it will take dirt from the field after the game, and fans and players alike cry after a tough loss.

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: Break Sadaharu Oh's single season home run record

Rhodes tied Oh's record with 55 home runs, but was denied the record because the Tokyo Giants did not want a foreigner to hold the record. Strangely, Oh is a Taiwanese national. Rhodes has played for the Astros (1990-1993), Cubs (1993-1995), Red Sox (1995), Osaka Buffaloes (1996-2003), and Yomiuri Giants (2004-2005). He attempted to make a comeback in 2006 with the Cincinnati Reds, but was cut during Spring Training. In 2007, he tried out with the Orix Buffaloes. Depsite his limited American success, Rhodes gained notoriety by hitting three home runs during the Cubs' 1994 Opening Day game. In 2002, Alex Cabrera of the Seibu Lions tied Rhodes and Oh with a single season high 55 home runs.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Tsuyoshi Shinjo

Shinjo appeared for the San Francisco Giants on October 19, 2002.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Victor Starfin

Victor Starfin was Russian to boot.

From Quiz 'Yakyu' - Japanese Baseball

Answer: 1

Each team has just one junior-varsity-like squad to back up the major leaguers. They wear the same uniforms and generally play in the vicinity of the big {club;} entirely different from the small-town fun atmosphere of a lot of American minor-league clubs. Perhaps Japanese teams would fare better against their US counterparts in international competition if they focused more on minor-league development...

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: Giants

Kapler spent part of the 2005 season with the Giants, but soon left Japan and returned to the Red Sox. Kapler retired in 2006 and became a manager of the Single-A affiliate Greenville Drive.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Yakult Swallows

Though dwarfed in revenues and fan support by their neighbours the Yomiuri Giants, the Swallows have been consistent, winning titles in 93, 95, 97 and 2001.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Hanshin Tigers

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: seven

Cromartie, who previously played for the Expos, was with the Yomiuri Giants from 1984-1990. After spending 1991 with the Royals, Cromartie retired. He was manager of the independent Japan Samurai Bears in 2005, the team's only season.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Hanshin Tigers

Hanshin finished last in the Central League four years in a row, from 1998-2001. They recorded the third highest crowd figures in Japanese baseball in 2001, were number one in merchandising receipts and had a feature film made about a fictional succesful team. The team finished runner-up to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2003.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Dirty

Other nicknames included 'Enemy of the People' and 'The Giant Devil'... obviously a well-regarded player, was Mr. Egawa.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Taiwan

Although of foreign extraction, Sadaharu Oh was born in Tokyo, and thus was considered Japanese by Major League rules.

From Quiz The Curse of the Colonel

Answer: They threw the statue into a river to honor the Japan Series MVP.

At some point during the celebrations in Osaka, ecstatic fans gathered at the Ebisubashi Bridge over the Dotonbori River. Someone had the clever idea of chanting the roster of the victorious Tigers: when each name was yelled, the fan who most resembled the player would jump into the canal. When the name of Series MVP Randy Bass was called, however, it was discovered that none of the fans looked like him; he was, after all, a bearded, 6'1" Caucasian. In an inspired moment, the crowd realized that the Colonel Sanders statue at a nearby KFC franchise ALSO depicted a bearded Caucasian, and the rest is history. The statue was removed from the restaurant and flung into the water. Legend has it that the Hanshin Tigers would never again win the championship while the statue was lost in the depths. Dredgers and divers searched for him, but he wasn't found until a cleanup project on March 10, 2009 -- more than 24 years after he was lost. In his two decades underwater, he had lost his legs, his hands, and his spectacles -- but not his welcoming smile.

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: third

The first two Americans in NPB were Wally Kaname Yonamine and Don Newcombe. Doby played for Chinuchi in 1962. Doby, a seven-time All-Star, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: 4

Each playoff series is played on a best of seven basis.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Oendan

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: 14

Pepitone, best known during his days with the Yankees, had often faked injuries in order to go to discos at night. The three-time All-Star first baseman had one home run, two RBI, and a .163 batting average during his stay in Japan.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Orix BlueWave

Ichiro played eight years with Orix before moving to the United States.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: 3-2-2

From Quiz The Curse of the Colonel

Answer: Eighteen years

Eighteen years after their successful 1985 pennant run, the Tigers finally managed to do it again in 2003. In the intervening seventeen seasons, they placed last in their league ten times, and next-to-last another three times. This gave them the dubious honor of having the worst record of the Central League's six teams. Sadly, the 2003 pennant win did not seem to break the curse, and the Tigers lost that Japan Series.

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: 1987

Horner was the first pick of the 1978 draft and went straight to the majors. In 1987, Horner hit 31 home runs and 73 RBI.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: New York Yankees

Matsui joined the Yankees from the Japanese team, Yomiuri Giants.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: wa

From Quiz American Players in Japan

Answer: Chiba Lotte Marines

Short had a second stint in Japan when his contract was sold to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2006. During his eleven games with the Washington Nationals in 2005, Short had 2 home runs and four RBI in only 15 at-bats. One of his home runs was off Dontrelle Willis.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Sadaharu Oh

Oh hit 55 home runs in 1964, which still stood at the close of the 2002 season. In 1985 as a manager he instigated Japanese baseball's most controversial moment - he ordered his Yomiuri Giants pitchers to pitch wide of the plate to Randy Bass (Hanshin Tigers) to avoid the latter breaking his record.

From Quiz Japanese Baseball

Answer: Randy Bass

Randy Bass's son Zachary was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Hanshin Tigers released Bass and hired Ruppert Jones as a replacement.

From Quiz The Curse of the Colonel

Answer: He drowned in an Osaka river after being pushed in by other fans.

Twenty-four-year-old Masaya Shitababa was pushed into the Dotonbori River on September 18, 2003 -- two days after the Tigers' first pennant win in eighteen years. His two friends made it out of the water; Shitababa did not. In the aftermath of this sad event, the Osaka City Council announced plans to build a new Ebisubashi Bridge which would make jumping (and falling) into the river more difficult; construction began in 2004. The Curse of the Colonel is, it seems, more deadly than other famous sports curses. Something to think about the next time you're tempted to complain about KFC!

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