Editor's note: Whiting was a guest speaker and panelist at the inaugural gathering of the International Sports Relations Foundation in Seoul recently. This is a new organization founded by Moon Dae-sung, a Republic of Korea's National Assembly member and 2004 Athens Olympics taekwondo gold ...
The martial arts were the inspiration for the famous baseball team at the First Higher School of Tokyo, a late 19th century powerhouse that helped make yakyu, as baseball came to be known, the national sport of Japan.
Getting slapped by a a coach has always been, as far as I could see, simply another aspect of sports training in Japan.
Shigeo Nagashima and Hideki Matsui both had legendary careers with the Yomiuri Giants, the latter also excelling in the major leagues after leaving the Giants. Now their accomplishments are being officially recognized with the People's Honor Award.
For the late pitcher Hideki Irabu, the surname Irabu had come from Hideki's mother. It was her surname, and Hideki's stepfather, Ichiro Irabu, had been a common-law husband. Still, he treated Hideki as his own, raised him and encouraged his love for baseball. He had ...
Hideki Irabu was given a king's welcome in New York. He was flown to the city in Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's private jet and given the key to the city by NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Irabu's debut in America, July 10, 1997, was a memorable ...
Hideki Irabu, once considered to be one of the best pitchers in the world, is dead, in what has been adjudged to be a suicide in late July. He led a troubled life, struggling with a mixed-race heritage, growing up not knowing his father, causing ...
Fourth in a four-part series It is doubtful that Hideo Nomo and Don Nomura realized the full significance of what they were doing back in 1995 when they defied Nippon Professional Baseball and migrated to the United States. But many of the changes that followed ...
Third in a four-part series Hideo Nomo's most significant accomplishment may have been making the Japanese game respectable in the eyes of the rest of the world. Few Major League Baseball executives were interested when agent Don Nomura began to shop him to teams in North ...
Second in a four-part series Hideo Nomo was born to a working-class family in Osaka in 1969 — his father, Shizuo, was a big, broad-shouldered fisherman turned postal worker and his mother, Kayoko, a part-time supermarket employee. He was a naturally shy, taciturn youth who ...
