I’ve often wanted to write about Dennis Sarfate, but the time has never been quite right. I wasn’t writing about baseball during his affiliated years, nor had I switched to mainly covering unaffiliated baseball when he finally found success in Nippon Professional Baseball. Once I realized that players like Sarfate were the ones I wanted […]
Tag: fukuoka softbank hawks
This Week in Baseball: 06-15-2020
Gordon Wittenmyer – Chicago Sun-Times: The Ricketts family can’t stop putting themselves into hot water. The solution for the Chicago Cubs’ owners is simple, stop being racist. Time and again they are simply unable to stop letting their racist colors fly. Whether it’s father Joe’s litany of racist emails or son Pete’s “you people” comments, […]
League Primer: Pacific League
Though the same age as its Japanese counterpart, the Pacific League (JPPL) sure feels a heck of a lot younger. History The JPPL was originally known as the Taiheiyo Baseball Union until 1980 when it officially adopted the Pacific League moniker. Since that time the JPPL has operated as a six-team league, and has always […]
League Primer: Western League
Next up in the League Primer series is the second Nippon Professional Baseball farm league, the Western League (JPWL). The JPWL begins play in a little under a month. History The JPWL has been around since the early 1960s when it was created to allow for the two main leagues in Nippon Professional Baseball to […]
The Long Road Back
Baseball is full of players who amass interesting careers. Some accomplish a lot, some accomplish very little, and even others are simply ballplayers who never accomplish a single thing worth noting. Then there are the players who were once great but now are merely good. They are a rare breed, far more common are the […]