Slightly Better than Replacement Level
It’s time for one of the big boys of Japan, and I’m sure its executives would say the biggest boy, the Central League (JPCL). History The JPCL was founded in 1949, but began play in 1950, out of the ashes of the Japanese Baseball League. From the onset, the JPCL was a member of and […]
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 […]
For a lot of people, Randy Messenger threw his last pitch on October 4th, 2009 with the Seattle Mariners. That was the day he walked off a Major League Baseball mound for the last time. Were this many years ago I could forgive people for thinking Messenger’s career ended on that day. It’s not though, […]
Jim Allen – Kyodo News: I’ve written about this in the past, but a baseball life is not linear. The idea that there is an easily definable beginning, middle, and end to a baseball career is erroneous at best and harmful at worst. Kyuki Fujikawa still trucking along at the age of 39 and taking […]
One of the ideas often put forth in baseball circles is that going from Major League Baseball to Nippon Professional Baseball will result in instant success. The general context behind this idea is that MLB players are so good that even those MLB players who can no longer cut it in that league will excel […]