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APRIL10,
2000 VOL. 155 NO. 14
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Ron
Modra for TIME
Taiwanese pitching star Tsao Chin-hui, 18, made his professional
debut in the U.S. last month with the Colorado Rockies
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Go
West, Young Man
Lured
by the chance to compete with the world's best, more and more of Asia's
top players are jumping ship for America's big leagues
By TIM NOONAN Tokyo
When Hideo Nomo made his pitching debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in
1995, he was something of a novelty. Sure, the guy could pitch, but what
really energized fans on both sides of the Pacific was the fact that an
Asian player had managed to make it in American big-league baseball. And
not just make it, but dominate it. Nomo, who had pitched for the Kintetsu
Buffaloes in Japan before heading West, won 13 games that year and was
selected as the starting pitcher on the National League's All-Star team.
Fast forward to the present, and the novelty is long gone: the trickle
of Asian talent to the U.S. is accelerating into a small flood. After
Nomo came star Japanese pitchers Hideki Irabu and Masato Yoshii and the
rise to glory of South Korean ace Chan Ho Park. Now, Asian talent is pouring
through the American turnstile: this year, North American clubs will field
30 Asian-born players in the major and minor leagues. That's still a tiny
percentage of the nearly 3,000 foreign players under contract (most of
whom hail from Latin America), but it's the beginning of what insiders
expect will be an explosion of imports from Asia, as major league squads
set up scouting offices across the region and agents rush in to represent
the best players. "Asia is a very fertile reservoir of baseball talent,"
says Tim Ireland, the Colorado Rockies' Pacific Rim scouting coordinator.
"Now that they have seen players like Nomo and Park succeed in America,
Asian players know that dreams of playing in the major leagues are within
reach."
The new season heralds another milestone: Asia's baseball exports are
no longer limited to pitchers. It's a significant breakthrough in the
continuing effort to knock down stereotypes and other barriers that have
kept Asian talent out of North America. Once, conventional wisdom held
that Asians simply lacked the skills and physical strength to make it
in American baseball. That notion had to be revised after the success
of small but lethal pitchers like Nomo and Yoshii. And now a few Asian
"everyday players"--catchers, infielders, outfielders--are lacing up their
spikes in the West. These pioneers include Taiwanese outfielder Chen Chin-feng
of the Los Angeles Dodgers and South Korean first baseman Hee Seop Choi,
whose powerful swing and smooth fielding skills have prompted the Chicago
Cubs to list him as their No. 2 prospect. Time to rewrite conventional
wisdom yet again.
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ALSO IN TIME
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COVER:
Space
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boundaries back
CAMBODIA: Blind Justice
Relatives of those murdered by the Khmer Rouge fear that a proposed
tribunal will let former guerrilla leaders walk free
CHINA: Dotcommiebashing
An official chat room is one of the country's liveliest forums
INDIA: Brand Kargil
Advertisers look to make money from patriotic fervor
BASEBALL: Play Ball!
America's National Pastime opens its season in, gasp, Tokyo
We're Outta Here:
The trickle of Asian exports to the U.S. big leagues could soon become
a flood
Extended Interview:
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CULTURE: Urban Warfare
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TRAVEL WATCH:
Afoot and Afloat, Kerala Is Worth the Journey
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The
Asian invasion began, sort of, in 1964, when the long-forgotten lefthander
Masanori Murakami took the mound for the San Francisco Giants. Murakami
pitched in 50-odd games but returned home in 1965 when his Japanese team,
which still owned the rights to his services, called him back. Three decades
would pass before Nomo became the second Japanese player to make it to
the show. It was Nomo's performance that convinced scouts that Asians
could succeed, big time, in America. When he coached Japan's Chiba Lotte
Marines in 1995, current New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine estimated
there were 20 pitchers in Japan who could play in the North American big
leagues. He now says the number may have doubled.
The onslaught also reflects a shift in Asian attitudes. In the past, Japanese
players in particular were content to stay at home, enjoying glamour and
prestige in their native, baseball-mad country. The flood moved the other
way, with American ballplayers--many of them past their prime--filling
roster spots on Japan's top teams. But the best Japanese players are finding
it increasingly hard to resist prospects of salaries several times more
than what they earn at home. And some Japanese simply prefer the quality
of the American game, which tends to be more aggressive and muscular than
Japan's somewhat delicate version. "I feel comfortable here," says Kazuhiro
Sasaki, the greatest relief pitcher in the history of Japanese baseball,
who signed a two-year contract with the Seattle Mariners last December.
"Pitchers challenge hitters: power against power. The way they play in
America is the way I feel the game should be played." The 32-year-old
Sasaki, who notched 229 saves in 10 seasons with the Yokohama BayStars,
says he feels "like a little boy again." The Mariners' principal owner,
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, was so delighted to land Sasaki that
he presented him with a stuffed toy Pikachu at his signing press conference.
If the American baseball ethic is Work Hard, Play Hard, the Japanese game
emphasizes only the Work. Training regimens are grueling, and it's not
unusual for a pitcher to destroy his arm from overuse. "Baseball officials
in Japan need to examine why a lot of good players like Nomo and Irabu
want to come over here," says Sasaki. "The game needs to be more fun,
or else all the younger players in Japan are going to want to leave."
There are still restrictions, however. This is a nation that takes its
baseball as seriously as the U.S. does, and Japanese baseball interests
aren't prepared to let their top talent slip away. Players are bound to
their clubs for the first nine years of their careers, which means young
stars like 19-year-old Seibu Lions fireballer Daisuke Matsuzaka and the
Yomiuri Giants' 25-year-old pitcher Koji Uehara may have to wait years
before getting the chance to face the best hitters in the world. The biggest
impact could be felt next year when the top player in Japan, Orix Blue
Wave outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, completes his required nine campaigns.
"Of course I would like to play in America," says the six-time batting
champ, who led the Pacific League with a .343 average last season.
The changing face of American baseball was clearly on display in Fort
Meyers, Florida, where the Boston Red Sox wound up their spring training
last week. The Sox had four Asians, all pitchers, on their "Grapefruit
League" roster, more than any other American team. Three are from South
Korea, which launched its own professional league in the early '80s and
is beginning to develop top-notch international talent. Of the 30 Asians
under contract in North America this year, 15 are Korean, compared with
only 12 Japanese and three from Taiwan. "We like the discipline and strength
of the Korean pitchers," says Dan Duquette, Boston's general manager.
"The coaching in Korea is very structured, and I think the players have
a very good understanding and instinct for baseball." Korean players are
also relatively easy to sign, although they must complete more than two
years of military service before age 27. The country's most famous export--power
pitcher Park of the Dodgers--was exempted from his military commitment
after helping South Korea win a gold medal in baseball at the 1998 Asian
Games.
Park struggled when he first came to America in 1994. But he came into
his own in 1997, winning 14 games. Scouts are now looking to Red Sox lefthander
Sang Hoon Lee, 29, to follow in Park's footsteps. Lee, who won the Korean
version of the Cy Young Award in 1995 as the league's top pitcher, is
a renegade personality whose reddish hair spills defiantly from under
his baseball cap. On the mound, however, Lee is all business. "The important
thing is that he can get the hitters out," Duquette says. "That's a universal
measuring stick." Younger teammate Sun Woo Kim, who attended the same
Korean university as Lee, could mature into an equally impressive hurler--and
just as importantly, he has won over local fans with his English skills.
A few years ago, Kim played with Korea's national team in an exhibition
at Boston's Fenway Park. After the game, he took some of the dirt from
the pitching mound home with him and vowed that he would return one day
as a professional. "That story is starting to become part of New England
sports folklore," says Duquette.
The newest source of big-league talent is Taiwan. Although the island
has long been a dominant force in the Little League World Series--winning
17 of the past 30 championships--the Taiwan professional league is something
of an embarrassment, riddled with spotty play and corruption. Many of
the best players leave, usually to compete in Japan. But Ireland, the
Rockies' scout, recently outbid the Yomiuri Giants to sign one of Taiwan's
budding stars, 18-year-old pitcher Tsao Chin-hui, to a contract that includes
a club-record $2.2 million signing bonus. "Tsao had a dream to play in
the majors, and he is ready to pursue it," says Ireland. Last month, Tsao
made his professional debut against the Seattle Mariners in a spring training
game in Peoria, Arizona. Facing three established big-league hitters,
Tsao needed only 11 pitches to retire the side, striking out two of the
batters. The game was televised live in Taiwan. "It was very exciting
getting to play against major league players," says Tsao. "This was very
important for me and the people in Taiwan."
Despite the wealth of talent, Major League Baseball is wary of poaching
the best players from Asia. "We are very sensitive to the baseball structure
of Asian countries, so I want to be careful that we respect their system,"
says major league commissioner Bud Selig. "How that plays out, only time
will tell." What's certain is that the flow will increase. While it's
too early to predict how Tsao, for instance, will perform against seasoned
professionals in regular-season games, it's a safe bet that Colorado Rockies
paraphernalia will move well in Taiwan, just as Boston Red Sox merchandise
should be a hit in South Korea. Having an Asian player on one's roster
can be a marketing boon on both sides of the Pacific. "While every personnel
decision is based upon baseball evaluations, certainly the marketing aspect
of our team is important," says Mets general manager Steve Phillips. "As
diverse as New York is, it makes a lot of sense to have a very diverse
team." With the Asian floodgates open, that's going to become a lot easier
in the coming years.
With reporting by Michael Kitchen/Taipei
Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com
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