The definitive book on Japanese baseball provides a close-up look at our national pastime as seen through the eyes of American players who found the Japanese approach completely baffling. Updated and with a new introduction by the author. Original.
A hilarious, informative, and riveting account of Japanese baseball and the cultural clashes that ensued when Americans began playing there professionally.
In Japan, baseball is a way of life. It is a philosophy. It is besuboru. Its most important element iswa—group harmony—embodied in the proverb "The nail that sticks up shall be hammered down." In this witty and incisive book, Robert Whiting gives us a close-up look atbesuboru's teams, obsessive ritualism, and history, as seen through the eyes of American players who found the Japanese approach—rigorouspregame practices, the tolerance for tie games, injured pitchers encouraged to “pitch through the pain”—completely baffling. With vivid accounts of East meeting West, involving Babe Ruth, Ichiro Suzuki, Bobby Valentine, Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh, and many others, this lively and completely unique book is an utter gem and baseball classic.
