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Japan's Starry Gems of the Diamond
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"The level of high school baseball in Japan is the highest in the world," Whiting said Tuesday night at Tokyo Dome. "There is a constant stream of talent coming up."
A total of 32 Japanese players have played major league baseball -- and 15 of them were on team rosters as of mid-March. Five are making their debuts this year.
Whiting said there are now at least 50 players in Japan with the talent to make the jump -- and nearly all of them are eager to do so. Under current rules, they cannot go to the States until they have played nine seasons in Japan.
"The really good players in Japan all want to go the major leagues because of the money, the prestige and all the hassles of playing in Japan," he said. "In Japan, you have to carry your own bags, travel by train and stay in second-class hotels. You also have to put up sometimes with abusive coaches and excessive practices."
The first Japanese player in the American big leagues, a pitcher named Masanori Murakami, appeared in a handful of games for the San Francisco Giants in 1964.
It took 30 more years before a Japanese player, pitcher Hideo Nomo, became a star, playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Still, daily national television coverage could not be built around a pitcher who plays just every fifth game. For American baseball to break through on TV in Japan, it needed a Japanese position player, someone who played every day.
Ichiro filled that bill beyond all expectations in Seattle in 2001. He had one of the greatest seasons of any player in the history of baseball. As a leadoff hitter, he won a batting title and a Gold Glove, along with honors for Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player.
As important for Japanese viewers, Ichiro embodied the virtues of Japanese baseball at its best -- disciplined and skilled, focused and artful, modest and reliable.
Major League Baseball's revenue from Japan tripled in Ichiro's breakout year, and growth has been strong and steady since then, according to Jim Small, managing director of MLB in Japan.
The American games that draw the largest Japanese audiences are watched on NHK, the national broadcaster, which allows no advertising. As with the BBC, its programming is paid for with fees collected from everyone who owns a TV.
But Japanese advertisers, hungry for the attention of the 5 to 6 percent of Japanese viewers who regularly watch MLB games, have found a way to reach baseball fans.
