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Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 2: Well, as I mentioned, spring training baseball games started today

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Speaker 2: in Florida and Arizona some of the major league teams.

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Speaker 2: I think Seattle played against the Padres. That's the traditional

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Speaker 2: opener in Peoria. I've been to actually a couple of

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Speaker 2: those more than a few years ago. But the Red

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Speaker 2: Sox opened up today at Fort Myers against Northeastern University.

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Speaker 2: They eked out in eighteen to three victory. So let's

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Speaker 2: get the duck boats ready there. I've already mentioned that

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Speaker 2: a couple of times, but I had a guest I

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Speaker 2: don't know, it was two weeks ago during the eight

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Speaker 2: o'clock hour, and I just thought there was much more

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Speaker 2: to the conversation, and also it would be great to

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Speaker 2: give some of you an opportunity to talk with my guest,

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Speaker 2: Robert Fitz. Robert Fitz, Welcome to Nightside. How are you sir? Well?

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Speaker 3: Thank you are having me back on.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely Do you prefer Robert or Bob or mister Fitz

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Speaker 2: or which would you like?

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Speaker 3: Will?

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Speaker 2: Rob is fine? Okay? You have written several books on

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Speaker 2: professional baseball in Japan.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 2: The one that I have in front of me is

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Speaker 2: in the Japanese ballpark. Is that the newest one that

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Speaker 2: is available that you've most recently produced.

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Speaker 3: That's right, that just came out in November.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So if you're a baseball fan and you want

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Speaker 2: to learn about baseball across on the other side of

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Speaker 2: the world, I think it's important that you may that

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Speaker 2: you make it very clear that baseball may be more

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Speaker 2: than national pastime in Japan than it is today in America.

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Speaker 3: Correct, Yeah, I think that's true. It really is their

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Speaker 3: number one sport. Their their second sport is soccer, and

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Speaker 3: it's popular soccer, but it really lags behind baseball. Almost

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Speaker 3: everybody in Japan seems to be a baseball fan.

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Speaker 2: How did you get You're not You're not Japanese American?

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Speaker 2: How was it did you came to fall in love

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Speaker 2: with the game a second time? I assume you fell

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Speaker 2: in love as a little boy, as most of us

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Speaker 2: did with Major League Baseball, but you were you in

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Speaker 2: the military over there?

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Speaker 3: No one happened was My wife was a Japanese major

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Speaker 3: in college, and she was an exchange student in high school,

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Speaker 3: so she got transferred over there about two years after

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Speaker 3: we got married, and I decided to go along for

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Speaker 3: the ride. I was a doctoral student at the time

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Speaker 3: writing my PhD, so I could do that anywhere in

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Speaker 3: the world. So I backed up my books and we

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Speaker 3: moved to Japan for two years. The very first night

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Speaker 3: I arrived in Japan, all jet lagged after a fourteen

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Speaker 3: hour flight, got to the hotel and she said, great,

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Speaker 3: you're here. We're going to a baseball game. And we

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Speaker 3: went right off to Meiji Jingu Stadium in the middle

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Speaker 3: of Tokyo. And the atmosphere in a Japanese baseball game

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Speaker 3: is amazing. It's kind of like a college basketball championship game.

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Speaker 3: There's there's cheerleaders, there's chants, there's songs, there's horns, drums.

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Speaker 3: It really the it's just an absolutely amazing atmosphere, and

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Speaker 3: you can't help but get caught up in the excitement.

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Speaker 3: And that's the time I fell in love with Japanese

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Speaker 3: baseball my very first night in Japan, and I've been

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Speaker 3: a big fan and studying it and writing about it

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Speaker 3: ever since.

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Speaker 2: So you said that was nineteen ninety two.

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Speaker 3: Nineteen ninety three, Actually.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, ninety three, Okay, So we're talking there about thirty

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Speaker 2: three or so years it's twenty twenty six, so we'll

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Speaker 2: say it's thirty three years, a third of a century.

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Speaker 2: You've you've followed Japanese and is this your fourth or

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Speaker 2: fifth book on the subject.

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Speaker 3: This is actually my tenth book on the subject.

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Speaker 2: Okay, well I love it. Yeah, that's great. That's great.

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Speaker 2: And if I could ask you you were a doctoral student,

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Speaker 2: what was your doctor I assume you completed your doctorate dead.

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Speaker 3: I have a PhD in archaeology. I studied American historical

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Speaker 3: archaeology up in New England. I was at Brown and

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Speaker 3: I worked up in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts for

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Speaker 3: a number of years doing archaeology of pretty much eighteenth

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Speaker 3: century and early nineteenth century settlements there.

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Speaker 2: Wow. You know, archaeology is one of those majors that

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Speaker 2: you know, there's there's not a lot of people who

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Speaker 2: are archaeologists. Have you made the transition from being an

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Speaker 2: art cheologist to being a full time author? It sounds

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Speaker 2: like you may have.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was actually a very easy transposition because the

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Speaker 3: skills are similar. Since I was a historical archaeologist, most

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Speaker 3: of my time was actually spent in the libraries looking

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Speaker 3: at old documents, looking at old microfilms, trying to figure

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Speaker 3: out where people settled and who was on the property

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Speaker 3: that we were excavating. So that really translated right over

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Speaker 3: to writing about baseball, because once again you're in the

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Speaker 3: library looking at old newspapers, old microfilms, census returns, trying

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Speaker 3: to understand the ballplayers and their families and really kind

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Speaker 3: of fletch out who the ballplayers weren't.

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Speaker 2: Now we are going to dive deep into this book,

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Speaker 2: I promise you that. But one aspect of your fascination

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Speaker 2: with Japanese baseball is that you have a collection or

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Speaker 2: have developed a collection of Japanese baseball cards. All cards

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Speaker 2: have been big in this country since I was a

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Speaker 2: little boy in the nineteen fifties. I once wrote a

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Speaker 2: piece for Newsweek magazine, the My Turn column, which was

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Speaker 2: very popular in Newsweek magazine, and every week there was

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Speaker 2: a My Turn column. And it was the easiest thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars I ever made. In nineteen eighty nine, I just

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Speaker 2: wrote about it's called sociology in a shoe box one

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Speaker 2: oh one, basically that how much how important baseball cards

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Speaker 2: were to my development. I literally learned how to add

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Speaker 2: and how to multiply and divide and basic mathematics arithmetic

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Speaker 2: because I wanted to learn how to do batting averages

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Speaker 2: and earn run averages and all of that. I learned

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Speaker 2: a lot about geography. Again back in the nineteen fifties.

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Speaker 2: You know, the players who had the Eastern European sounding names,

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Speaker 2: like you know, Scouring Klazowski, they generally came from northern cities.

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Speaker 2: And any players who had a set of initials like J. C.

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Speaker 2: Martin or J. W. Porter, they obviously were from below

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Speaker 2: the Mason Dixon line. So I learned a lot, and

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Speaker 2: I got letters from all over the country, judges, doctors, lawyers,

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Speaker 2: just talking about I had covered the presidential campaign of

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Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight, both George Bush and Mike Docaccas for

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Speaker 2: television as a television reporter, and I remember being in Springfield, Ohio,

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Speaker 2: not Springfield, Ohio, Springfield, Missouri, and going driving by Shrham

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Speaker 2: Lawler Lanes, the Catcher of the White Sox, driving through

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Speaker 2: Paw pawl, Michigan one night at midnight, heading from Notre

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Speaker 2: Dame to a Mike Docaccus rally in Detroit, Michigan, and

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Speaker 2: realizing this is where Charlie Paul, Paul Maxwell lived, so

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Speaker 2: I have sort of I've done a little bit of

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Speaker 2: I guess archaeology, but I want to know about baseball

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Speaker 2: cards as important to baseball fans of Japan as I

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Speaker 2: think they are, particularly to younger baseball fans in this country.

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Speaker 3: I would say not as important, but they're still a

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Speaker 3: big part of the culture. So Japanese baseball cards go

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Speaker 3: all the way back to the beginning of the twentieth century,

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Speaker 3: but they didn't become well. The biggest difference see American

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Speaker 3: baseball cards from the nineteenth century onwards were always about collecting,

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Speaker 3: whether they were tobacco cards or whether they were gum

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Speaker 3: cards back in the thirties, or of course the Tops

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Speaker 3: and Bowman cards of the fifties. It was always about collecting.

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Speaker 3: But in Japan the cards have always been about playing

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Speaker 3: a game. So the earlier Japanese cards are called menko.

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Speaker 3: Do you remember, maybe thirty years ago, there was a

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Speaker 3: big craze for a game called POGs. Is that very familiar? Barely, yeah, barely.

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Speaker 3: They were little discs that are the paper cardboard discs

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Speaker 3: that you would flip, and the idea was a lot

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Speaker 3: like marbles that if it landed, your pog landed on

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Speaker 3: your opponent's pog, you got to keep both cards. We

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Speaker 3: did the same things on baseball cards right when we

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Speaker 3: were kids.

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Speaker 2: Flip up against the wall. If you got a leaner,

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Speaker 2: you were in good shape, that's right.

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Speaker 3: So in Japan they had something similar called manco and

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Speaker 3: many of them are round like those POGs, and some

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Speaker 3: some are square re tangiar and throughout the nineteen oh

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Speaker 3: i would say, thirties, all the way through the early

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Speaker 3: nineteen seventies, these menco had all sorts of pictures on them,

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Speaker 3: but one of the most popular ones were baseball players.

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Speaker 3: So instead of the kids trying to collect the whole set,

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Speaker 3: matter of fact that you weren't even numbered on the back,

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Speaker 3: so you didn't know how many were in the set,

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Speaker 3: So instead of collecting them, they would use them for

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Speaker 3: these games. So that was the big difference between Japanese

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Speaker 3: and American baseball cards. Okay, so they do hold different place.

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Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna take a break. We're going to

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Speaker 2: uh give people an opportunity to uh to comment or

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Speaker 2: ask questions. The first Japanese baseball player to arrive here

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Speaker 2: I remember in nineteen sixty four. It's a pitcher for

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Speaker 2: the Giants. Uh. There have been many that have flown

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Speaker 2: across the ocean, and we've had several here for the

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Speaker 2: Red Sox UH. And we're gonna we're gonna talk about

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Speaker 2: this for the next hour up until eleven o'clock. And

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Speaker 2: if you are a baseball fan, or if you're a

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Speaker 2: a fan of sports in any way, you were more

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Speaker 2: than welcome to join us here six one seven thirty

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Speaker 2: six one seven n I can talk to Rob's literally

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Speaker 2: literally all night about this topic, So don't let me dominate.

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Speaker 2: Feel free if you want to join in, if you've

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Speaker 2: been to a Japanese baseball game, if you've been to

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Speaker 2: Japan and gone to a Japanese game and want to

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Speaker 2: compare it to what Rob is doing. This is a

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Speaker 2: topic that is near to deer in my near and

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Speaker 2: dear to my heart. I hope it's near and dear

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Speaker 2: to all of you. If it's not, you're going to

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Speaker 2: learn a lot about Japanese baseball in the next forty minutes.

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Speaker 2: My name is Dan Ray, and this is Nightside WBZ

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Speaker 2: in Boston. If you happen to be picking us up

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Speaker 2: on a car radio anywhere in the eastern half of

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Speaker 2: the United States, feel free to join the conversation. Coming

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Speaker 2: back on Nightside.

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Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.

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Speaker 2: My guess is, Rob fits, we're talking about Japanese baseball,

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Speaker 2: professional baseball. Let's we will work our Our call is

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Speaker 2: in here, Rob, But I just want to hit some

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Speaker 2: of the highlights, and that is that baseball came to

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Speaker 2: you about the same time as it came to America.

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Speaker 2: It was introduced what late in the nineteenth century, and

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Speaker 2: it never it was not at the professional level until

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Speaker 2: probably the nineteen thirties. That that, I think is what

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Speaker 2: your book reflects. That's accurate, right, Oh, gotcha? How important

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Speaker 2: were the American tours pre World War Two? Babe Ruth

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Speaker 2: lu Gerrick barnstormed over there in the nineteen thirties. How

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Speaker 2: important were the tours of America? American Major League players

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Speaker 2: going to Japan? And I assume back in those days

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Speaker 2: they went by boat. I could be wrong. I don't

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Speaker 2: know they did. They had and this, of course was

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Speaker 2: the decade before World War Two. If you if you

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Speaker 2: told the average person that who knew nothing about it,

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Speaker 2: that'd say that that must have been pretty weird.

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Speaker 3: Well, American teams, both professional and amateur started going to

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Speaker 3: Japan in about nineteen eight, and basically a team went

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Speaker 3: over almost every single year, but there only about six

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Speaker 3: professional teams that went over prior to World War Two.

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Speaker 3: Thirty one there's an American All Star team and thirty

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Speaker 3: four was when Babe Roots went over with lou garreg

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Speaker 3: with mo Burg the Future Spy, had a whole bunch

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Speaker 3: of other Hall of famers.

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Speaker 2: And it was caught for the Red Sox amongst other teams.

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Speaker 2: But he was there prior to World War Two, which

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Speaker 2: people may not know the story. And if you read

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Speaker 2: his book, it's a fascinating book. He was over there

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Speaker 2: taking pictures of Japanese military installations. He was working for

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Speaker 2: the CIA or the OSS at the time. Yes, and no,

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Speaker 2: I am always willing to be to be corrected by

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Speaker 2: someone who has more knowledge than I do. Go right ahead, sir.

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Speaker 3: There are books that say that Moburgh was over there

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Speaker 3: as a spy, but careful research by fellow Nicholas Dabadov

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Speaker 3: and I've also done the same research has really come

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Speaker 3: up with no evidence that Moburgh was working as a

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Speaker 3: spy at that point. He certainly was once the war

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Speaker 3: broke out and Moburg did some really wacky things when

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Speaker 3: he was over there touring in nineteen thirty four, sneaking

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Speaker 3: away and taking pictures, taking films, and we got to

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Speaker 3: wonder why. But there's no evidence in the government records

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Speaker 3: that are now declassified that Mo was actually working for somebody,

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Speaker 3: and of question.

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Speaker 2: You know, the Jean would never destroy any records rightly.

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Speaker 3: Exactly, but you know, Mo was an odd duck. So

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Speaker 3: my theory and I think Dabodov's, so it's the same

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Speaker 3: thing as he's just kind of pretended to be a

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Speaker 3: spy until he actually became one later because this was.

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Speaker 2: Fun, okay, So the arrival of it again, the superstars,

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Speaker 2: the Ruth and Gerrik and that group of people in

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Speaker 2: the thirties when they were at the top of their

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Speaker 2: professional careers. They were maybe Ruth was a little past

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Speaker 2: his in thirty four, but were they Did the Japanese

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Speaker 2: people understand how big a celebrity Ruth and Gerrig were

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Speaker 2: and what they meant to beige baseball and did that

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Speaker 2: light the fire under professional baseball in Japan exactly?

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Speaker 3: Oh, they loved him, they said, half a million people

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Speaker 3: lined up when Babe Ruth came into the Okahama where

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Speaker 3: they the boat landed, and then they took a train

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Speaker 3: to Tokyo to their hotel. Supposedly half million people lining

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Speaker 3: the streets to welcome the team as they wrote an

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Speaker 3: open limousines down through Tokyo. He was a superstar in Japan,

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Speaker 3: and because of the great outpouring of love the Babe Ruth,

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Speaker 3: the Japanese owners some newspaper owners realized that they were

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Speaker 3: enough baseball fans that they could start a professional league,

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Speaker 3: so they started professionally just one year after Babe Ruth left.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's get a phone call in here before

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Speaker 2: break at the bottom of the era. I don't want

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Speaker 2: anyone to have to wait any longer as they necessarily

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Speaker 2: have to do. Jerry is in Worcester. Jerry, you're on

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Speaker 2: with the author of at least ten books, but this

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Speaker 2: is the one we're talking about. In the Japanese Ballpark

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Speaker 2: by Rob Fritt Fitts, go right ahead, Jerry.

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Speaker 4: Hey, good even guys. I'm driving to work here carefully.

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Speaker 4: I just want to say thanks for taking my call.

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Speaker 4: I have a little bit of yeah, yeah, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 3: I have a little bit of a story.

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Speaker 4: To tell you before I ask my question.

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Speaker 2: Go ahead.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, my dad was born in nineteen thirty six, and

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Speaker 4: I'm just putting this all together for what you're sharing.

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Speaker 4: In nineteen fifty four, the Boston Red Sox, I mean

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Speaker 4: the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I grew up.

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Speaker 4: My dad was the first back boy, so my old

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Speaker 4: man was the first back boy for the Braves when

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Speaker 4: he came Milwaukee.

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Speaker 3: And my question is, I have a lot of pictures.

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Speaker 4: I don't remember seeing a Japanese player, but once they're

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Speaker 4: a Japanese player in Milwaukee at that time. And my

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Speaker 4: dad was sixteen and Hank Aaron was on a team

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Speaker 4: at eighteen. What a difference of careers. And I have

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Speaker 4: a baseball that has Duffy Lewis's signature on it because

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Speaker 4: he was the bookkeeper for the Milwaukee Braves at that

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Speaker 4: time when he played with Pete Ruth Little Factory.

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Speaker 2: They played with the Red Tawks too.

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Speaker 4: Oh okay, yeah, yeah, well cool. But anyhow, so my

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Speaker 4: claim to fame in baseball, So I have a picture

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Speaker 4: when they left Milwaukee. I went to the clubous with

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Speaker 4: my old man and I got a picture with Eddie

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Speaker 4: Matthews and Hank Aaron when I was like whatever, two

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Speaker 4: or three years old of Nicky Baby four. They got

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Speaker 4: a baseball side by Lawren Spahn, Hank Aaron and Duffy

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Speaker 4: Lewis and everybody who was in the cub offs that

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Speaker 4: day when we went there. So but we're there any

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Speaker 4: Japanese players Milwaukee at the time, that's my question.

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Speaker 2: Not at that time. They weren't go right to go

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Speaker 2: out ahead.

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Speaker 3: Rob, Yeah, the first Japanese player to come over was

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Speaker 3: nineteen sixty four MAUSTINOI Murakami, and he played for the

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Speaker 3: San Francisco Giants. Okay, okay, And I.

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Speaker 2: Would tell you that the first Japanese player that played

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Speaker 2: in Milwaukee, according to a list of players I have,

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Speaker 2: was Hedei Nomo, who of course pitched for the Red Sox,

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Speaker 2: but he didn't play for the Braves because the Braves

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Speaker 2: had had headed to Atlanta. He played for the Brewers,

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Speaker 2: Oh cool, in nineteen ninety nine. He's listed as the

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Speaker 2: first player to play for the Brewers. If I'm wrong

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Speaker 2: on that, Rob helped me out.

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Speaker 3: Sounds right, I wouldn't been able to name the first Brewer.

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Speaker 3: I'm really impressed.

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Speaker 2: Well, I got a list in front of me here,

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Speaker 2: so that's and then uh, and then they had another

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Speaker 2: picture named Max Suzuki. Uh, you're you're back in Massachusetts, right,

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Speaker 2: If I'm not.

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Speaker 4: Mistaken, Jerry, Yes I am.

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Speaker 2: You know, I hope you have that picture and keep

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Speaker 2: that baseball. That's a great baseball to have, if if

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Speaker 2: if you were the other autographs you have on that baseball.

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Speaker 2: That was a good team because the the Braves beat

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Speaker 2: the Yankees in the fifty seven World Series and then

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Speaker 2: they lost to the Yankees in the fifty eight World Series.

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Speaker 2: But Warren spawn should be on that maybe baseball Luber Debt,

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Speaker 2: Johnny Logan, Wes Covington, dallanis, you got a whole bunch

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Speaker 2: of really good players on that on that team, so uh,

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Speaker 2: value go ahead, No, go ahead. I just said value

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Speaker 2: that baseball, go ahead.

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Speaker 4: But your comment, Yeah, I still have that, and I

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Speaker 4: know Johnny Logan was on there and Duffy Lewis was

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Speaker 4: the hardest one for me to figure out who it was.

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Speaker 4: But we've we've put the two and two together. He's

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Speaker 4: signed that baseball too.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Great, that's great. Well, now you figured out who he is.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, he played for the Red Sox back in

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Speaker 2: the in the early twentieth century, and he would have

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Speaker 2: been in a relatively older man. Uh I did not

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Speaker 2: realize that he had that he had journeyed west with

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Speaker 2: the braves. Anyway, Thank thanks, Jerry. I really appreciate you

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Speaker 2: taking the time to call.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you too, Thank you so much. You guys have

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Speaker 4: a great day.

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Speaker 2: Great you. I bet you Jerry. Have you left?

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Speaker 5: Jerry?

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Speaker 2: Really? Are you still there? I'm still here, first time caller.

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Speaker 3: I bet you right, that's correct.

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Speaker 2: We got to give you a ride and applause. Thanks Jerry,

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Speaker 2: talk soon, Okay, call again.

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Speaker 3: All right, you too, Yeah, I will do.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you Roberts. It's amazing what prompts people

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Speaker 2: to call a talk show for the first time. And

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Speaker 2: that's it. We've got to take a quick break for

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Speaker 2: news at the bottom of the hour, and we're going

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Speaker 2: to continue to talk baseball. I'm going to talk about

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Speaker 2: Japanese baseball. We're going to move through the fifties and

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Speaker 2: move into modern day. And I'm hoping that there's some

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Speaker 2: people in our audience who have been in Japan and

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Speaker 2: have liked you can compare notes of having attended a

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Speaker 2: Japanese baseball game, and I want to talk to you

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Speaker 2: about what food is served there, if they have hot

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Speaker 2: dogs and burgers and beer and all of that. I

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Speaker 2: know they have beer. I know about that. I read

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Speaker 2: the book about the girl who had the keg of

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Speaker 2: the back of She had to be quite athletic. We'll

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Speaker 2: get to all of that, I promise. My guest is

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Speaker 2: Rob fitz. The book is in the Japanese Ballpark. It's

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Speaker 2: an amazing book, one that I will treasure, and I

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Speaker 2: hope some of you will will. Preps. If you're a

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Speaker 2: sports fan or a baseball fan, purchase one in the

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Speaker 2: Japanese Ballpark by Robert fitz Fitts coming back on Nightside

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Speaker 2: if you want to join the conversation six one, seven, two, five, four,

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Speaker 2: ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.

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Speaker 2: This is not regularly a sports show a guy Manila

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Speaker 2: used to do on this radio station many years ago,

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Speaker 2: calling all sports. This is basically calling all Japanese baseball fans.

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Speaker 2: Will be back on night Side.

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Speaker 1: Right after this, you're on night Side with Dan Ray

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Speaker 1: on you Bzy Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 2: We're talking with Rob Fitz. He's written and again I

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Speaker 2: think you told me? Is it ten books? Rob oh,

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Speaker 2: you break that up on me here, Rob, can you

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Speaker 2: hear me?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: So I can hear you. Five?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, break breaking. Are you on a headset or

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Speaker 2: anything or no?

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Speaker 3: No, just on my regular iPhone?

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Speaker 2: Okay, good enough, fair enough. I make sure it's plugance.

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Speaker 2: We don't lose you here again. I asked you this

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Speaker 2: before I forget you. Was how many books do you

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Speaker 2: have you written on this subject.

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Speaker 3: I've written about ten, okay.

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Speaker 2: Good, and the most recent is the one we're talking

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Speaker 2: about right now in the Japanese ballpark. Let me go

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Speaker 2: to Dan, who's calling in from San Francisco. Dan, welcome.

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Speaker 2: You are next on Night Side with my guest Rob Fitz.

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Speaker 2: Go right ahead, Dan.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, Hey, Dan, I'm just calling in and I heard

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Speaker 6: you call out to the audience for somebody who's been

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Speaker 6: to Japan and seen games. And I can tell you

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Speaker 6: I've done that. I lived in for three years and

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Speaker 6: I've seen many many baseball games in Japan at the

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Speaker 6: stadiums there. It's always a good time.

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Speaker 2: Well, say aha to Rob fits How many games, Rob,

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Speaker 2: would you say Japanese baseball games have you attended in

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Speaker 2: person over the years.

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Speaker 5: Oh?

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Speaker 3: I don't think I could count anymore. Okay, you're a

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Speaker 3: good one hundred.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. What what brought you to Japan to go to

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Speaker 2: baseball games? Dan? In San Francisco.

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Speaker 6: Well, I did a year abroad when I was in college,

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Speaker 6: and I noticed that, you know, TV's were always on

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Speaker 6: in restaurants, you know, like anywhere you go, their TV's on.

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Speaker 6: And the one thing I could I was just starting

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Speaker 6: to learn how to speak Japanese and the one thing

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Speaker 6: I could understand was baseball because they use a lot

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Speaker 6: of English words. Broadcasters on TV use a lot of

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Speaker 6: English words, and I could follow that. So I started

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Speaker 6: to watch baseball on TV in Japan, and you know,

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Speaker 6: I'm a fan. I'm a Red Sox fan. So I

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Speaker 6: eventually went to some games in person. I saw the

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Speaker 6: Tokyo Giants, the Yomurdy Giants, and the who's the other

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Speaker 6: team there? The one in oh Gosh I forget the

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Speaker 6: name now, I think they've changed their name, but also

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Speaker 6: the Yokohama Bay Stars and the Chiba Latte Marines. I've

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Speaker 6: been to those stadiums to see games.

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Speaker 2: What is the other one? Does one called like the

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Speaker 2: ham Fighters or something?

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Speaker 6: It's ham Fighters?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he Dan? What did you like best about Japanese baseball.

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Speaker 3: When you were at the games, you know what I liked.

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Speaker 6: I liked the fans, okay, And I see the energy

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Speaker 6: of the fans is tremendous over there. And I think

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Speaker 6: this is my theory, is that because Japan is a

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Speaker 6: it's kind of a crowded society, people are modest. You know,

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Speaker 6: they can't really show their emotions at work or even

436
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 6: at home. But if you go to a ball game,

437
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 6: you can let it all hang out. You can jump

438
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 6: up and down, you can cheer and drink beer and

439
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 6: really let loose. And I think it's like a pressure

440
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 6: release valve for a lot of people. They work hard

441
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 6: all day, all week, and then if they go out

442
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,160
Speaker 6: to a ball game with people from work or friends,

443
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 6: then they can they can let off some steam.

444
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 3: You know, that's exactly right Dan my book. In my book,

445
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 3: I interview about thirty people who are involved in Nipon

446
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 3: Professional Baseball, and among the questions I asked them is

447
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,359
Speaker 3: you know, why are the fans so enthusiastic? Tell me

448
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,920
Speaker 3: about these cheering groups. And that's exactly what they answered.

449
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 3: They said, we need these organizing cheering groups in order

450
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 3: to feel comfortable being that extraverted, because we're not usually

451
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 3: like that, that's.

452
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 6: Right, and this is the one time that it's it's

453
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 6: like socially sanctioned to cheer, to eat a lot, to

454
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 6: be happy, and just to forget about work for a

455
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 6: little while. So I liked the baseball as well, but

456
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,119
Speaker 6: the fans were the ones that always It was so

457
00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 6: enjoyable to go out and see the game and to

458
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,399
Speaker 6: see the fans enjoying themselves so much. But I did

459
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 6: like the style of play. I would say that was

460
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 6: a bit different. I saw it as more cooperative and

461
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,919
Speaker 6: more of a team game in that like you wouldn't

462
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 6: see an outfielder necessarily try to throw a guy out

463
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,440
Speaker 6: at the plate. He would always throw to the cutoff man.

464
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 6: And there was more bunding and it was going to

465
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 6: move to the runners forward as opposed to power hitting.

466
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 6: So it was it was a different type of baseball

467
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 6: than it's played in the US. And I can reference

468
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 6: a former Red Sox player, a former center fielder, Dan

469
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 6: you might remember him. Do you remember Reggie Smith?

470
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,360
Speaker 2: Oh sure, yeah, absolutely well.

471
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 6: He played in Japan. He played in Japan in the eighties,

472
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,160
Speaker 6: and he called the style of Japanese baseball small ball

473
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 6: because people, the players were a bit reluctant to take

474
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,920
Speaker 6: chances because they didn't want to embarrass themselves.

475
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 2: You know, there are a lot of a lot of

476
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,680
Speaker 2: Major league players who at the end of their careers

477
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,159
Speaker 2: went over and played in Japan. I think I just

478
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,920
Speaker 2: recently met that George Altman, great player in the National

479
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 2: League with the Cubs. I know, the Yankee third Basement

480
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,879
Speaker 2: Cleete Boyer went over there after he had great years

481
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 2: with the Yankees and went over there in the they

482
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:50,439
Speaker 2: they made probably more money in going to Japan in

483
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 2: those days than they were making in the major leagues

484
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 2: before the major league players got unionized. Dan and San

485
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,360
Speaker 2: Francisco you located, I could ask just generally, what state

486
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 2: do you win? I'm in New York, Okay, So here

487
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 2: we have a Boston radio station interviewing WBZ interviewing Robin

488
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 2: New York, and we're talking with Dan in San Francisco.

489
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,439
Speaker 2: Radio is an amazing thing. That's that's for sure. I

490
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,640
Speaker 2: grew up listening to baseball games as a kid and

491
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,119
Speaker 2: fell in love with radio because of the idea that

492
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 2: you could listen to Chuck Thompson from the Baltimore Orioles

493
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 2: or you could listen to Mel Allen and Red Barber

494
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:35,680
Speaker 2: from the Yankees or Russ Hodges from the Giants. It's

495
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 2: it's it's an it's an amazing vehicle to uh TO

496
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 2: to help educate and and and make people understand that

497
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 2: our differences really are our strength. Dan in San Francisco,

498
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 2: I know you've called before. Thank you for always listening

499
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 2: to my show and continue to call. Thank you so much.

500
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 6: Oh, you're welcome. Thanks on you guys.

501
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 2: Talk to you soon, Rob. I got a break. I

502
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 2: got to take a quick break, and I do want

503
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 2: to talk about the food in the ballpark and the experience.

504
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 2: I want to want to come back and want to

505
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,760
Speaker 2: ask you what is the difference between going to a game?

506
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 2: You've been to a game at Fenway Park, I assume

507
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 2: at some point, right, absolutely, Okay, what is the differ

508
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,600
Speaker 2: is between going to Fenway Park and going to pick

509
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 2: any stadium in Japan? And we'll also get some more

510
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 2: calls at six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty

511
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. Again, the

512
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 2: book is in the Japanese ballpark. It's published by Nebraska Press,

513
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 2: but it's available Amazon bookstores and if you're a baseball fan,

514
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 2: and I do want to talk a little bit more

515
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 2: about some of the other major league players who have

516
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 2: kind of gone to Japan and played. And I'm sure

517
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 2: you probably have in your mind the list of a

518
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 2: few that some of us might remember the names of.

519
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,320
Speaker 2: Think about that, and I want to talk to you

520
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 2: about the difference between the ballparks and more phone calls.

521
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 2: We'll be right back on Night's Side with my guest

522
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 2: Rob f Fits the book in the Japanese Ballpark Behind

523
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 2: the Scenes of nip On Professional Baseball. Questions.

524
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,920
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.

525
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,040
Speaker 2: My guest is Rob Fitz. His book is in the

526
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 2: Japanese Ballpark Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball. Quickly

527
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 2: or up if you could for me, because they got

528
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 2: other callers I'd like to get to as well. What's

529
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 2: the difference between going to Fenway Park and watching a

530
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 2: Red Sox game or going to one of the Japanese

531
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,640
Speaker 2: stadiums and watching professional baseball over there. What's I'm sure

532
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 2: my my fans who go to my listeners who have

533
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 2: been to Fenway Park can use that as a point

534
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 2: of reference. What's tell us about a little, how it's different,

535
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 2: How it's the same.

536
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 3: Wow, there's so many differences, all right. As I mentioned before,

537
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 3: the fans are really into it. But they have organized

538
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 3: cheering groups over there called owen don And these organized

539
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 3: cheering groups sit in the outfield and they're only allowed

540
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,160
Speaker 3: to cheer when their team is at bat, not allowed

541
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 3: to cheer when the other teams at bat. They have

542
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 3: songs for every single player, different songs for each player,

543
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 3: different chant and they've got horns and they've got drums

544
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 3: and they've got the clappers, and this goes on all

545
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 3: game one can they the.

546
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 2: Guys and the other can they bow the guys and

547
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 2: the other team? Is that considered inappropriate?

548
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 3: Oh? There's basically no booing in Japan. It's just not acceptable.

549
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 2: Now.

550
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 3: Once upon a time there was, but this is the

551
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:36,880
Speaker 3: modern game. There's basically no booing. So you got this

552
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 3: going on, these oh and don, these organized cheers. You

553
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 3: instead of the seventh inning stretch and singing Sweet Caroline,

554
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:49,400
Speaker 3: they sing their team fight song. Now that's kind of similar,

555
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 3: isn't it. But in some stadiums they at the end

556
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 3: of singing this team fights on, they all let out

557
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 3: balloons and they all shoot into the sky, which is

558
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 3: really cool. They have cheerleaders there. They have not only

559
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 3: the cheerleaders in the sand Deal and Don, but they

560
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,719
Speaker 3: have cheerleaders like we do in the NFL there. And

561
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 3: so they've got pom poms and they're doing somersaults all

562
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 3: over the field. And we're gonna talk later, I hope

563
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,440
Speaker 3: about the beer girls. But they have beer girls there.

564
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,320
Speaker 2: Who's let's do a conversation right now, because you you

565
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 2: the book painted the picture of this beer girl with

566
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 2: sort of a keg on a backpack and sprinting up

567
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,200
Speaker 2: and down the flights of stairs in the stands.

568
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right. So in the ballpark they're over

569
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 3: one hundred, between one hundred and say one hundred and

570
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 3: fifty young ladies, mostly college aged girls, and they wear

571
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 3: a keg on their back and this keg weighs forty pounds.

572
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 3: And when you want a beer, they're going up and

573
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,560
Speaker 3: down the state and they're kind of jogging up and

574
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 3: down the steps. There's no casual walking there. And when

575
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 3: you want a beer, you raise your hand and you

576
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:10,680
Speaker 3: catch their eye and they'll kind of run up to

577
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 3: you and they'll sit, they'll bend down on the steps

578
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 3: because they're not allowed to block anybody's view. And then

579
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 3: they will pour you an ice cold, you know, keg

580
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,760
Speaker 3: on the tap, draft beer from this keg on their back.

581
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 2: And what do they have to put the the plastic

582
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 2: cup behind them somehow that they must twist themselves into

583
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 2: a pretzel.

584
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 3: Well, the kegs have nozzles on them, hoses with nozzles.

585
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 2: Okay, right in the front.

586
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 3: They've got the cups are in like these holsters that

587
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 3: they wear on their on their hips. So there's a

588
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 3: big stack of thirty cups there and they've got their

589
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 3: nozzle and their beer and they all are practiced to

590
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 3: pour what they consider the perfect beer. By the way,

591
00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 3: that's seventy percent beer and thirty percent from according to

592
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 3: the Japanese beer girls. And the best thing about this

593
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 3: is a beer over there. Full price is eight hundred yeah,

594
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 3: which is about five bucks not that.

595
00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 2: Okay, real quick question here, so I need a real

596
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 2: quick answer. In America, you go to the ballpark, you

597
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,240
Speaker 2: get a hot dog and a pepsi or a coke

598
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 2: or a hot dog and a beer. What's the bill

599
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 2: of fare in a Japanese ballpark?

600
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 3: It's really very My favorite is fried octopus and fried chicken.

601
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,399
Speaker 2: Okay, let me get a quick call in here, Tim

602
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 2: and Wilburn. Tim, you're a baseball fan. Welcome to night Side.

603
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 2: Welcome back to night Sir Nearon with Rob Fitz. Got

604
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:42,480
Speaker 2: a question or a comment?

605
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 5: I got a comment. I'm pretty sure the Japanese right

606
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,319
Speaker 5: in the Early League World Series. I was working this year.

607
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 5: I didn't get to see it, but the Japanese usually

608
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 5: win the Little League World Series. They have great pitches. Great.

609
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 2: I think you're right, and I think they might have

610
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 2: won it this year. If if I'm trying to recall,

611
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,839
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, do you know off end? Rob?

612
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 3: You know, I don't remember this year, but I think

613
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 3: it's possible.

614
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, I Tim, they might have, but I didn't

615
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,239
Speaker 5: have time to watch it. But every year I watch it,

616
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:19,840
Speaker 5: and they have great pitches, unbelievable. You can't hit them, well.

617
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:21,760
Speaker 2: There's a lot of them. They're only throwing from fifty

618
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 2: two feet, so that makes a little difference. Gets up

619
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 2: on you pretty quickly, even you know, if it's a

620
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:32,399
Speaker 2: twelve year old of that. Okay, all right, yeah, thanks, Tim,

621
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you, I'm just trying to see here,

622
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,759
Speaker 2: if we have if I have the winner? No, it's oh,

623
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 2: I'm trying to look up the twenty twenty five. Uh

624
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,239
Speaker 2: that's it. Hold on for one second. I'll get that

625
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,160
Speaker 2: answer for you real quickly here, Tim, and we'll see

626
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 2: if if you'll correct. What have we got to go back? Here, couples,

627
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:53,880
Speaker 2: Here we go, twenty twenty five Little League World Series.

628
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,400
Speaker 2: Let's go who won it? Come on, we got to

629
00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:01,840
Speaker 2: have a quick hare. William sport ten teams from Chinese

630
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,799
Speaker 2: to Taipei. So it was it was a Chinese team

631
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 2: that won this year. Yeah, Chinese Taiwan on.

632
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 5: Type Taipei kai olienzos like the Chinese and the Japanese

633
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:14,320
Speaker 5: sake great pitching.

634
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 2: Thanks, sure do. Thank you, Tim, appreciate your call. We'll

635
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 2: talk soon, Rob. This has been a really fun hour

636
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 2: for me. I remember when the New York Yankees went

637
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 2: to Japan in the in the mid fifties. Hank Bauer.

638
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:29,840
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know the story that Hank Bauer, the

639
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:35,760
Speaker 2: right fielder for the Yankees before Roger Marris, he refused

640
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 2: to go. He had been a veteran of Ijima. Uh.

641
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,439
Speaker 3: Yeah, so the carl erskine. When the Dodgers went over

642
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 3: the year before.

643
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,720
Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't know that Erskine was Yeah, wow, pretty

644
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 2: good pitch.

645
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 3: He was also fun of the Pacific.

646
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, well though the wounds heel over time. And do

647
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,239
Speaker 2: you remember when the when the Red Sox brought in

648
00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 2: Disa came Matsusaka back in. He was he I remember

649
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,319
Speaker 2: when he came here, they said he would have his

650
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:13,720
Speaker 2: pitch was the gyro ball that would somehow back up? Yeah,

651
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:16,359
Speaker 2: but it was an optical or.

652
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:17,799
Speaker 3: Two, right, wasn't he did?

653
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:19,560
Speaker 2: No, he did, he did, and they won. He was

654
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,600
Speaker 2: with him when they won, when they won the World

655
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 2: Series in two thousand and seven. Yeah, no, he he was.

656
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 2: He was just fine. Rob. I so enjoyed this behind

657
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:34,040
Speaker 2: the scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball in the Japanese Ballpark. Uh,

658
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,360
Speaker 2: it was for me a great hour. I'd have you

659
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:40,319
Speaker 2: on every week if I could. But maybe, uh, when

660
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,840
Speaker 2: we get to the beginning of the baseball season, we

661
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 2: can we can do something again. But I want to

662
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 2: thank you for you for your time tonight.

663
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Dan. It was really fun.

664
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 2: Absolutely with a lot of names here, give me, give

665
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,160
Speaker 2: me three names of Major League baseball players who, after

666
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:00,360
Speaker 2: their careers went back went back to Ja Pan that

667
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,520
Speaker 2: we haven't mentioned, all right.

668
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 3: I tried to figure out some Red Sox. Don Zimmer

669
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 3: played in Japan for a little bit, so did Michael.

670
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 3: Mike Greenwell played in Japan for only a couple of weeks.

671
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 3: But he couldn't take it.

672
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 2: And just pat by the way, Greenwell just passed away.

673
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,919
Speaker 2: He was a county commissioner down in Fort Myers.

674
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,919
Speaker 4: Right, yeah, give me give me one one more.

675
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 3: How about Remember he wasn't a Red Sox. But you

676
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,200
Speaker 3: remember Bob Horner of the Braves.

677
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 2: Oh sure, Bob horn a great third basement. Absolutely. I

678
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:35,799
Speaker 2: think he was Rookie of the Year if I'm not

679
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 2: mistaken one year.

680
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, he got to go to Japan.

681
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 2: Yeah wow, all right, Rob Fitz, thank you so much.

682
00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 2: This was a great hour. I really I hope you

683
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,319
Speaker 2: continue to listen to us out there in New York

684
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 2: as well, because we're on five nights a week, Monday

685
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 2: through Friday, eight to midnight. Thank you, my.

686
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 3: Friend, Thank you very much. Good night.

687
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 2: All right, good night, we came back. We're going to

688
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 2: talk about our New England weather. It's the twentieth hour.

689
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 2: I want to know. I am sick of the snow

690
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,920
Speaker 2: I am, and when will it stop? That's my questions.

691
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,600
Speaker 2: Let's have some fun with it. Tell me about your

692
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:14,240
Speaker 2: winter here in New England. They're playing baseball in Florida,

693
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,400
Speaker 2: Spring Conty. Far behind. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside,

694
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 2: Rob Brooks take care of in the eleven o'clock hour.

695
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:21,759
Speaker 2: Light it up now if you like. We'll be back

696
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:23,400
Speaker 2: right after the eleven o'clock news