Since today is International Day at SML (having covered Argentine players in the Premiership earlier today), let's check in on how Bobby Valentine is doing in Japan... oh, my... looks like he has merchandise:

That's the "muscle shirt" found in "Bobby Valentine's Moments & Memories apparel collection.  Let's just move on quickly.... 

Extrapolator had a great Q&A with Mike Plugh about the Japanese Leagues, and the differences between Japanese and American baseball - see it here.  

I was surprised to find out that Fantasy baseball is not popular in Japan.  I would have like to have found out more about the difference in pitching (the 6-man rotation, the ball's size, the different usage of the bullpen, etc.), but it is a good read. 

While talking to a colleague who just got back from Japan, she mentioned that she watched a game (on TV) of the Hanshin Tigers, whose ballpark had what appeared to be a "black dirt" infield.  I did some research, and it's not entirely true - the infield is darker dirt than you normally see, but not really black or unusually - but the stadium has an interesting history...

Koshien Stadium is the oldest and most regarded stadium in Japan. It opened in 1924, and has hosted the huge high school baseball tournaments - the Baseball Championships (in August) and the Baseball Invitional Tournament (in March).  Both tournaments are huge in Japan, televised with a large audience, and both are actually a higher priority than the Tigers' home games.

Babe Ruth played a game there in 1934, and there is a plague of him at the stadium:

The dirt there is considered "sacred".  The losing team in any high school baseball game is allowed to scoop up handfuls of the infield dirt, and stuff it into plastic bags, while "hordes of Japanese papparazzi snap photos" (according to Wikipedia).

And then there is the "Curse of the Colonel".  After winning the 1985 Japan Series, fans celebrated by having people who looked like Tigers players jump into the nearby Dotonbori Canal.  According to the legend, because none of the fans resembled first baseman Randy Bass (yes, the former major leaguer), fans grabbed a life-size statue of KFC mascot Colonel Sanders and threw it into the river (since the Colonel is America and had a beard like Bass - um, did I tell you all white people look alike?).  The statue was never recovered, and according to the curse they are doomed to lose until Colonel Sanders is rescued from the river.  Or becomes radioactive and rises from the river, and destroys Tokyo.

Seriously, who the f*ck has ever even seen a life-size statue of Colonel Sanders?  Is that actually for real?  Okay, I found one in Binghamton, NY (shoutout to SUNY-Binghamton - what up, nerds?):

And I read that there is one in the Louisville Airport.  Though, on second thought, it might be Randy Bass.... 

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