Randy Bass—The Legendary American Slugger in Japan

GRASSROOTS AMBASSADOR Friends of Japan Randy Bass, Kobe, where Bass lived, is a port Nippon Professional Baseball Stats city with an international fl air. YEAR GAMES AT-BAT HITS HOME RUNS AVERAGE 1983 113 420 107 35 .288 Randy Bass—The Legendary 1984 104 407 116 27 .326 1985 126 570 174 54 .350 1986 126 541 176 47 .389 1987 123 518 145 37 .320 American Slugger in Japan 1988 22 94 25 2 .321 NPB record Kobe is home to numerous Led Central League Randy Bass, an American baseball player restaurants serving world-famous from Oklahoma, became a legend of Japanese Kobe beef. baseball two years after first arriving in 1983. only) Japan Series championship in that diners can find whatever they What was the secret behind his success? UNITED STATES OF AMERICA JAPAN franchise history. Bass would go on are looking for. Bass took a particular to take the Triple Crown again the liking to ramen and teppanyaki next year, when he blasted home (cooking on an iron griddle). He Randy Bass at the plate at Koshien Stadium, runs in seven straight games, and “fell in love” with noodle dishes of the home of the Hanshin Tigers, in 1987. his .389 batting average (in 1986) set many flavors, including those with a single-season record in Japanese soy sauce or miso broth. His regular baseball that still stands today. restaurant, which served teppanyaki o Randy Bass, who had played Despite those feats, his career of Kobe beef, shrimp, and chicken, Fans send colorful balloons fl ying into the air at Koshien Tprofessional baseball as an in Japanese baseball got off to a prepared right at the table, was the Stadium to cheer on the ballplayers. infielder for 11 years in the United rocky start, as he recorded no hits “greatest place ever,” in his words. States, Japan was an unfamiliar in his first 15 at-bats. Adapting to Kobe also has international schools Tigers’ home at Koshien Stadium, country when he first came here. the Japanese style of baseball was a where children can learn in English. music from trumpets and drums Even so, he said that his transition struggle, as Japanese pitchers would Bass remembers that “it was just like kicks up and the crowd breaks out in to the world of professional Japanese throw a breaking ball (a pitch that being in Oklahoma.” unison, singing songs to encourage baseball “was the best decision [he] does not travel straight) in counts He easily got along with his their beloved team. As Bass recalls, ever made.” That decision was, at the when an American pitcher would Hanshin Tigers teammates by he always responded well to the fans’ same time, one that would produce typically hurl a fastball (power absorbing Japanese culture. In support. “The fans were outstanding. a legendary American slugger who pitching). Bass said, “Getting used between practices, Bass took Good or bad, it didn’t matter, they is still idolized in Japan today. to that... took about a half season an interest in playing shogi, a were there.” Bass joined the Hanshin Tigers, for me.” He was a left-handed power boardgame similar to chess, which Until he left the Tigers in 1988, one of the most popular professional hitter who would generally pull the was popular among his fellow Bass, supported by the people around Japanese baseball clubs, based in ball to right field, but he had a hard ballplayers at the time. The best shogi him and the city where he lived, was Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, in time hitting the opposite way—an player on the team taught Bass the a dynamic hitter who mesmerized 1983. Two years later, he posted a approach better suited to hitting rules and strategy. Shogi was played his fans. Even today, more than 30 .350 batting average, bashed 54 breaking balls. Nevertheless, with nearly every day between practices, years later, many still have vivid home runs, and drove in 134 RBIs a dedicated effort from the coaches and during that time, Bass eventually memories of the slugger. to win the Triple Crown, leading teaching him, he gradually overcame became good enough to defeat some the Tigers to their first (and so far that obstacle. For that, he is grateful, of his Japanese teammates. “They saying: “I became a dangerous hitter didn’t like to have an American beat then. I owe all that to the Japanese them,” he says, with a good-humored coaching staff.” smile. The setting where Randy Bass Bass was also encouraged by the Randy Bass lived, in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, passionate way Japanese fans cheer Born in Oklahoma in 1954. A sports enthusiast since he began playing baseball at a young age. Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1972. also influenced his play. Enclosed by on their teams, which is completely Later played for other MLB clubs, including the Kansas City Royals the sea and mountains, the city has unlike that of American crowds. and Texas Rangers, before coming to Japan in 1983, where he joined the Hanshin Tigers. With a powerful swing and excellent bat control, long prospered as an international When it is time to play ball at the his success at the plate helped lead the Tigers to their fi rst Japan trade hub, with a large population of Series championship in 1985. After leaving the Tigers and returning to America in 1988, Bass ran a farm in Oklahoma. In 2004, he began a foreign-born residents. It also has a Long after hanging up their spikes, former Hanshin 15-year stint as a Democratic state senator, which ended last year. rich culinary culture, which means Tigers teammates still get together. 26 27.

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