To Ben Verlander
FOX Sports MLB Analyst
Editor’s Note: Ben Verlander spends time in Japan exploring Shohei Ohtani’s roots, experiencing Japanese culture and meeting fans. This is his second in a regular series. It started on Friday, August 19th.
How are you all doing? It’s my second day in Japan.Before heading to Tokyo Dome to watch the Tokyo Giants match against Hanshin Tigers tigers (for NPB’s version Red Sox–Yankees rival), I would like to tell you about yesterday. It was also one of the best days of my life with him.
We were at Yokohama Stadium to watch the Yokohama BayStars and Hiroshima Carp.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. We showed up, qualified and met with various people from the Baystars organization.They could not have been more gracious and generous throughout the entire experience. It was incredibly cool.
Then we walked into the stadium—the first time in a baseball stadium in Japan—and I was blown away. This place is impressive. It has a seating capacity of about 34,000 and is perfectly circular with a steep row of blue seats. Even if you’re in row 50, you’ll feel like you’re at the top.
Another thing that jumped out right away was that the dimensions of the field were small: It’s 309 feet from the line and just over 380 feet to center, but a 16-foot wall surrounds the entire outfield. I can imagine there are some really high scoring games out there.
We came in while the team was taking BP. One thing that quickly became apparent is that in Japanese baseball, the home team has two players batting practice at the same time in his two separate cages.
Batting practice is also popular. It’s basically a full workout before the game starts. Pitchers practicing in the outfield, pitchers hitting tee shots on the side, bunting his drills, the list goes on. This is not seen in MLB.
At BP, I was able to meet Shota Imanaga, the star pitcher for the BayStars. He greeted with excitement. I asked him why he liked pitching in such a small stadium. He argued that American hitters would hit a ton of home runs if they played there, and when asked if he had a goal of playing in the MLB, he said, “Absolutely.”
We then headed to the team store. I have decided to purchase a jersey for every match I attend this week. Naturally, I had to pick up the beautiful white pinstriped Iminaga No.21.
Then go to the store. difficult.
Stadium food is markedly different here. I’ve tried everything from pork dumplings to orange ice cream to one of the best curries he’s ever tasted. Coming soon we will publish a full video breakdown of all these.
Then the gate opened. And I was unprepared for what happened next. I am very proud to say that “Flippin’ Bats” is the #1 baseball podcast in Japan. But even knowing that, the reaction from the fans was unpredictable.
Within 30 seconds of the gate opening, two girls approached me and asked to be photographed. One of the girls suddenly started crying. It turned out to be a common occurrence. She took hundreds of photos. It was a special day.
I understand how strong Shohei Ohtani’s impact is. All this is his fault. I became the number one Ohtani fan on the other side of the world and after 13 hours traversing the globe, the appreciation and love was immediately apparent.
Ben Verlander is an MLB analyst for FOX Sports,flippin’ batBorn and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before joining brother Justin in Detroit in 2013 for the Tigers’ 14th round pick. He spent his five years with the Tigers. Follow him on Twitter @.Ben Verlander.
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