In the summer of 2009, I finally got to visit Alvin, Texas, a place I had always wanted to visit. It's the hometown of Nolan Ryan. A legendary pitcher with seven no-hitters and a career total of 5,714 strikeouts, Nolan Ryan is a hero to me, and I continue to feel a strong affinity for him, as he was born in 1947, the same year as me. I'd also like to mention something else: I have a friend (a Japanese woman younger than me) who saw Nolan Ryan when he was still playing and fe

Munetaka Murakami, a talented hitter who played in Japanese Professional baseball, will be playing for the Chicago White Sox starting this year. I imagine that baseball fans in the United States don't know much about what kind of baseball player Munetaka Murakami is. So, I'd like to talk about him from my own personal perspective. A magazine featuring all 56 home runs hit by Munetaka Murakami in 2022 (in Japanese, 2022, TAKARAJIMASHA, INC., Tokyo, Japan) When talking about

In my previous column, I wrote about my visit to the house where Joe Jackson spent his final years, which is preserved in the city of Greenville, South Carolina. The couple who manage the house told me the following about the house: The house where Jackson spent his final years was originally located about five kilometers away, but it was moved to its current location in 2006, 55 years after Jackson’s death. The reason for this was that an impressive ballpark, Fluor Field at

Joe Jackson is one of the greatest hitters in Major League Baseball history. His career batting average of .356 is the third-best in history. However, he was permanently banned for his involvement in fixing games in the 1919 World Series. There are many different opinions and endless debate about whether Jackson actually participated in fixing games. If he wasn’t actually involved, then Jackson would be a tragic hero, and many fans think so. I’m one of them. Now, it was the

This is a sequel to my last column. In my last column, I wrote about my personal analysis of the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Every year, I research each player’s league ranking in eight batting categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. I believe that players who achieve the top five in the league in all eight categories can be considered the best hitters in MLB. This is merely one example of wha

I’ ve been steadily conducting various analyses of Major League Baseball records for a long time, but they’ re all based on my own personal preferences. One of these analyses is the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Each year, I examine each player’ s league ranking in eight categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. It’ s difficult to achieve high rankings in all eight categories. For example, a player

I was eight years old in 1955. That fall, the New York Yankees came to Japan to play against Japanese professional baseball teams. I watched one of those games live at the stadium and was captivated by the Yankees' play. I became an avid Major League Baseball fan, and the Yankees who visited Japan that time remain unforgettable to me. Among them was Yogi Berra, the legendary catcher whose name will forever be remembered in Major League Baseball history. In August 2017, I vis

At approximately 3:25 p.m. on January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, carrying 155 passengers and crew. However, shortly after takeoff, while still flying at a low altitude of just 850 meters, a bird strike caused a complete loss of thrust in both engines. Naturally, the flight was impossible, and the altitude was insufficient to turn and return to LaGuardia. Attempting to return would have resulted in a crash into downtown New Yo

From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, the New York Yankees had a great catcher named Yogi Berra, who was selected as the regular season MVP three times and whose name will forever remain in the history of MLB. The Yankees were in a golden age during Yogi Berra's time with the team, and he won the World Series a total of 10 times. Yogi Berra is also an unforgettable Major League Baseball player for me. I became an avid MLB fan after watching a Yankees game live at the stad

Last year, in 2025, Paul Skenes was selected as the National League Cy Young Award winner. I think that was a predictable and natural selection. However, in Japan, many people were very disappointed that Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not win the award. These people seemed to assume that Yamamoto's postseason performance would be considered for the Cy Young Award, even though that is not the case. A Japanese sports magazine features Yoshinobu Yamamoto on its cover at the moment of t

In June 2013, while on a road trip around the United States, I visited Demorest, Georgia, a small city with a population of less than 2,000. Johnny Mize (who died in 1993 at age 80), one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history, was born and raised in Demorest. He studied at Piedmont College in Demorest, where he devoted himself to baseball and became a major leaguer. Piedmont College houses the “Johnny Mize Athletic Center”, a memorial to him. Johnny Mize p

Recently, I learned that there are quite a few young people who don't know the extremely famous Christmas song, "White Christmas." I wasn't surprised by this fact, because "White Christmas" is an old song and people have different interests. But then it occurred to me. There are some things about "White Christmas" that even older people don't realize. So, this time I'll be talking about "White Christmas." "White Christmas" was first sung by Bing Crosby, the lead actor in th

Since this year’s MLB schedule ended, several new managerial and coaching appointments have been announced. Some of these announcements have been what I consider to be rare or bold, such as Kurt Suzuki being named the new manager of the Los Angeles Angels and Tony Vitello being named the new manager of the San Francisco Giants. Kurt Suzuki, who played as a catcher in the major leagues for 16 years, retired in 2022, only three years ago, and he's still young at 42. It's fair

This year, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers was selected as the 2025 National League MVP, unanimously so. As a huge Shohei Ohtani fan, I was thrilled by the result, but I was also surprised. I thought that while Shohei Ohtani might be selected, it wouldn't be a unanimous vote, and that it would be a close race between him and Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies. While Shohei Ohtani, a two-way player, led in metrics like OPS and WAR, he didn’t win any of the th

In the summer of 2010, while on a road trip around the United States, I stopped in Madison County, Iowa, to see Roseman Bridge, the covered bridge made famous by the novel "The Bridges of Madison County " by Robert James Waller. This is an internationally bestselling novel about the love story between a photographer who comes to Madison County to photograph covered bridges and a local married woman. The 1995 film of the same name based on this novel was also a huge hit, star