January 07, 2004
If the US has a Comparative Advanatage in Baseball Bats...
Martin Fackler of the Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on semi-pro Japanese ballplayers coming to the United States (link requires subscription). If you don't subscribe to WSJ.com, see if you can pick up a print copy, it's worth the read. It seems the economic downturn in Japan is causing business to close down their corporate league teams.
As Japan's big companies undergo drastic restructuring to weather the long economic slump, many of them are shutting down their cherished corporate baseball teams. Only about 80 corporate teams are left today, compared with 237 in the early 1990s. More than 100 former industrial-league players have reluctantly left for the U.S. in the past five years, according to Japanese and U.S. officials.
These players are a different breed from the big-name Japanese pros, who arrive in America with fat contracts and their own interpreters. Eleven Japanese played in the major leagues last season, part of a rush that began in the mid-1990s when pitching star Hideo Nomo joined the Los Angeles Dodgers. The former industrial leaguers are more like Japan's legions of salaried workers who are seeing the certainties of lifetime employment vanish and are thrust into a new, more competitive global stage.
This could be a boon for the independent minor leagues in this country:
"We see a lot more Japanese players coming over now, many in pretty dire straits," says Mike Marshall, director of operations for the Northern League, one of nine independent minor leagues in the U.S. and Canada.
In Japan, the demise of the industrial leagues is causing worry that Japan is losing an important means of nurturing young players for its professional baseball league. But for the U.S., it is a boon, especially for the farm clubs and independent-league teams below the majors. Eager to tap this new lode, Mr. Marshall in November held his first tryout in Japan's western city of Kobe, jointly with scouts from the Seattle Mariners and the Minnesota Twins. After watching more than 130 players, he chose six potential candidates.
With all the news you hear about American jobs going overseas, it's nice to see the National Pastime is bringing foreign workers here.
Does the article mention whether that's Mike Marshall the former relief pitcher and kinesiology grad?
No, the Mike Marshall who works for the Northern League is not Dr. Mike Marshall, who pitched for the Dodgers in the '70s.
It's actually the Mike Marshall who played outfield for the Dodgers in the '80s.
Ah, one of the many replacements for Garvey at 1B. Good to know he's found semi-steady work.