Chunichi Considers Ochiai

Three time Triple Crown winner and former Chunichi Dragon (and Lotte Orion, Yomiuri Giant, and Nippon Ham Fighter) Ochiai Hiromitsu is currently the top prospect to take over as manager of the Chunichi Dragons in 2004. For several days, now, Nikkan Sports has been saying that Chunichi is on the verge of signing Ochiai. It's reportedly down to hearing Ochiai's conditions and the owner agreeing to them.

He, he. But re-reading Robert Whiting's "You Gotta Have Wa" about Ochiai makes me wonder. For those of you who only know Ochiai from "Wa" (Chapter 9 - "The Gaijin who Spoke Japanese" section), the Ochiai story continued for another 10 years.

I think that Jim Allen, in his "1994 Guide to Japanese Baseball," put it well in his paragraph about Ochiai:

Don't you love how all the stories about Ochiai have changed since he joined the Giants? Before he became of of the good guys, you'd think he'd named his son "Akuma" ["Devil"]. He was greedy, he was lazy, he didn't respect authority, he didn't put his wife in her place. You name it and he's been accused of it. Now, he's been born again. That's right, he's joined the Giants to honor his father's memory. Very touching don't you think[?] The next thing you know, the Yomiuri media empire will tell us that Nobuko Ochiai is the model Japanese woman.

I really did enjoy some of the sarcasm of Jim's Guides. But it really was true. Ochiai went from being a rebel to a model citizen when he changed teams. What's more, thanks to the newly implemented free agency system at the time, he was finally able to become the highest paid Japanese player in Pro Yakyu, one of his stated goals from early on.

While he didn't have nearly the years he had before joining the Giants, he was often credited for his leadership in helping the Giants to a couple more championships. But when Kiyohara became a free agent, the Giants dropped Ochiai like a hot potato. Rather than retiring, Ochiai signed with Nippon Ham for too large a contract for him to possibly play up to. And that was the beginning of the end for the veteran.

I think it will be interesting to see how he manages the Dragons. He'll definitely bring in some new ideas and a great deal of experience.