Old Timers Lead Home Run Race

Discussion in the Open Talk forum

I'm surprised there isn't a topic about this already, but the leaders in the NPB home run race are Tyrone Woods, Takeshi Yamasaki, and Tuffy Rhodes. Woods is 38 years old and both Yamasaki and Rhodes are 39. Is this the first time in NPB history that such old players were leading both leagues in home runs?

In 1988, Hiromitsu Kadota had a very famous season in which he hit 44 homers and 125 RBIs while batting .311 to win the Pacific League MVP at the age of 40. He then hit over 30 homers each season with Orix at ages 41 and 42 before finally losing his power at the age of 43 while playing for Daiei.

Rhodes and Yamasaki are on pace to not only smash Kadota's mark, but they're also on pace to challenge the 55 homer mark of Sadaharu Oh. This wouldn't be so strange if it weren't for the fact that Rhodes is coming off a year in which he played no organized baseball and Yamasaki has never proven himself to be a top tier slugger outside of his 1996 season in which he hit 39 homers.

This is definitely proving to be one of the strangest seasons yet. Is there any confirmation that the infamous "rabbit balls" of 2004 are being used this season?

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