Call in the Marines (a Marines' fan lands on shore)

Call in the Marines (a Marines' fan lands on shore)
When I first starting watching and choosing a team to follow in the N.P.B. (Japanese Professional Baseball League) I was very impressed with the Tigers’ and Marines’ fans sometimes fanatical support. Giant fans are solid too, but they are the NY Yankees of the N.P.B. and thus have huge advantages in market share and more.

I’m not too keen with Johnny-come-latelies, as armchair supporters that change their support with the winds of fashion, and who are for the latest “in” or “it” team, have never been much to my taste.

The Chiba Marines are the closest team to my home, yet there are so many teams in the region that one doesn’t have to go local or be starved of coverage or getting seats.The colors (black, gray, white and a dash of red) are good and the team’s name is solid too. I’m not into making everything cute (kawai) so a team called "The Marines" is interesting too. I later learned they use the name to mean like that of the Mariners, as opposed to the “soldiers on ship” or military reference, but either way the name is sharp.

In our time of endless fashion a historical respect is nice to be found in baseball, yet teams named after buffaloes and whales just don’t fit a gracefully sport like baseball. So I'm glad Yokohama changed its name from the Whales. The exception to this, to date, is that of the the Hiroshima Carp, as the carp has a very in-depth meaning in Japan. That being in the times of much more social control the place for fun and entertainment was found in special walled cities or separate parts of town. There people were allowed to let off steam and find fun & relaxation, and this life was represented by “the carp” (often seen as a kind of kite on a pole). This fits very much with what baseball is about. So the Carp gets a big thumb’s up from me.

My first baseball team was the Toronto Blue Jays and from the beginning of watching them play at CNE stadium in a snowfall many years ago I liked to watch the sport, not just play. Then they won 2 World Series and all was worth the long support, this is exactly how I feel about the Marines; as they don’t disappoint.

Recently I have seen the Jays give up great pitchers every year, and seen the state of the turf in the stadium in Toronto with a bit of shame. From the Jays I became a great admirer of Pat Gillick, as what he did with the Jays and Phillies begs one to take note of what a good GM should do. So when the Chiba Lotte Marines hired Bobby Valentine many years ago I very was impressed with the GM going foreign. Gutsy decisions by a GM needs support, and so I gave my support to the Marines all the more. I was eager to see a blend of styles to gauge how a balance could be found.

I had played the gridiron game in Japan and my years of experience in Canada were negated because I was “not Japanese.” My talents were claimed to be due to my size, not so much because I could possibly know more. One of the biased issues here in Japan for foreigners was and is the idea that “ Japanese are just smarter.” So when Bobby came to manage I very much eager to see how he handled it. I had hoped that when Bobby helped take the Marines from the bottom to mid-table, that he might escape some of my experiences being he was more well known, and thus would allow the blending with the “Japanese Way” with other ways to take place. Then the shoe dropped and they fired him as I’d feared and I was pissed as they then dropped down the league table again.

Happily Bobby’s return and future success proved a great step to bringing a mixing of ideas in the sport. They have continued to do well, and as many have seen the last year (2010) they peaked at the right time to come from a very low playoff position to win it all.

They are struggling in pitching this year, and I see the Fighters as the team to beat with their depth in pitching. As they say, “pitching wins titles.”

The Swallows look like the other team to watch in the Central, but hitting can get hot and cold, so barring a peaking at the right time in batting, like last year, I think Chiba Marines will be hard pressed to repeat last year’s last minute cavalry charge run to take the pennant. Cross your fingers and keep your powder dry Marines (and your bats clean), as you can never count out the Chiba Marines!