artificial turf

For those who want to click, the article is here.

I was a little disappointed with how short the article was. I guess I have to find the Voice article if I want to know what Ninomiya-san says. A link to the original article would have made that easy.

[For the JT Editor: The "HT" in "HTML" is for "HyperText." That's what links pages and information together. It'd be nice if you learned how to use the hypertext capabilities of the Web. URLs are appearing more and more in the printed version of Nikkan Sports as they get more in tune with hyperlinking.]

Otherwise, what was written in the JapanToday article was what most of you already know:

1. Only 5 out of 30 MLB teams use artificial turf.


2. Hanshin, Hiroshima, and Orix are the only teams in Japan with real grass.


3. Godzilla (Giants' Matsui) has expressed that he'd like to play on real grass to extend his career.

I would have thought that the article would have at least mentioned Chiba going to natural grass in 2003, but it didn't. And some more information on whether or not Yokohama Dome is to be, and if so, will it be modeled after new MLB stadiums with retractable roofs and natural grass?

Does anybody else have answers to these questions not raised by the article?

On a positive note, I see that the JapanToday has a discussion section for their articles now. It's about time the mainstream press started allowing more direct, public user feedback.

Now that the initial shock of how little the article had to say is over, I should probably reply to your more interesting comment. In particular:

Ninomiya claims that truly exciting play cannot take place on artificial turf; only on natural grass can players attempt to make diving catches without fear of injury.

I think that this was what you were referring to with your comment on Suzuki. However, I think that former team mate Haru would probably benefit more than Suzuki-kun.

Did you see that diving catch Haru made in Tokyo Dome's center field a couple of years ago, getting a serious rug burn on his face? I liked Haru before that, but that dive made him my favorite BayStar at the time.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed when he was traded to Chunichi. But in all reality, I think that Yokohama got the better end of the deal. At least, in the short term. I could very well imagine Haru making a huge splash in the outfield of Chiba Marine in 2003. (I am a closet Lotte fan, you know? Where's my Lotte Almond Big Bar?)

The comment made by one reader that they should do away with semetrical parks also took my notice. I find beauty in the semetry myself, and see those strangly shaped MLB parks as odd - done out of necessity due to the size and shape of the block they built the stadiums on. (I could be wrong about the reasoning.)

What do others think about grass, semetry, domes, and other aspects of stadiums?

The only remaining excuse for turf is the domed stadium. I understand the weather situation in Japan, but the state of the art is retractable-roof stadia with natural grass. (There's also turf and turf; Field Turf is more forgiving than Astro Turf). Demanding symmetry from your architect removes some of the charm but also allows a club to pursue homerun hitters regardless of which side of the plate they stand on.

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