Japan Baseball 2006

Bobby Valentine and the Marines look to continue their success in a reconfigured sports landscape

Following his departure from Japan in 1995, Bobby Valentine had some unfinished business to take care of. The charismatic American raised the Chiba Lotte Marines from zeros to heroes in a spectacular turnaround and steered the Makuhari-based team into second place in the Pacific League. Chiba fans were ecstatic that their run-down team had become contenders and were eagerly awaiting to see if Valentine could lead them to the Promised Land: the Japan Series. But his outrageous dismissal from the team before the next year was even up meant that the Marines were destined once again to roam in the wilderness of Japanese baseball.

Until, that is, the Marines saw the light and hired Bobby all over again in 2004.

Valentine had more trouble getting his team out of the doldrums the second time around than he did the first, when the management decided to stick by him rather than run him out of town. Their faith in their boss paid off, and Lotte started to fire on all cylinders once again. Ten years after steering the Marines to second place in the league, Valentine did the same again.

This time around, though, the PL had a playoff series in place for the top three teams, and the cagey former New York Mets skipper worked the Marines into the Japan Series for the first time in, oh, 500 years or so. There, they faced another team enjoying a revival, the Hanshin Tigers, who captured the Central League pennant in 2003 and 2005. This time, Valentine was not to be denied, and the Marines swept the Tigers 4-0, making Mr. Bobby the first foreign manager to win the Japan Series.

In some ways, it was the culmination of three revolutionary years in the Japan baseball world, highlighted by a players’ strike, the re-emergence of “dead” franchises, and the decline of the once all-conquering Yomiuri Giants. The Giants, who have won the Central League 26 times in the last 50 years, no longer sell out all their home games at the Tokyo Dome, and their TV ratings, once as high as 20 percent, have, at times, fallen to half that.

In fact, in a recent Pia poll on franchise popularity, the Giants didn’t even register. The Marines came in second, the Tigers fourth and the Chunichi Dragons 20th. Combined with Gamba Osaka winning the J. League title, Japan has seen a redrawing of its sporting map. Or, to put it another way, a rebalancing. The success in recent years of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, the introduction of a new franchise in Sendai (the Rakuten Golden Eagles), the relocation of the Fighters to Sapporo, and now the Chiba-based Marines taking the Japan Series title—all have certainly helped baseball become less Tokyo-centric (and with committed participation in the Olympics and the new World Baseball Classic, it’s even going global).

In short, the geographical diversification of baseball has once again made it seem like
a national sport. The downside for some is the reduced level of national TV coverage, which is essential, some believe, to success. But the popularity of non-Tokyo teams and players (as seen in polls such as the Pia survey and All-Star voting) gives baseball a bigger national footprint and foundation for broader appeal. In some ways, it reflects the message of the J. League, as espoused by JFA chief Saburo Kawabuchi, which expects its teams to vitalize local communities rather than depend on national popularity.

With a new baseball season approaching (March 25 for the Pacific League; March 31 for the Central League), the sport can look forward to a bright future. If you don’t believe that miracles can happen, head to Makuhari and check out the Marines’ trophy cabinet.

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