While Naomi and Kim are out conquering the world, Scott and Daren talk Home Run Derby, Roki Sasaki, and the decision to go to Trump's White House. Squadcast was Squadcasting and cut off the session abruptly, but luckily it was at the end.
A bonus episode with a quick rant from Scott and an amazing conversation with musician, actor, and composer, Goh Nakamura. Goh scored the forthcoming documentary, Diamond Diplomacy which details the role baseball has played in bridging cultural and political divisions between Japan and the U.S. Goh talks about how working on this documentary has given him a new appreciation for baseball and its stars like Shohei Ohtani, and he talks about his creative process creating music for a baseball documentary.
Hideki Irabu was one of the first wave of pitchers from Japan to break into Major League Baseball. After chaotic negotiations between the Chiba Lotte Marines, San Diego Padres, and New York Yankees, he joined the Yankees in 1997 to great fanfare. But his time was marked by wild inconsistency. He could throw a shutout, or he could get hammered. After 6 seasons in the majors, he retired as a depressed alcoholic who could not recover from being abandoned by his White American birth father and his wife leaving him with their children. Irabu died in 2011 after taking his own life, leaving the baseball world saddened as it finally learned of his personal struggles. We remember Hideki Irabu for being a pioneer for Asian players and for enduring the harsh spotlight in New York.
It's tiiiiiiiiime for TOKYOOOOO BASEBALLLLL!!! Kim and Scott discuss the Tokyo Series! The Dodgers explore Japanese culture, both MLB clubs are blanked by the Hanshin Tigers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga make history, Roki Sasaki debuts, and who is already in hot water with Kim for intent walking Ohtani in Japan?!
We are BACK, baby! Just in time to discuss the highlights from the off-season and the buzz around the Tokyo Series. And of course it's a beefy episode to kick off the season, what else would you expect from your favorite podcast about Asians in baseball where we just yap about Asians in baseball?!