Learning by Doing

Clever people, those Orientals. Consider baseboru. For nearly three decades after the professional game was introduced to Japan in 1936, the native teams politely and honorably lost to visiting U.S. clubs in a series of postseason exhibition games. All along, of course, the Japanese players were learning while losing. Just how much they learned became shockingly clear to the San Francisco Giants last year. When they went to Japan to take on such supposed pushovers as the Taiyo Whales, Nankai Hawks and Chunichi Dragons, the Giants were clobbered in six out of nine games. Now, anxious to pick up more pointers, the Japanese have sent two of their best teams, Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants and Lotte Orions, to train in Florida and Arizona respectively. As intended, their performances have given impetus to Japan's interest in internationalizing big league baseball and thus creating what Orions Chairman Nasaichi Nagara calls the "true World Series."

The Tokyo Giants, winners of six straight Japanese championships, gave a preview of that prospect when they met the Baltimore Orioles, winners of last year's World Series, in an exhibition game at Miami. First Baseman Sadaharu Oh, the "Babe Ruth of Japan," who slugged 47 homma last season and earns a neat $120,000 a year, drove in two runs on two hits, using an odd, dog-at-a-hydrant batting stance that hasn't been seen in the U.S. since the heyday of Mel Ott. Oh's occidental counterpart, mountainous Boog Powell (35 home runs and a $90,000 salary), went hitless. Although the Giants moved into an early lead, the Orioles pulled out a 6-4 victory with two runs in the eighth inning. The visiting Giants then went on to trounce the Kansas City Royals 7-4 and the Minnesota Twins 6-3. As always, the hustling Japanese traded on the pinpoint precision of their pitchers and the big bats of Oh and Third Baseman Shigeo Nagashima. Known as "Mr. Giant," Nagashima, 35, who has led the league in hitting and runs batted in five times, earns $130,000 a year. Giants Owner Toru Shoriki, noting that his team drew 2,500,000 fans last year (Oriole attendance, 1,057,000), said simply: "We make lot of money."

The Giants came to Florida as students rather than superstars. Compared to U.S. major leaguers, the Japanese pitchers have good control (but not much speed) and the hitters have sharper batting eyes (they rarely went after a bad pitch). Their slight physiques, however, leave them wanting in hitting power and speed on the basepaths. Slugger that he is, First Baseman Oh, nonetheless, owes some of his homers to the fact that the fences in Japanese ballparks are 30 ft. to 40 ft. shorter than those in the U.S. Eager to amend their deficiencies, the Tokyo Giants attended daily lectures run by their hosts, the Los Angeles Dodgers, taking notes as Shortstop Maury Wills told them through an interpreter to "Sekkyoku-teki ni hasire [Run aggressively]" and Batting Coach Dixie Walker advised ''Liner uchi o kokoro gakeyo [Hit the line drive]." They did, and banged out an 8-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies and a 3-3 record before returning home to Tokyo.

In Casa Grande, Ariz., meanwhile, the Lotte Orions celebrated a 7-2 victory over the California Angels last week by touching off a string of firecrackers in the dugout. Ranked as the strongest hitting team in Japan, the Orions last season had five men in the lineup who hit 20 or more home runs. Unlike the Tokyo Giants, who pride themselves on being "pureblood Japanese," the Orions have two gaijin (foreigners) in their murderer's row--Arturo Lopez (21 home runs), a former utility player for the New York Yankees, and Black Outfielder George Altman (30 homers), late of the Chicago Cubs. Lopez, who was raised in New York City and went to Japan to "give my kids a better environment," said last week: "I just can't wait to get back to Tokyo. I'm homesick."

Most of the other Orions were too busy at the training table set for them by their hosts, the San Francisco Giants, to get homesick. Convinced that the Western diet is the secret to the power of U.S. players, the Orions wolfed down platters of roast beef, steak, corned beef and cabbage, brownies and, after a few lessons on gnawing techniques, corn on the cob. Something worked. After losing their first five games by narrow margins, the Orions exploded for eleven hits to trounce the Oakland Athletics 12-6.

With 14 games remaining on their spring training schedule and dozens more American dishes to sample, the Orions have only one complaint: they can't find any suitable souvenirs to take home. Seems that everything they pick up is stamped "Made in Japan."

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