The Japanese all-stars swept the first four games of last week’s “exhibition” series which, in Japan, was called the “Super Major Series” and was televised live, nationwide, every day, which might give you a hint about who thought it was an “exhibition” and who didn’t. And, as the saying goes, the Japanese made it look easy, in part because the U.S. players dozed at the plate and committed four errors in a single game. Finally, in the fifth game, they came from behind to win one. But the Japanese team clinched the series the next day in a way that must have seemed inscrutable to the U.S. side: the teams played to a 6-6 draw (in Japan games can end in ties), guaranteeing that Japan would win the overall series for only the second time since its inception in 1908..
The Americans groped for excuses. True, this was not the absolute best team they could have sent. But they were hardly a bunch of stiffs: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Chris Sabo and home-run king Cecil Fielder. But Fielder’s performance was excruciating. One Japanese woman asked why the Tigers star was wearing an inner tube under his uniform.
Commissioner Vincent finally conceded that the series was “an embarrassment.” In Japan, one sportswriter wrote politely that the Americans couldn’t possibly be trying. A TV analyst said that the Japanese had improved, showing the Americans that they could no longer assume victory. Still, one American banker now working in Japan was inconsolable. “We’re not even No. 1 in baseball anymore,” he wailed. “What’s left?”
Well, they don’t even have pro football yet in Japan. A nice little tour by the San Francisco 49ers might be just the thing to normalize relations.
