Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
Some even beat the train at a stop.So this would be the "firster" than first class inside
Running Bear's October 2025 Coffee Shop
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I don't know much about baseball in Japan. I do know they must play at a high-level judging by the players that have played in MLB.
I first became aware of baseball in Japan when Sadaharu Oh was approaching Babe Ruth, and then Hank Aaron's home run records. Oh, went on to hit 868 homeruns, the most in professional baseball history.
He played for the Yomiuri Giants, 1959ā1980. In addition to his 868 homeruns, he had 2,170RBI with a 301-batting average. He won 11 Japan Series Titles as a player and 2 more as a manager. He was a 2-time Triple Crown Winner to go along with his 9 Central League MVP awards. An impressive career indeed!
Oh, was born to a Chinese father and Japanese mother, and though he was technically Taiwanese by nationality, he became a beloved icon in Japanese sports. His dedication, humility, and power at the plate made him a national treasure.
Babe Ruth played a pivotal role in popularizing baseball in Japan, especially during his legendary 1934 barnstorming tour. Before that tour baseball in Japan was mostly amateur and university-level and not exceedingly popular.
Ruth joined an American All-Star team, including Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Gomez, and others for an 18-game exhibition tour across Japan. They played against top Japanese university players, drawing massive crowds. Over 500,000 people greeted Ruth upon his arrival in Japan.
It is interesting to note that there was a spy among the American players. Journey man catcher Moe Berg was that spy. He was highly educated, a graduate of Princeton and Columbia Law School and fluent in multiple languages. During the 1934 tour, he brought a 16-mm movie camera and filmed Japanese military installations, including naval yards and industrial sites.
Moe later joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, and conducted espionage many missions during World War II. His inclusion on the tour raised eyebrows even then, as he didnāt match the All-Star caliber of teammates like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He was a legitimate MLB player; he played fifteen seasons in the majors. But his off-the-field skills made him invaluable. That trip to Japan is widely believed to be his first covert mission.
If I understand it correctly, when either of the two HS championships is going on even the Hanshin Tigers lose their field for the HS players and their championship.
There is a baseball stadium called Hot Motto Field Kobe, which is a short walk (like 10 min) from my SisIL house, and is where the subway station is we use when we stay there. This field is one of the two Orix Buffaloes stadiums (though I think they play more often in the Kyocera Dome Osaka stadium -- but I believe back in the Oric Blue Wave days and Ichiro Suzuki this was their main field). It is also used by the Tigers during the HS championships that preempt their own stadium.
And the competitiveness and pressure when trying to get one of the bids for the HS tourney is wicked high. I think baseball on average is probably more popular in Japan than in the US. Percentage wise more people watch baseball than in the US (as percentage of population). In fact World Series game viewership in 2024 was higher in Japan in absolute numbers compared to the US. (https://sports.yahoo.com/japan-surpasses-us-historic-world-195943005.html). Probably because of Otani. But I remember when Daisuke Matsuzaka went to Boston in the 2000s, they showed his first starting game for Boston live on TV in Japan, which was early morning.
High school participation is going down though, in Japan. For one, the low birthrate means there are fewer kids and economically they struggle and its expensive to play.
IIRC there was a baseball stadium near where the atomic bomb went off in Hiroshima. It's kind of amazing how popular baseball was in Asia back before the war and the predominance of American culture around the world, spread by GIs, and later TV.
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Bruette
Well-Known Member
That was interesting, thank you!
I don't know much about baseball in Japan. I do know they must play at a high-level judging by the players that have played in MLB.
I first became aware of baseball in Japan when Sadaharu Oh was approaching Babe Ruth, and then Hank Aaron's home run records. Oh, went on to hit 868 homeruns, the most in professional baseball history.
He played for the Yomiuri Giants, 1959ā1980. In addition to his 868 homeruns, he had 2,170RBI with a 301-batting average. He won 11 Japan Series Titles as a player and 2 more as a manager. He was a 2-time Triple Crown Winner to go along with his 9 Central League MVP awards. An impressive career indeed!
Oh, was born to a Chinese father and Japanese mother, and though he was technically Taiwanese by nationality, he became a beloved icon in Japanese sports. His dedication, humility, and power at the plate made him a national treasure.
Babe Ruth played a pivotal role in popularizing baseball in Japan, especially during his legendary 1934 barnstorming tour. Before that tour baseball in Japan was mostly amateur and university-level and not exceedingly popular.
Ruth joined an American All-Star team, including Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Gomez, and others for an 18-game exhibition tour across Japan. They played against top Japanese university players, drawing massive crowds. Over 500,000 people greeted Ruth upon his arrival in Japan.
It is interesting to note that there was a spy among the American players. Journey man catcher Moe Berg was that spy. He was highly educated, a graduate of Princeton and Columbia Law School and fluent in multiple languages. During the 1934 tour, he brought a 16-mm movie camera and filmed Japanese military installations, including naval yards and industrial sites.
Moe later joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, and conducted espionage many missions during World War II. His inclusion on the tour raised eyebrows even then, as he didnāt match the All-Star caliber of teammates like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He was a legitimate MLB player; he played fifteen seasons in the majors. But his off-the-field skills made him invaluable. That trip to Japan is widely believed to be his first covert mission.
Last edited:
chadbag
Well-Known Member
baseball is super popular and competitive in Japan. At the high school level, when the high school championships are going on in the spring, or summer, they preempt even the professionals in terms of the use of the Koshien stadium in Osaka. (I am not sure how it works, but there is a Spring Koshien tourney and a Summer Koshien tourney -- Koshien being the stadium it is played at)
If I understand it correctly, when either of the two HS championships is going on even the Hanshin Tigers lose their field for the HS players and their championship.
There is a baseball stadium called Hot Motto Field Kobe, which is a short walk (like 10 min) from my SisIL house, and is where the subway station is we use when we stay there. This field is one of the two Orix Buffaloes stadiums (though I think they play more often in the Kyocera Dome Osaka stadium -- but I believe back in the Oric Blue Wave days and Ichiro Suzuki this was their main field). It is also used by the Tigers during the HS championships that preempt their own stadium.
And the competitiveness and pressure when trying to get one of the bids for the HS tourney is wicked high. I think baseball on average is probably more popular in Japan than in the US. Percentage wise more people watch baseball than in the US (as percentage of population). In fact World Series game viewership in 2024 was higher in Japan in absolute numbers compared to the US. (https://sports.yahoo.com/japan-surpasses-us-historic-world-195943005.html). Probably because of Otani. But I remember when Daisuke Matsuzaka went to Boston in the 2000s, they showed his first starting game for Boston live on TV in Japan, which was early morning.
High school participation is going down though, in Japan. For one, the low birthrate means there are fewer kids and economically they struggle and its expensive to play.
IIRC there was a baseball stadium near where the atomic bomb went off in Hiroshima. It's kind of amazing how popular baseball was in Asia back before the war and the predominance of American culture around the world, spread by GIs, and later TV.
Good morning. It's clear and 62.
I had yet another unpleasant surprise with Fleabay today.
When I moved, I made sure I changed my address with them, since my old address will not forward. Last Wednesday, I ordered something through them. This morning, I got a shipping notification my item was being shipped to my old address.
I went in to my account, and buried behind several layers of "stuff" I found my old address listed as the "ship to" address. I also found, buried even further, my old, old, old address from North Carolina listed as my default shipping address.
The current old place not only doesn't forward, they don't return or hold mail for non-residents, they just toss it, so I just pissed away $65...
I had yet another unpleasant surprise with Fleabay today.
When I moved, I made sure I changed my address with them, since my old address will not forward. Last Wednesday, I ordered something through them. This morning, I got a shipping notification my item was being shipped to my old address.
I went in to my account, and buried behind several layers of "stuff" I found my old address listed as the "ship to" address. I also found, buried even further, my old, old, old address from North Carolina listed as my default shipping address.
The current old place not only doesn't forward, they don't return or hold mail for non-residents, they just toss it, so I just pissed away $65...
Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
Yeah, I hate it when websites have too much cr@p. But holding on to old addresses is BS. I just checked my account and it has the addresses that I entered.
Bill Tidler Jr.
Retired N&W/NS Signalman
Good Saturday morning! It's 61Ā°F and partly cloudy.
Have a great day!
RAILROAD SUNSET-Edward Hopper 1929
Ā© Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Have a great day!
RAILROAD SUNSET-Edward Hopper 1929
Ā© Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
I checked times, and the seller "shipped" at 1 am local time. Hopefully he checks his email before going to the Post Office with my stuff. And also hopefully, he's not one of those people that have no common sense, and will ship to the address Feepay provided, even after I tell him it's no good.
NorthBrit
Well-Known Member
My cousin, Margaret took me everywhere she went.I missed out on going with the cousins, both m and f to the strip joints as they were all 5-10 years older.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Clear and a warm 74Ā°. Supposed to rain this morning, but that's about 200 miles west of here around Lubbock. I'll miss it.
Final preparations going on right now for the trip to Alabama. Leaving in about an hour. Time to go take a shower which will awaken my wife. I'll check in when I can. I don't want to get 5 pages behind.
Everyone have a safe Saturday.
Final preparations going on right now for the trip to Alabama. Leaving in about an hour. Time to go take a shower which will awaken my wife. I'll check in when I can. I don't want to get 5 pages behind.
Everyone have a safe Saturday.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Safe trip and enjoy
migalyto
Well-Known Member
Safe travels,, and have a great time!
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Good morning from Wisconsin! 62f degrees now heading to 76.
Iāll be heading out at 8am for an OPS session about a 2 hour drive away in LaCrosse. Until 12/20 this is my last scheduled OPS session for the year. I recentedly opted out of everything else I had signed up for because we have travels dates or the grandson has hockey games. Another reason is I am alternating originally Thursday now Wednesday work sessions on 2 layouts. It looks those though are moving to Fridays because some of the main crew (4 of our 7) have gone back to work part time. They claim the main reason is the UNEXPECTED increase in health insurance premiums starting in January. I know my supplemental health insurance is going from $246 per month to $785. I did not tell anyone you voted for this but I wanted too
So yesterday was a very disorganized work session. The owner stumbled Monday and is still very sore and should have cancelled yesterday. He also never asked any of us to help him prep of which any of the non working 3 of us would gladly have done. My work mate and me got 32ā of Masonite board backdrop up. The Mad Mudder was on our tail the whole time as the owner had a rough week and did not prep very well. We did though prep the back boards for the next 54ā. The Penisula these panels are dividing has the HVAC duct right above it in a zig zag fashion and 2ā needs to be trimmed off a few of the pieces to fit. That will finish the Penisula that we had planned to finish off yesterday. 2 of the guy plus the Mad Mudder will go Monday and install them. If everything works out Monday the Mudder will be back and sand the backdrops. The owner will let me know if I can prime the backdrops on Wednesday or Thursday then I hopefully will be gone starting the morning of the 30th for 10 days. One of the teams installed LED string lights in the 3 staging yards. While on break I asked how did they look. No one had tested them. So we did and they were no very bright mounted on the front edge under the upper deck. The team then added 2 more strings of lights in each staging yard to get it were you can read the reporting marks without a flashlight. Like I said we were unorganized yesterday.
The grandson and I went to the Volleyball on campus last night. Pre-game dinner were double Butter burgers at Culverās. At the game he had dipping dots and M&Mās. After we stopped across the street from the football field and Fieldhouse at Stadium Takeout. He had an order of cheesy jalapeƱos fries and I split an Italian beef with him. He claims those fries were the best heās ever had, heās still 11!
The girls saw the School of Rock musical done by the local theater group. They said it was exceptionally well doneā¦
Enjoy the day
Iāll be heading out at 8am for an OPS session about a 2 hour drive away in LaCrosse. Until 12/20 this is my last scheduled OPS session for the year. I recentedly opted out of everything else I had signed up for because we have travels dates or the grandson has hockey games. Another reason is I am alternating originally Thursday now Wednesday work sessions on 2 layouts. It looks those though are moving to Fridays because some of the main crew (4 of our 7) have gone back to work part time. They claim the main reason is the UNEXPECTED increase in health insurance premiums starting in January. I know my supplemental health insurance is going from $246 per month to $785. I did not tell anyone you voted for this but I wanted too
So yesterday was a very disorganized work session. The owner stumbled Monday and is still very sore and should have cancelled yesterday. He also never asked any of us to help him prep of which any of the non working 3 of us would gladly have done. My work mate and me got 32ā of Masonite board backdrop up. The Mad Mudder was on our tail the whole time as the owner had a rough week and did not prep very well. We did though prep the back boards for the next 54ā. The Penisula these panels are dividing has the HVAC duct right above it in a zig zag fashion and 2ā needs to be trimmed off a few of the pieces to fit. That will finish the Penisula that we had planned to finish off yesterday. 2 of the guy plus the Mad Mudder will go Monday and install them. If everything works out Monday the Mudder will be back and sand the backdrops. The owner will let me know if I can prime the backdrops on Wednesday or Thursday then I hopefully will be gone starting the morning of the 30th for 10 days. One of the teams installed LED string lights in the 3 staging yards. While on break I asked how did they look. No one had tested them. So we did and they were no very bright mounted on the front edge under the upper deck. The team then added 2 more strings of lights in each staging yard to get it were you can read the reporting marks without a flashlight. Like I said we were unorganized yesterday.
The grandson and I went to the Volleyball on campus last night. Pre-game dinner were double Butter burgers at Culverās. At the game he had dipping dots and M&Mās. After we stopped across the street from the football field and Fieldhouse at Stadium Takeout. He had an order of cheesy jalapeƱos fries and I split an Italian beef with him. He claims those fries were the best heās ever had, heās still 11!
The girls saw the School of Rock musical done by the local theater group. They said it was exceptionally well doneā¦
Enjoy the day
migalyto
Well-Known Member
Good morning all!
Currently a wet 68F. A line of thunderstorms moved thru the area about 2:30-4:00am. Put on a pretty impressive lightning
show and dumped what sounded like a good amount of rain. looks like there is a pretty good shot for some more rain later
this afternoon. High will be around 72F
We have a celebration of life to go to this afternoon. It is for an Uncle of my wfe. He passed away a couple of weeeks ago, and
with he family so spread out it took a while to be able to have everyone make travel plans to be here. Its only about 45 min
away for us, so not bad. He was a die-hard Cubs fan, so the request is to wear Cubs shirts. I thought that was a neat idea.
Not much else going on. Still way too early!
Have a safe day everyone!
Currently a wet 68F. A line of thunderstorms moved thru the area about 2:30-4:00am. Put on a pretty impressive lightning
show and dumped what sounded like a good amount of rain. looks like there is a pretty good shot for some more rain later
this afternoon. High will be around 72F
We have a celebration of life to go to this afternoon. It is for an Uncle of my wfe. He passed away a couple of weeeks ago, and
with he family so spread out it took a while to be able to have everyone make travel plans to be here. Its only about 45 min
away for us, so not bad. He was a die-hard Cubs fan, so the request is to wear Cubs shirts. I thought that was a neat idea.
Not much else going on. Still way too early!
Have a safe day everyone!
Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
Safe and eventful travel!
RhB Michael
RhB LokfĆ¼hrer
67Ā°F/62Ā°F ahead of the cold front expected by this evening/overnight. The rain is still out in west central Missouri and I don't think we will se any rain before 1600. Far cry from the 0900 their Magic 8 Ball predicted 36 hours ago.
Just hanging out today waiting for the rain. Nothing planned, and doing nothing.
Have a great Saturday! Hopefully Autumn will be here by tomorrow morning.
Servus!
Just hanging out today waiting for the rain. Nothing planned, and doing nothing.
Have a great Saturday! Hopefully Autumn will be here by tomorrow morning.
Servus!
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