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Ishikawa Million Stars
The are a semi-professional baseball team in the Baseball Challenge League of Japan. The team was established in 2007. Their home is Ishikawa Prefecture. Former Major League Baseball star Julio Franco was the team's player-manager.Jun Hongo"Julio Franco, 56 Years Old, Joins a Japan Team as Player-Manager,"''Wall Street Journal'', February 9, 2015. The team is also notable for having female knuckleball pitcher Eri Yoshida on their roster. Franchise history The team has won four Baseball Challenge League championships, in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2013. Ishikawa Infielder Kensuke Uchimura led the BC League in steals in 2007, which led to him being drafted by Nippon Professional Baseball's Rakuten Golden Eagles, In 2008, he became the first player to reach NPB after playing in the BC League. Former Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) player Kazuaki Minami pitched for the Million Stars in 2008, leading to a tryout with the Chiba Lotte Marines. (Minami did not end up playing for the Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baseball Challenge League
The Route Inn BCL, formerly known as the , is an independent minor baseball league in Japan. The league's abbreviated designation is "." League structure The 72-game season runs from April–October, split into two half-terms, with the division champion from each half-term meeting in a playoff at the end of the year to determine which two teams compete for the league championship. Each team carries 27 players. Typically, players earn 150,000 yen (c. U.S. $2,000) per month, with another 50,000 yen in potential bonuses.Patrick"Japan’s Independent Leagues 2014,"NPB Tracker (09 February 2014). The league imposes a 7.2 million yen (c. U.S. $60,600) salary limit for team managers.Jun Hongo"Julio Franco, 56 Years Old, Joins a Japan Team as Player-Manager,"''The Wall Street Journal'', February 9, 2015. Not every team has a permanent home stadium. Instead, the team travels around its home prefecture, playing in different stadiums, each one called "home” for that game. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rakuten Golden Eagles
The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping company Rakuten. History 2004: Origins and formation During Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) 2004 season, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave announced that the two teams planned to merge into one for the start of the 2005 season. Both teams were in the Pacific League (PL), and a merger between the two would result in a team imbalance with the PL's opposing league, the Central League (CL). As a large number of players and personnel were expected to lose their jobs when the merger was finalized, the players conducted a two-day strike on September 18–19, 2004. With the threat of further strikes looming, team representatives agreed to ease the rules of entry for new teams into NPB and that one would be allowed to jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knuckleballer
A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This change adds a deflecting force to the baseball, making it difficult for batters to hit but also difficult for pitchers to control and catchers to catch; umpires are challenged as well, as the ball's irregular motion through the air makes it harder to call balls and strikes.Hoffman, Benjamin"Not So Easy on the Eyes"''New York Times'' (June 23, 2012) A pitcher who throws knuckleballs is known as a knuckleballer. Origins The origins of the knuckleball are unclear. Toad Ramsey of the Louisville Colonels in the American Association—his pitch likely resembled the knuckle curve—and Eddie Cicotte of the Chicago White Sox, who in 1908 was nicknamed "Knuckles", are two possible creators of the pitch. Other accounts attribute the pitch's creation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazuhito Tadano
is a Japanese former baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. He is currently the pitching coach for the Fighters' farm team in the Eastern League. Early life and education Tadano was the ace pitcher for Yachiyo Shoin High School, and led the school to the summer Koshien tournament for the first time. He was a highly regarded pitcher coming out of Rikkyo University and was expected to be a high draft pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball draft in 2002. However, no Japanese team drafted him due to a gay porn video scandal; he ultimately left Japan. Career 2000s The Cleveland Indians signed Tadano as a free agent in 2003, and he rose through the Cleveland farm system, making his debut in . He made 14 appearances and four starts with a 4.65 ERA in 50⅓ innings. In January 2004, it was widely reported in America that Tadano was featured in a gay porn video ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masao Kida
is a Japanese former baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball from -, and -. He is currently the manager for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters farm team in Nippon Professional Baseball's Eastern League. Biography Kida was drafted in the first round in , by the Yomiuri Giants, after graduating from the Nippon University high school. In , he won 12 games, recorded the most strikeouts in his league, and was chosen for the All-Star game. He had surgery on his right elbow in , and was traded to the Orix BlueWave in in exchange for Takahito Nomura (who would also play in the majors later in his career). Kida made 16 saves that year. In 1999, he signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent, but was demoted to the minors, and he returned to the BlueWave in June, 2000. He was cut in , and spent in semi-retirement. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003, but got into a car accident in March, and was hospitalized (his translator, who was also in the car with him, also s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Maui News
''The Maui News'' is a Wailuku, Hawaii based, daily newspaper covering the islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai. History ''The Maui News'' began publication on February 17, 1900. Henry Perrine Baldwin became an owner of the ''News'' in 1905. ''The Maui News'' was sold to Ogden Newspapers Ogden Newspapers Inc. is a Wheeling, West Virginia based publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, telephone directories, and shoppers guides. It has operations in California, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, ... by Baldwin's descendants on February 1, 2000. On June 23, 2023, Ogden announced it is exploring options for the possible sale of their Maui Publishing group and is planning to accept offers from interested parties over the next few weeks. In April 2024, the newspaper announced it will switch from daily to weekly printing, and only send out a physical print edition on Thursdays. References External links ''The Maui News'' website''The Maui N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Association Of Professional Baseball Clubs
The Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs was an independent baseball league based in Northern California. The league was founded in 2013 by four former North American League teams. History During the initial season, two Hawaii-based teams, the Hawaii Stars and the Maui Warriors, played inter-league games against the Baseball Challenge League of Japan; California teams played against the Freedom Pro League of Arizona. Both Hawaii teams ceased operations after playing the 2013 season citing high travel costs of bringing in opponents from Northern California. The East Bay Lumberjacks also did not return for a second season. Two expansion clubs were added in 2014 (the Sonoma Stompers and Pittsburg Mettle) bringing the total number of teams to four. In 2017 San Francisco businessman and entrepreneur Jonathan Stone was named league commissioner. Expansion came again in 2018 with the addition of the Martinez Clippers and Napa Silverados. This brought the le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state in the tropics. Hawaii consists of 137 volcanic islands that comprise almost the entire Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian archipelago (the exception, which is outside the state, is Midway Atoll). Spanning , the state is Physical geography, physiographically and Ethnology, ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania. Hawaii's ocean coastline is consequently the List of U.S. states and territories by coastline, fourth-longest in the U.S., at about . The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are Niihau, Niihau, Kauai, Kauai, Oahu, Oahu, Molokai, Molokai, Lanai, Lānai, Kahoʻolawe, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii (island), Hawaii, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interleague
Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Before that, matchups between AL teams and NL teams occurred only during spring training, the All-Star Game, other exhibition games (such as the now defunct Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, New York), and the World Series. Unlike modern interleague play, none of these contests, except for the World Series, counted toward official team or league records. From 1997 to 2001, regular season interleague play occurred only on a geographical basis, with divisions in each league (the West, Central, and East) assigned to play their counterpart in the opposite league. In 2002, MLB introduced a system of rotating matchups, allowing interleague, cross-country games to occur in the regular season for the first time. In 2023, MLB began scheduling all 30 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Carter (left-handed Hitter)
William Christopher Carter (born September 16, 1982), nicknamed "Animal", is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets between 2008 and 2010. He also played for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. Career High school Carter attended De La Salle High School in Concord, California, and graduated in 2001. He hit for a batting average of .571 and led the league in home runs as a senior, and was named his team's MVP. He also was named a 2001 Preseason First Team All-American by Baseball America and Bay Valley Athletic League MVP in 2001. He was twice selected as North Coast Section High School Sports Focus Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2000, '01) and earned honorable mention All-American honors from USA Today as a junior in 2000. His father, Bill Carter, was his high school coach. College Carter attended Stanford University, where he majored in human biology and was Pre-Med, graduating in just three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based in New York City alongside the American League (AL)'s New York Yankees. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants (baseball), New York Giants. The team's colors evoke the Dodger blue, blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants. For the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played home games at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan before moving to Queens. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets played their home games at Shea Stadium, named after William Shea, the founder of the Continental League, a proposed third major league, the announcement of which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the team's home baseball park, ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor, , following the lead of previous teams that had been known as the "Boston Red Stockings", including the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves). The team has won nine World Series championships, tied for the List of World Series champions, third-most of any MLB team, and has played in thirteen World Series. Their most recent World Series appearance and win was in 2018. In addition, they won the American League pennant (sports), pennant, but were not able to defend their 1903 World Series championship when the History of the New York Giants (baseball), New York Giants ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
