The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current, April 03, 2023, Page 10, Image 10

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    Page 10 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
SPORTS
April 3, 2023
Italian’s espresso machine a
hit at World Baseball Classic
UNDEFEATED AT THE WBC. Japan’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) team manager Hideki Kuriyama,
second right in front, with his players and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, front right, gesture together at
the latter’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on March 23, 2023, after winning the WBC final against the United
States. Pitcher Roki Sasaki is seen at third left in front. (Kimimasa Mayama/Pool Photo via AP)
Japan’s winning WBC team drops
in on Prime Minister Kishida
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
T
OKYO — Prime Minister Fumio
Kishida might have had his most
enjoyable day in office when
Japan’s winning World Baseball Classic
(WBC) team paid a visit.
Kishida was beaming when a gold medal
from the winning team was placed around
his neck, and he also received a large card
in a frame containing each player’s
signature.
“To all the members of Samurai Japan,
congratulations on your victory in the
WBC,” Kishida said, thanking them for
their courtesy visit to his office after their
long flight back from the United States.
Japan finished undefeated — only the
second team to do that in the World
Baseball Classic — after beating the
United States 3-2 in the deciding game.
“I thank you for giving tremendous
courage and energy to all of Japan. Your
huge achievement was possible because
the power of each individual and the power
of the team as a whole were combined, and
I sincerely appreciated it,” Kishida said.
Players wore suits — not baseball
uniforms — and posed for photos,
including one imitating Lars Nootbaar’s
pepper-grinder gesture. Players like
Nootbaar who compete in Major League
Baseball did not return to Japan.
Kishida said he did not get to watch the
two final victories over Mexico and the
United States because he was in Ukraine
holding talks with President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy.
Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said
he’d “hardly seen such an excellent team”
and encouraged the prime minister to
praise them — which he did.
“I told my players that history is the
history of winners,” Kuriyama said.
“There are things that cannot be
communicated unless we win. I’m really
happy that the players really worked hard
and won.”
TOKYO (AP) — Old-time
baseball players would be
appalled.
Italy’s dugout at the
World Baseball Classic was
outfitted with an espresso
machine. And it gained a
lot of attention.
“We are kind of shocked,
actually, because this is
something
in
Italian
culture that’s sort of like
water. I mean, coffee would
be right after water,” Italy
manager Mike Piazza said.
Piazza said he was
content with the Nespresso
machine in the dugout, but
dissatisfied the coffee was
being served in a paper cup
and not a ceramic one.
“I don’t like espresso out
of a paper cup. It’s kind of
sacrilege,” Piazza said.
“But when it’s the only
option you have, you have
to deal with it. Maybe next
time we’ll bring the
metallic machine with the
copper eagle on the top and
someone in there knocking
espressos out. You have to
DUGOUT DELIGHT. A member of team Italy uses an espresso
machine in the dugout ahead of a quarterfinal game at the World Baseball
Classic at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, on March 16, 2023. Italy’s
dugout at the World Baseball Classic was outfitted with an espresso
machine. And it gained a lot of attention. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
make the most with the
tools you have.”
Andre
Marcon,
the
president of the Italian
Baseball Federation, said
he was content with the
exposure Italian baseball
was getting — even for its
Pepper-grinder move unwelcome
in Japan high school tourney
By Yuri Kageyama
The Associated Press
OKYO
—
Lars
Nootbaar’s
imaginary pepper-grinder was the
talk of World Baseball Classic
(WBC) games in Japan, but the fun-loving
gesture by the St. Louis Cardinals
outfielder does not appear welcome in
Japan’s popular high school baseball
tournament.
When a player for Tohoku High School
twisted his two fists together — imitating
Nootbaar — after getting on first base, the
umpire told him to stop.
Hiroshi Sato, manager for Tohoku High
School, defended his player. Tohoku lost to
Yamanashi Gakuin Senior High School
3-1 at Koshien Stadium in Osaka.
“It’s so popular the whole nation is
talking about it,” Sato was quoted as
saying in the nationally circulated
Mainichi newspaper and other Japanese
media.
“The children are just having fun. Why
do adults have to put a stop to it,” said
Sato, who played for Tokyo’s Yomiuri
T
Reduce w Reuse w Recycle
www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list
coffee habits.
“Right now we are the
most followed national
team for a series of things
which took place connected
to our ‘good old Italian
customs,’” Marcon said
during the tournament.
Giants.
“We should be thinking more about how
children can freely enjoy baseball.”
High school baseball tournaments are
extremely popular in Japan. Major
leaguers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki
Matsui got their start in the tournament.
San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish, who
was on Japan’s team in the WBC, played
for Tohoku.
High school baseball regulations tend to
curb expressions of emotions, such as
making a clenched fist after scoring.
“We have always asked high school
baseball to abstain from unnecessary
performances
and
gestures.
We
understand the players’ feelings of
wanting to have fun, but the federation
believes the fun should come from the
game,” the Japan High School Baseball
Federation said in a statement.
Taro Kono, who is in the cabinet of
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida,
raised the issue of the strict rules in a
Twitter post. Kono was a leading
candidate for prime minister when
Kishida was chosen late in 2021.
Nootbaar’s pepper-grinder imitation
was a hit in Japan’s five games at the
Tokyo Dome, with television cameras
often focusing on Nootbaar’s teammates
making the gesture, or his mother Kumiko
as she watched from the stands.
Nootbaar was born in California and is
the first to play for Japan’s national
baseball team by virtue of ancestry. His
mother is Japanese.