SPORTS DIGEST, 3-18-09

SPORTS DIGEST, 3-18-09

HOLMES BEACH, FLORIDA -     FAR EAST BASEBALL -

I was watching a few innings of the Korea 1-0 win over Japan and right on the table beside me was the Bradenton Herald newspaper with a photo of a US soldier coming home from Iraq. Put the two things together and you have this weeks Digest.

The first thing that struck me, and some of you might have watched that ball game, was seeing the two pitchers. One from Japan and then the opposing pitcher from Korea. They were outstanding pitchers and were so fluid in their 5-Step delivery. Their control was so fine. Gosh! It just was a  joy to watch these two young men from two different nations but looking like they had attended the same baseball camp or learned from the very same pitching coach.

Somewhere in there I took my eyes from the game ( probably commercial time) to look at the paper. There was that story on the homecoming soldier and it hit my head that those two pitchers I was admiring could look back on their baseball history, as far back as the mid-1940's, to learn that the game of baseball was "taught" to their ancestors by US soldiers who were stationed in their nations at the end of World War II.

Those same US soldiers were in many nations of Europe and played their baseball games across that part of the world but it did not "take" like it did in Japan and other Far East nations. 

If my memory is holding it was a US soldier, an air force sergeant, who managed one of the very first Japanese entries in the Little League world series 

That team, said their coach, could not win the series. "We are just too small. We can use our gloves as well as anybody. We can run fast but our legs are too short to beat out bigger kids." Then he added, "And we know how to pitch but don't have the arm speed to be fast enough to get the bigger kids out."

When he had those pitchers practicing we noticed how fluid they were in pitching the ball toward the plate. One of the actions that marked the Far East pitching was to have them take their hands and arms way up over their heads and down the back of their necks just before they pushed forward to deliver the ball. Watching these young pitchers last week there was one who still had that action in his delivery.

The sergeant showed a lot of pride in being a Little League manager as he  went on to tell us he loved baseball. He had played it "back home" as a kid and was so excited about having the opportunity to teach "his" game to these kids from Japan. 

The Japanese ball player has come so far from that team that pioneered Far East  baseball in Little League but it has also come very far in places like Korea and Taiwan.

I am reminded here that two of our very own took their baseball to Japan. Montoursville's Tom O'Malley and Hughesville's Jason Phillips both played US baseball from Little League up and into the big leagues.

O'Malley had played in the majors for several seasons before making the decision of going to the Japanese major leagues. It turned out to be a winning decision as he became a major baseball star in Japan as well as a national celebrity. Phillips, after spending most of his years in the minor leagues with Pittsburgh and Cleveland, ended up in Japan on a very bad ball club. O'Malley remains as part of Japanese baseball as a US scout for the Hanshin Tigers while Phillips, now living in Montoursville with his wife and children, is out of baseball as a player but is appearing at teaching clinics.

If you were on with me watching this Korean- Japan game you had to see and hear all of that cheering and noise making coming out of the stands. O'Malley told that story one year after being over there to play. 

"The fans are a very important part of any game. They don't come and sit on their hands like so many US fans do. Their cheers are organized and are colorful. They add so much to game being played."

I was reminded of that while  watching a Little League senior division game that was being played on the Birdie Tebbetts Memorial Field in Holmes Beach this past Saturday. It was a basic ball game we see today. Nine players out on the field against a batting team. The 5-Step delivery was about two steps short from the pitchers on both sides but the two teams were working in their effort to win. The were about 25 or 30 people and softly cheered when one of their team contributed a positive play. But there were no Hey Batta - Hey Batta players or fans. It was a silent baseball wake which has pretty much become  the accepted player and fan mode in US baseball. 

THE POST SEASON IN LYCOMING COUNTY

The Lefthander is about 12 hundred miles away from the Valley and like so many of you right there, I have been rooting for all of the kids who were carrying our Valley banner down the PIAA road.

Last weekend I hung on words called to me and had to split my feelings in learning the Hughesville Spartans of Nick Tagliaferri had defeated Trinty in the 2A state quarter finals.

The win, 67-60, takes the ball club to a 23-5 record as they take the next step tonight.

The other side of those feelings were on the sad side when I learned that Alan Taylor and his Williamsporters lost their bid to advance as they lost to Plymouth-Whitemarsh 65-64 in overtime. 

We sports fans living in the Valley are so fortunate to have coaches and programs providing us season after season with headline young people who are willing to give of themselves to a sport in attempting to bring back the big prize. 

THAT'S 30