David Waldstein has the story for the Times:
Other major league teams have had as many as three Japanese players on the roster at the same time, and one — the Boston Red Sox — even briefly had four. But none have had the prestigious group the Yankees now has. As a result, the entourage of Japanese news media trailing the Yankees in 2014 could be a record-setter.
When Darvish joined the Texas Rangers in 2012, he was met at their spring training facility by about 150 reporters, the overwhelming majority of them from Japan, according to John Blake, the Rangers’ executive vice president for communications. And when Darvish arrived, the Rangers already had Koji Uehara and Yoshinori Tateyama on their roster. But only Darvish was a star.
The Yankees, in contrast, were already attracting a great deal of attention from the Japanese news media because Suzuki and Kuroda are such prominent players, with Suzuki almost surely headed to the Hall of Fame. Adding to the Japanese interest in the Yankees is the simple fact they are the most famous baseball team in the world and that Hideki Matsui played in the Bronx from 2003 to 2009.
[Photo Credit: Emily Veach for The Wall Street Journal]
completely unrelated to the acquistion of Tanaka: this may be the year I finally try ballpark sushi.
Bon chance, mon ami!
a game at the Tokyo Dome is a bucket list thing for me
2) I figure if I wash it down with a $12 pint of Sapporo, I'll live.
Sad to say I have not been to the "new" Stadium, but do plan on seeing a couple of games this summer. What are your recommendations for food? Am I correct that they won't let you bring in your own?
(BTW, that's one of the nice things at Nats Park - you can bring in you own food if you like. Peanut sellers outside the stadium sell a bag for $3 which is $5 inside. Water is $2 outside and $3 inside. But there are some things inside the park that are almost worth the trip - try the kosher (!) shwarma sandwich. Or Original Ben's Chili Bowl half-smokes (with everything).
I'm not sure I can think of much that is wonderful in the ways of food at the new park. It isn't horrible and I don't see why you can't bring your own eats.
Do they check to keep you from bring your tuff in?
You can bring in most outside food: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=guide#f
As far as food inside. The best stuff is probably either the Parm stand, or the NYY Steak stand. Everything else is pretty standard, not awful but not amazing. Citi Field is way ahead of Yankee Stadium in terms of concessions.
[3] I went a few years ago and it was a great night, but the place is pretty much a dump. A very clean dump. If it's a bucket list, might as well upgrade to the Koshien!
9) well now I've fallen into a NPB Wikipedia hole...which leads me to:
The Hiroshima Carp play at "Mazda ZOOM-ZOOM Stadium"?!?! That's fantastic.
[8] I second the Citi Field having great concessions; you can't beat having a Shake Shack in your stadium. The muckety-mucks inside the moat don't know what they're missing out on.
[8] Thanks much!
[11] At Nat's park, we got our own Shake Shack, as well as a 5 Guys, No good pizza (of course) and crab cakes don't match Camden Yards. You can order by phone text from box seats, which is kinda neat.
[3][9][10] Tokyo Dome IS a dump. If you're in Tokyo then Jingu Stadium is the place, home of the Yakult Swallows. Koshien in Osaka is also amazing, and the Hanshin Tigers fans are mental. They got me obliterated on beer and whiskey at a night game where the temperature was easily in the mid-90s, humidity even higher. Non-stop singing and even some vulgar chants towards the Yomiuri Giants (whether they are playing them or not!)
Zoom-Zoom Stadium is fairy new. The old Carp stadium was right across the street from the 'Genbaku Dome', Ground Zero where the bomb fell in Hiroshima. I thin maybe Jim Caple at ESPN wrote about how odd it felt to watch a game there, seeing America's greatest and most horrifying exports right next to each other...
[10] Raging, until a few years agom NPB Champions (and ex-home of our new fave Ma-Kun) played at Kleenex Stadium. No Japanese fans could understand why I thought that was funny. Then again, I think the Sacramento Kings play in 'Sleep Train Arena' or something like that now?
14,15) awesome, thanks for the tips! I really want to make it over there at some point relatively soon, and when I do a game is high up on the list. That and one of those nutty indoor paintball places.
They DO play in Sleep Train Arena, that's not even a joke. And the Rangers just changed their ballpark to "Globe Life Stadium" like two days ago. To me, though, nothing tops the Dolphins selling naming rights a few years ago to Landshark Beer...the Jimmy Buffet beer.