In the absence of our international baseball tours and baseball in general during the COVID-19 pandemic, JapanBall began hosting a series of “Chatter Up!” video calls for its community of international baseball fans. The May 21, 2020 episode of “Chatter Up!” featured three former NPB stars as special guests: Matt Winters of the Nippon Ham Fighters (and Kansas City Royals), Carlos Mirabal of the Nippon Ham Fighters, and Kevin Beirne of the Kintetsu Buffaloes, Orix Buffaloes, and Chiba Lotte Marines (and Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The following is a complete transcript the players’ interview with host (and JapanBall owner) Shane Barclay. The video of the episode is available on JapanBall’s YouTube page, and a recap of the discussion can be found on our website.
Shane:
Matt’s from just outside of Buffalo. He was a first round pick of the home state Yankees and debuted in the Major Leagues with the Royals in 1989. He signed with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 1990, and played for five seasons with the Fighters. He was an All-Star for two of those seasons. He was one of Japan’s best power hitters, and averaged over 30 home runs a season. But he was just as known for his engaging personality, always entertaining the fans, doing magic tricks. He is the de-facto rain delay performer. So, he is beloved by the Fighters’ fans. And now, as evidence of how much the Fighters love Matt and the love is mutual, I believe, he’s a scout for the Fighters now, and he’s coached professionally at a number of different levels as well. So, Matt, thanks for joining us again. Really appreciate it. Good to see you again.
Matt:
Shane, good to be here with you… I do have to say though, I was known as the “Dancing Home Run King”, because I never could outhit [Orestes] Destrade or Ralph Bryant, but they liked my dancing. And one time I had a buddy of mine, and some of you guys might know this name, Dick Beyer, he was called “The Destroyer,” he was a wrestler. And he was famous in Japan and I was out with him one night, and people running and getting his autographs and he’s like, “how about this guy? He plays baseball” And they’re like, “Who?” He goes “Winters”. They go, “Oh, dancer, dancer.” I’m like, I’ve got 30 home runs! Come on! This guy’s a pro wrestler. I got 30 home runs and I can’t sign an autograph. I had to keep my sanity somehow. And I just started having it and the Japanese fans liked it. But it was just on from that point on.
Shane:
The Fighters’ fans are lucky to have you and we are too. I’m going to move on to another former “Ham-Fighter”, as the Americans like to say. And that’s Carlos Mirabal. Carlos is from New Jersey. He’s a true international baseball journeyman. He is from Jersey, then, if I have it right, he was in Puerto Rico playing [when] the Yankees offered him a contract. An injury cut that short, so then that kind of began the further journey. He played in Taiwan in two different leagues, he’s played in the US, he’s played in Canada, he’s played in Japan in multiple leagues, at least coached in multiple leagues, Germany. Any other countries Carlos that I’m missing?
Carlos:
Australia.
Shane:
Australia! There we go. So Carlos is a true international baseball journeyman, which I know I can appreciate and a lot of people here can. But that’s not to make light of his success with the Fighters. He was there for six seasons and was one of the most reliable foreign pitchers in the league. He was known as a workhorse in Japan, which is really saying a lot because I think there’s a lot of workhorses in that league. And so, he was known for being a reliable guy. He would throw upwards of 200 pitches at times, and really kind of entrenched himself with the Fighters. And then has further entrenched himself in Japanese baseball, and in this phase of his career, as a founding member of the Japan Retired Foreign Players Association, which is a really cool organization I’ve come to learn about recently, where basically they’re working to help the foreign players connect with their former NPB teams. It’s not so easy to do that due to language and cultural barriers. And so, Carlos and William Brooks, who’s in Japan, are helping with that. And they’re helping players not only interact with fans and do events with the team’s alumni events, but also like getting their images and licensing and video games and merchandise and stuff like that. So, he’s really involved in the Japanese game. And I’m happy to have you on here today and get to know you recently, Carlos, so thanks for joining us.
Carlos:
I appreciate it. I appreciate being here and hopefully meeting everybody because it seems like there’s a lot of people that you’re involved with, which is great. So, hopefully, there’s some Fighter fans because, you know, I see a lot of Hanshin Tigers and stuff like that. So, you know, hopefully we can convert you guys to Fighter fans.
Shane:
Yeah, I know we got some Fighters fans out there. I think after this call, we’ll have some more. We’re gonna come back to both you guys. I just want to introduce Kevin as well. Kevin Beirne is with us. So Kevin is joining us from Texas. He’s from Houston or at least around Houston. I think it’s safe to say sports were a huge part of life growing up. When he was born there, his dad Jim was in his career as an All-Pro receiver of the Oilers and Kevin played football and baseball at the Woodlands High School which I’m sure many of you know is a big powerhouse. And then at Texas A&M also played football and baseball. He became a pitcher in college because it help[ed him] work better with [his] football schedule. So he had a little bit of late start, but before he knew it, he was making his debut in the major leagues at Yankee Stadium, and then pitched for the White Sox, Dodgers and Blue Jays in the big leagues, and then went to Japan where he played four years, the first three with the Kintetsu and then Orix Buffaloes and then the Chiba Lotte Marines, where he played for Bobby Valentine. And since then, has scouted with the Royals, is currently a pitching coach at “On Base U,” which is one of the premier, modern cutting-edge baseball training facilities that a lot of the big league teams are adopting. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Japanese teams start doing it as well. So, another Japanese baseball big pitcher there, and we’re happy to have you with us, Kevin. Thanks.
Kevin:
Well, thanks for having me. You did your homework, that was pretty good.
Shane:
Robert pointed out that you’re all in the Pacific League. So, no offense to the Central League.
Kevin:
Well the Central League is crooked. They run the whole league. They rigged the draft and they didn’t want to play interleague play, why was that? They control everything! Carlos knows that, the Giants and the Tigers do not want anybody to get better.
Shane:
You guys have a unique perspective on all of these sorts of things. And that’s why I want to ask you a couple questions. One question I had for you guys. I know a little bit about a couple of your stories but seems like y’all have a unique version of how you ended up going to Japan. Matt, I’m gonna start with you. You signed in Japan right after making your big league debut. How was that opportunity presented to you?
Matt:
Well, you know, going into the season I was 29 years old, and I was just hoping to put up some numbers so I could get over to Japan, you know, playing in AAA. I finally got called up with Kansas City. I talked with a guy named Marshall Brant who used to be a teammate of mine, but he had played for the Fighters. I kind of jokingly said, “Well, I was looking to put up numbers and go to Japan.” Well, he got me in touch with his agent. And one of my coaches, actually, at the time was Smokey Garrett, who played for the Hiroshima Carp. Smokey talked to me about Japan all this time, and really spoke very highly of it. The Fighters were actually getting ready to sign another left-handed hitter, and they had got in a jam. My agent called me up and said, “do you want to take one year and an option for a second?” I was like, “I’m there.” So, you know, the rest is history. I think in one of the questions that you sent over [was] would you liked to [have] started sooner? You know, I’d love to play longer in Japan. But then again, growing up as a kid, your dream is to play in the big leagues, the Major Leagues, and so I was fortunate enough to get there even though I only had a cup of coffee, but I can honestly say, “Well, I accomplished that” but, you know my baseball career really is in Japan.
Shane:
That’s cool. I was curious about that just because you’re such an instant success on and off the field. And the Hawks had their one player, Carter Stewart, who they signed right out of high school. And it’d be interesting to, you know, think about what would have happened if any player for that matter, were to just kind of start their career there as a foreign player, which is kind of unprecedented, or at least just go over there really early.
Matt:
Well, if you notice, the ages are starting to get younger and younger going into Japan, and a lot of agents are looking at it now like: ‘Hey, if my guy goes over there for two years, plays two years, he can come back to the States as a free agent.’ And, you know, look at Chris Martin and those guys that came back, they’re making some good money now. So yeah, I think you’re gonna see a lot more 26, possibly even 25-year-olds heading over to Japan for a year or two.
Shane:
Yeah, that’s a good point. You’re seeing these guys get multiyear deals coming back from Japan, and you think maybe a guy who’s younger, who maybe in the past have said, “Hey, I’m going to stick around here and try to make it in the States,” he’d be more willing to get an opportunity abroad so that he can get a contract coming back, which is that’s kind of a newer development, I think.
Matt:
And that’s where agents are looking at it like “Okay, I can get my player sold from the club here in the States, he becomes a free agent when he comes back,” like [Scott] Mathieson with the [Yomiuri] Giants; the Phillies sold his contract. The one thing Major League clubs hate to do is let a guy go, and then he comes back and burns them. Mathieson always had a strong arm and there was always something there. So, I think they felt it was the safe bet to send them to Japan. By the time he’s done, he couldn’t come back to the States to make the money he was making in Japan, so he made a career out of it. Those are the guys that we’re looking to try to get over there. You know, the guys like Carlos, who loves the game and loves the culture. You know the Fighters, I will say this: we have been very fortunate because character counts a lot for our club. If I go watch a guy and he’s bad in the clubhouse, arguing or just a pain in the butt. Our guys will say, “okay, just write him off the list.” We don’t need that.
Shane:
That’s an interesting thought too about the scouting. Kevin, I wanted you to share your story of heading over there and how you learned about your opportunity with a famous baseball character, to say the least.
Kevin:
So it was 2002. I just got finished with the Dodgers, we missed the playoffs by half a game again against the Giants. And what’s funny was I came home in the offseason. I finished strong I started like the last three or four games and you know, we’re in the pennant race and I felt good about myself and everything, and I get a phone call. I’m at home and I’m like, “hello.” And [I hear] “hey, this is Tommy LaSorda, Kevin.” And I’m thinking that it’s one of my buddies playing a prank on me. I’m like, “Tommy would be calling me.” I met him in spring training, but you know, Tommy would have an assistant call me. So Tommy goes, “Hey, Kevin. Tommy LaSorda, how you doing? How are you feeling? What do you think about making a lot of money?” I’m like, “What are you talking about?” And he goes, “Do you want to go play in Japan?” I hadn’t even thought about it, he just threw it out, he goes “Hey, who’s your agent?” I’m like “Joe San Vito.” And he goes, “Oh, I know Joe. He’s an Italian and I’m an Italian. I’m gonna call him, you call him right now, I’ll call you back, because Tommy picked all the foreign players and did all that stuff, you know, did all the foreign stuff. I’m thinking like somebody’s messing with me the whole time. I’m like, “is this really true?” So I call my agent, he’s like, “yeah, they want you to come play. What do you think?” It just sprung on me, you know, I didn’t have any time to think about anything. At the time I was like “it’s a no brainer.” From there, it just kind of went on. Tommy is a character. I don’t know if any of y’all ever got a chance to meet him. He has a memory, he can story-tell everything, he can remember stuff. It’s unbelievable the stories he tells. I understood why he was such a good manager. He just knew how to press your buttons, certain guys and whatever. I could see why he’s a Hall of Fame manager. He’s one of those guys that just really, pumps you up…. I think the beginning of the year I was struggling really bad[ly], he came over and he started talking: “You’re an American, you remember that.” In front of everybody, he’s like “Remember about the war. You’re an American.” And I’m like, “dude, we’re in Japan, and you’re talking about that.” He just didn’t care, but he was really good to me. And I got to play and meet with a lot of different guys that were there. Played for Bobby [Valentine] the last year. Really, really good, cool, smart people over there. Great Japanese guys. I loved it over there. I’m sure Matt and Carlos can agree. You’ve got to go out and experiment, have fun, or you will just kill yourself. There’s a lot of people that don’t do anything. There’s so much culture, so many people to meet. Like [in] Tokyo and Osaka, there’re so many restaurants I mean, some of the best food in the world, Kobe beef, I mean, just stuff that you come back home and they say it’s Kobe beef. And you’re like, “that’s not Kobe Beef.” It was an awesome experience. I loved it.
Shane:
That’s awesome. All right, Carlos. I want to jump to you. You know, Kevin’s got a Hall of Famer calling him up to go play in Japan. I think your story’s a little different. You had to come from the ground. Can you talk a little bit about what that was like and how you got the Fighters to notice you?
Carlos:
So when I just started, I was in a minor league spring training with the Yankees and I hurt my elbow. It wasn’t Tommy John but I missed the season, so they released me and I played a year of independent ball. Then a good friend of mine at the time, Willie Randolph, got me a job to go play winter ball in Puerto Rico. And I also had an opportunity to throw for a new league starting in Taiwan called the Taiwan Major Leagues, the TML. So they wanted me and then you know me and Willie Randolph had a discussion, he says, “Listen, you just had an elbow injury, it’s gonna be really hard for you to show everybody to forget that injury. You go to Puerto Rico, you have to dominate. Go to Taiwan. Try to go from Taiwan to Japan, and when you get to Japan, you can come back to the United States. That’ll be like your minor leagues, do all of that. And then, when you’re ready, you come back, you’ll be at a major league level.” So then I went to Taiwan. I played in the Taiwan Major Leagues. Two years in the Taiwan Major Leagues and in one year in the CPBL. Every year, I would make videotapes of my highlights and send them to all the teams in Japan. The Yomiuri Giants called me the second year, but I didn’t have an agent or anything like that so I didn’t really know what to do. So, I went over to the CPBL, I was kind of like a spot starter and then I beat out a player by the name of Calvin Jones who played the big leagues here, for the closer spot. I kept sending my videos and finally, Toshi Shimada from the Nippon Ham Fighters gave me a call. And he was like, “you know, I wanted to call you because I keep getting these videotapes, I keep getting these faxes, I keep getting all of this stuff. What are you guys up to right now?” So we just started our championship series here in Taiwan. And he says, “can you come to Japan and throw for us? We like your video. We want to see you throw live.” So I said “as soon as we’re done here, I’ll get on a plane.” So as soon as we finished game seven of the championship series in Taiwan, the very next day, I flew to Japan. Toshi picks me up at the airport, we go to the instructional ball that still had a couple days left. I threw for them live. And then we went out to dinner and Toshi says, “we want to sign you.” So, then they signed me as a closer to go over there for the 2000 season. I did well, and I was like your typical closer and in game situations where there was a save, I did well, in games that there wasn’t a save, I gave up a lot of my hits and runs. From there I had the opportunity now to come back to teams here. Even the Yankees gave me a call at this time. I signed an agent, Jim Turner, and the Yankees gave me a call. I remember Jimmy calling me up, it must have been like three o’clock in the morning. He’s like, “what are you doing?” “Sleeping.” He’s like, “well, I needed to wake you up because I wanted to tell you that the Yankees want to resign you now at the major league level as a relief pitcher. And they know you can start and they know you can close if something should happen and somebody gets hurt. So then when the season finished, I started getting all these offers, and the Colorado Rockies offered me a guaranteed three-year Major League contract. But then the Fighters didn’t want to let me out, and Toshi says “you’re just too good. We don’t want you to leave.” So there’s nothing I can do, so I was like, “okay, I’ll go back to the Fighters.” It was a two-year contract and after that I got offered to come back, but now I wanted to stay in Japan. And then flash forward to 2005 that was my last beginning of the season because I got hurt. I hurt my shoulder.
Shane:
Well, it’s quite a journey. Robert Koyoshi is asking you, Carlos, “Last year, you were a player-coach, Japanese indie ball. Do you have any plans for this year, or next year?”
Carlos:
Well, last year, I started the season pitching in Puerto Rico. Mind you, I turned 46 years old and I’m pitching in what they call the AA League of Puerto Rico and guys that are just getting released from organizations. I mean, we made the playoffs and in our playoff game, the catcher was in the big leagues with Texas two years ago. The shortstop was in the big leagues. The second baseman is Javier Baez, his brother in centerfield who was a triple A guy. So they had all of these guys and I’m still pitching, and I did well. And then I got over to the Shikoku Island League with the Tokushima Indigo Socks as a pitching coach. I wasn’t a player-coach, I was just a pitching coach. But we were gonna play the Hanshin Tigers’ minor league team. And we had discussions and they were just like, “hey, do you want to pitch?” And I was like “Hell yeah.” And they were gonna actually pitch me against a minor league team because I was still throwing 89, 90 miles an hour. My fastest pitch last year was 95 at 46 years old, so they wanted to try to have me pitch against the Hanshin Tigers’ minor league so I could show the guys and independent ball in Shikoku Island what it’s like to get out there in front of the Hanshin Tigers. I knew three of the coaches that they had on the minor league team, so we kind of played it as if the game situation allowed it because we also wanted our guys to get seen so that they could possibly get taken out of the Shikoku Island league. A lot of people came down, they were excited. And with the Tokushima Indigo Socks, we actually won the championship in the Shikoku Island League so I had the opportunity, where they throw you up at the end, which was really awesome. So, my ultimate goal is to get back to Japan at any level as a coach, but in the meantime, until I can get back there as a coach, if opportunities keep coming along for me to keep pitching, I’m 47 years old. And I have a couple potential offers right now. And there was one potential talk to go back to the CPBL in Taiwan to pitch. But with this whole virus thing, who knows what’s gonna happen? I love baseball. My ultimate goal is to try to get back to Japan as a coach.
Shane:
Kevin could you hit 95 rolling out of bed today?
Kevin:
Not that hard, but I still can throw. I’m in pretty good shape, I can still get up there. I’ve never had any injuries. I’m very fortunate and lucky I fell into doing a lot of things right, that I didn’t even realize I was doing. But towards the end of my career I’ve got to work with Tom House, got to hang around him and he’s by far one of the smartest guys. He trained Nolan Ryan ‘til he was 47 years old, you know. And now Tom Brady and Drew Brees are throwing with the biomechanics and all the technology, all that stuff; [House] was 20 years ahead of that, he was doing that in the in the early 90s, with the Rangers with Bobby Valentine. Bobby Valentine was doing Moneyball in the late 80s with the Rangers. People don’t realize that. And they did all the first motion-capture on pitchers and hitters with the Rangers with Julio Franco, Juan Gonzalez, Pudge [Ivan Rodriguez], Ruben Sierra, [Rafael] Palmeiro, they had all the motion-capture of some of the best hitters of all time, and then they of course, Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown, all those guys. Of course, they didn’t know what they were looking at at the time, but come to find out those guys were pretty freakin’ good. You know, and now we know why all these things, with your body in space and what the best guys do and why they pitched as long as they did. Of course, genetics play a big part of it, but now we know how to train them. You know how recovery processes are or long-term recovery processes. And you got timing and sequencing, kinematic sequence stuff where you it’s a wave of energy. It’s all the technology in golf, but now they’re incorporating it into baseball. You know, baseball’s stubborn. They’re always 20 years behind, but golf is always 20 years ahead. They’ve been doing that in golf for 25 years. It took a golf guy, Dr. Greg Rose at On Base U to change Major League Baseball [and] the way that they look at stuff. It took somebody from outside baseball. GMs and owners, they’ve never played the game, they don’t know how hard it is. And now they’re hiring guys with zero experience to be their hitting coaches. Trying to establish Major League hitters like Matt, it’d be like a guy that’s playing a video game, telling you how to hit a 95 mile-an-hour fastball because on the computer it tells you how to do it. If there’s a way for baseball to mess it up, they always do. But they’re trending in the right way. It’s just they’re putting butts in the wrong seat. I think you guys might agree with that. You know, you’ve seen it.
Carlos:
I’ve never met Tom House, but I was one of those kids that bought that Nolan Ryan Pitchers’ Bible. And I was fortunate enough after I got hurt in Japan, I had my shoulder surgery, and then I played half a season of independent ball in the Atlantic league as a rehab season. And then I signed a major league contract with Houston and Nolan Ryan was there at a time. So, spring training he was always around, so I had the opportunity to at least talk to him during spring training, which was pretty cool. I don’t know if you remember a pitcher named Ben Weber, he pitched with the Angels, he had that angry glove tap. And I think he won the World Series with the Angels as well. And I’ve known him from when we were in Taiwan together. So, when I was still in my bullpen, I didn’t realize it and I’m throwing really good and, you know, all these guys are all watching and everything because this was after my injury, so they all wanted to see how it was doing. I just remember some guy in the background with a hat, and I didn’t know who it was because you know how you get some people that walk around those facilities all the time and at that time, that was when the Astros were in Kissimmee. So, they had the major stadium, and then all the fields were right outside the outfield area. And Weber comes over to me and goes, “Hey, you know who that is, right? That’s Nolan Ryan.” I was like, “Thank you very much.” And from then on, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t throw anything. So he’s probably looking at me, like “What’s matter with this kid?” Before that everything was sharp, everything was breaking, moving; and then once I knew it was Nolan Ryan, I just couldn’t do anything. But it was really cool because he had a chance to speak in a locker room, just talking about physical conditioning and because I had my injury, so he was able to tell me some things about how to condition myself and take care of myself, and it was really cool. So, I know Tom, I don’t know him personally, but I’m familiar with his work and his conditioning processes and everything. So I mean, I’m 47 years old right now and you know, I was still pitching and part of it is because of the whole learning about what Tom House did a long time ago with Nolan Ryan, and just following along with that stuff, and it works.
Kevin:
Yeah, he’s figured it out. And he didn’t know he’ll tell you. But that’s why Brees and Brady are still playing. When you get over 45, they treat you more of a nine-year-old than you would as a 25-year-old. So, it’s more about recovery and nerve training, like doing stuff fast and not lifting as much because of the recovery process. You might take that into consideration. It’s more about nerve training. So essentially, you’re training your nervous system, because when you get older your nervous system is the first thing that goes. He’s like one of the smartest guys, he’s a genius, and plus he pitched nine years in the big leagues and he coached in Japan for Chiba the first time they [he and Bobby Valentine] went over there, but he’s definitely a character. He’s done it all. And he’s got a PhD and four degrees. He’s one of those guys who has a photographic memory. And he caught Hank Aaron’s home run ball. That’s his claim to fame – the 715th home run ball. He’s the one that caught it in the bullpen for Atlanta. Yeah, and he gave it to him for free. How much is that ball worth?
Shane:
Carlos, Michael Westbay is wondering about your organization, JRFPA. How long has that been around for?
Carlos:
So I met William Brooks, he contacted me. He has t-shirt merchandise that he would make for the Hanshin Tigers and a couple other teams that he had deals with, that they would sell at the team shops and all that kind of stuff. So he contacted me about making some shirts, things like that, and then made some shirt designs, and then from there, we just started talking. I was actually in Germany at the time coaching and playing in Cologne, Germany. And we just kept talking and talking and he came up with this idea and we’re discussing it. He was like, “you don’t really see the foreign players really involved in Japan anymore. Once they leave Japan, it’s like that they’re not really involved. And then some of them that are involved, they’re just not handled right.” So, then he was like, “what do you think about this idea?” It took us about a good year of discussing it, how to try to do it, how to get people involved from past players and things like that. So, then we came up with the Japan Retired Foreign Players Association. And then from there he turned the legal parts of it, and then from there, we just kind of started to try to get a little creative. So, when we first started it was just me and him and then he wound up you know, we did a lot of work, it took a little time. And I got into the Japan’s OB Club, which is like the Japan’s retired players club called the Old Boys Club, where the only past foreign player involved was Randy Bass. And so he was in this I was a second one to get in it. So I actually flew to Japan, met with the OB Club officials and everybody sat there talking. From there, it opened up the door. Ralph Bryant and all these other guys got involved in the club, but then we had just started the Players Association, so the OB Club asked William, “listen, now that we’re bringing all the foreign players into the OB Club, can you just handle all the foreign players?” Because he speaks Japanese in English. So that’s kind of how we started. Then I did an autograph show for baseball cards, they always had Japanese players and they never had foreign players. So once I did that and met with the video game companies, the baseball card companies, you know, meet William, we just went around to every company introducing who we are and what we plan on doing. So then from there, it evolved, getting Matt Winters involved, Sherman Obando, Jose Ortiz, and then you know, Jack Howell, Andruw Jones, Randy Ruiz, all of these people, I would try to contact as many as I could. And then once I contacted one, they would contact somebody else, so they knew somebody else. And then from there we just wanted to get the foreign players involved with the culture of Japan again, with the teams and the fans, whether it’s the video games, baseball cards, television shows or whatever it is, so that they can get reconnected with their teams, they can get reconnected with the fans and any baseball card, video game money or whatever, it all goes to the player and it’s all transparent for everybody. Whatever they get, they get and whatever they get involved in. From there from when it started, next thing you know now there’s over 200 past foreign players involved, the Hanshin Tigers, Randy Messenger is involved, there’s a whole bunch of different Hanshin Tigers and freakin’ Yomiuri Giant guys. We kind of turned it into something that’s kind of taken off and once this virus thing is over, we even have NBC Sports that contacted us to do something in Japan. Disney in Japan has contacted us to do stuff. There’s a golf company, there’s so many different things that are going on. We’re not trying to isolate, we’re just trying to give more opportunities as we can to past players. We feel we don’t want to get screwed from things like if they bought some past players over in the past, they might not have given them their money the right way or things like that. So we felt that we could be like a central hub. So any company in Japan or any team in Japan wants to get ahold of a player.
Matt:
One thing I want to say about this organization with Carlos and William is it’s more for guys like myself that play five years or four years, you know, and not [those like] Randy Bass, who’s gonna get his endorsements over there. He’s gonna come over there. Cromartie’s going to get his stuff because Cro’s a great promoter, and he played for the Giants. But it’s the lost guys that get four years, three, four years and it gives them a chance to connect back in Japan. Anybody in our organization, the Retired Foreign Players Association, has the same common thing: we love playing in Japan. We love Japan. We love the Japanese fans and want to help give back and reconnect with them. And I think Carlos and William are doing an outstanding job with it.
Shane:
Yeah, that’s great stuff and I appreciate that.
Carlos:
If there’s one thing that we’re learning from the Players Association, is that once a player is finished playing in Japan and leaves, there’s usually no contact information, the player loses contact with the team, sometimes the team’s not really pursuing the players anymore to do anything. So, what we did was by us starting this, we’ve talked teams into building more relationships. There’s something with teams. So the Hawks have actually started [having] somebody in the office to keep in touch with their past foreign players, so that they can do this on their own to bring guys over there for fan festivals, throw out the first pitch and you know all of those kinds of things. So, teams are starting to pick up on this and really stay in touch with their past players. You know, guys like Tuffy Rhodes, Alex Cabrera, just all of those guys that are pretty much legendary players, even guys like myself. I did some things with the Fighters, not necessarily with the whole league, but I was the first foreign starting pitcher for the Fighters, I won a playoff game in 2004. I was Opening Day starter with the Fighters twice, I helped with the Fighters in that first year that we went to Hokkaido with Trey Hillman as manager to really build that first year and make the playoffs and really establish something in Hokkaido. I can say I’m a part of that, but does that really mean everything for Japan? No. Matt Winters is involved. Matt is known. I mean, he’s a home run hitter. All the hitters seem to really get more attention in the pitchers, but with Matt now, he’s a scout for the Fighters, but now there’s just a whole bunch of stuff that’s going on.
Matt:
I think the Pacific League ownerships are a little bit more progressive and more open to ideals and stuff and that goes back to you guys talking about the Giants and Tigers, you know, the old regimes there. I think the Pacific League is a lot more open to new ideals. And it seems to be working out.
Carlos:
It’s like Matt said, the guys that are involved are all guys that just seem to really, really care about Japan or really enjoyed their time in Japan, and really care about Japanese baseball. It seems to be picking up now because when I went back to the coast with the Tokushima Indigo Socks, the newspapers spoke about this and why I was there, [but] I didn’t get paid for that. I don’t know if anybody knows that. You know, I flew over there on my own, paid for my own place to stay, and all of that stuff was paid. The team didn’t pay for any of that, they didn’t give me a salary or anything, and I went over there and they accepted me as what they call a guest coach, and we won a championship. While I was doing that the media was writing about this, how I came over there on my own. The team didn’t hire me as a guest coach and how I care about the Japanese and they took to me, I took to them, we won a championship [and] I helped those guys out. We had three guys, our shortstop or second baseman and one of our star pitchers wound up getting picked up. One by the Yomiuri Giants and two by the Seibu Lions. The media really got a lot of attention for the organization, and even now with this whole virus thing, we were talking one day and I said, “listen, we got to think of something to do for the people, just a video” and you know, we made videos. It was like a minute long or whatever, telling anybody in Japan, be safe, wash your hands, we’re all in this together, we’re going to get through it. And then Matt Winters took it to another level. And Matt started doing magic tricks which is pretty awesome. I’m always recording those videos and trying to slow him down so I can see what he’s doing.
Shane:
This is awesome stuff, really. I think all of us are really happy to be listening to these sorts of different viewpoints… this is a really awesome opportunity for us. And I just want to thank you all for joining us again. It’s been really fun.
Kevin:
No problem.
Matt:
Thanks for having us.
Carlos:
Yeah, appreciate it. It’s been great.
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