One of the first "real" baseball books I read was Slugging It Out in Japan by former Montreal Expo Warren Cromartie (with Robert Whiting).
This was decades ago. I recently picked up the book again. Thusly inspired and not having played the base game due to Perfect Team obsession for the past three years, I decided to start a new dynasty with a team in the [league redacted] Organization.
But not as the Yomiuri Giants, whom Cromartie played for.
Quote:
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They were like the Yankees, and the Dodgers, and the Mets - all put together. And then some. - Warren Cromartie (pg. 13)
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And the Mets?!? Hey, I fondly - okay, much more than fondly - remember '86 ... but the Mets?!?
My intent was to do some quick reading on the teams in the *** and go from there but when I read that the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Central League were known for their umbrella-based run celebrations - and that Norichika "Nori" Aoki* plays for them - I decided to accept their offer of $40,000 / 4 years.
The pre-season predicts us to finish 5th in the 6-team Central.
Expect posts in this Dynasty Report to sometimes contain box scores, to sometimes contain snippets of game logs (can't wait for Aoki to "charge the mound"), and to always contains a quote from "the book." Posts will be published on an irregular schedule.
Notes:
*While you may rightly infer that I am indeed a New York Mets fan, the reason Aoki's inclusion in the Swallows is not because he played for the Mets. The reason is because my second-favorite team is the Milwaukee Brewers, the team Aoki first played for in the Major Leagues. I think fondly of those I lived in Milwaukee. From downtown Milwaukee, you could take the Hank Aaron bike path all the way to the stadium.