Balentien moves closer to Japanese home run record

Lets hope Balentien does it..

Standby for walks...

@wanderlust

i totally agree. unfortunately, the japanese will protect their homerun record which is sad because this makes the game more exciting. i remember them walking rhodes quite a lot as he was approaching the record.

He won't see many more good pitches.

Let's see how much Japanese baseball has grown up since the days of Randy Bass. A couple seasons ago, they let Matt Murton beat Ichiro's record. So who knows.

Agreed lets see if J-ball has grown up or not it was disgusting the last two times, I bet the shame is still there, lets hope Balentien tops the record despite whats likely to happen

I didn't realize Curacao had enough land for a baseball diamond.

The Japanese home run record is meaningless not only because half a dozen foreigners were denied the chance to break it, bit also because of the well known fact that Oh used a corked bat.

bit also because of the well known fact that Oh used a corked bat.

At least he didn't use steroids!

Remember this is with the corked ball used to attract fans back to boreball. Records mean nothing except as media fodder.

He's had a very good season, and I had the chance to see him absolutely crush the ball into the far ends of the stands on several occasions. The man's got some power. It'll be a sad, sad day if they artificially keep him short of this record.

There's no way they won't pitch to him with over a month of the regular season left-it'll look way too suspicious. If I remember correctly when Rose and Cabrera were nearing the record it was almost the end of the season. It was still shocking though. Hope he smashes about 20 more in September!

The Swallows have 33 games remaining in the regular season.

Wow, that's a lot of games left to keep walking him. Hope a team knocks themselves out of the playoff race because of it (if they try to do it).

Yeah, those foreigners who had a chance to break the record were walked so much ...which means, they must have broken the league walk records ... oh, wait ... no? ... hmmm ... typical gaijin victim mentality. And, yes, if you're having a record breaking season, you get walked. Barry Bonds had to deal with it & Sadaharu Oh had to deal with it. It's smart baseball. Deal with it. Oh yeah, the guy with the walks record-- Sadaharu Oh. Let's see you back your claims up with facts for once... sheesh.

Slump - if you knew the first thing about japanese baseball or what you just rambled on about you would understand that those half dozen foreigners were walked out of the record in the last few weeks of the season as they neared the record - NOT from game one, as you incorrectly assumed. This, from Wiki;

On three occasions, foreign-born players have challenged Oh's single-season home run record of 55 and faced Oh-managed teams late in the season. On every single occasion, Oh's pitchers refused to throw strikes to them.[5] In 1985, American Randy Bass, playing for the Hanshin Tigers, came into the last game of the season against the Oh-managed Giants with 54 home runs. Bass was intentionally walked four times on four straight pitches each time. Bass reached over the plate on the fifth occasion and batted the ball into the outfield for a single. After the game, Oh denied ordering his pitchers to walk Bass, but Keith Comstock, an American pitcher for the Giants, later stated that an unnamed Giants coach had threatened a fine of $1,000 for every strike that any Giants pitcher threw to Bass. The magazine Takarajima investigated the incident and reported that the Giants front office had likely ordered the team not to allow Bass an opportunity to tie or break Oh's record. For the most part the Japanese media remained silent on the incident as did league commissioner Takeso Shimoda.[5] In 2001, American Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, playing for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, hit 55 home runs with several games left. The Buffaloes played the Oh-managed Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on a late weekend series in Fukuoka. Rhodes was intentionally walked during each at-bat. Hawks catcher Kenji Johjima could be seen grinning as he caught the intentional balls. Again, Oh denied any involvement and Hawks batting coach Yoshiharu Wakana stated that the pitchers acted on his orders, saying, "I just didn't want a foreign player to break Oh's record." Rhodes completed the season with 55 home runs. Hawks pitcher Keizaburo Tanoue went on record saying that he wanted to throw strikes to Rhodes and felt bad about the situation.[6][5] In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season and his team played Oh's Hawks. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes to Cabrera, but most of them ignored his order and threw balls well away from the plate. After the game, Oh stated, "If you're going to break the record, you should do it by more than one. Do it by a lot."[5] In the wake of the most recent incident involving Cabrera, ESPN listed Oh's single-season home run record as #2 on its list of "The Phoniest Records in Sports." [1]

Facts enough for ya, champ?

Oh... boo hoo. The Giants & Tigers were in first & second place in a pennant race. Bass was having the greatest season ever. And, you wouldn't walk him? Maybe he should have gotten the 55th before playing Oh's team. Barry Bonds was intentionally walked with no runners on base ...& with the bases loaded. That's strategy. And a show of respect. If Oh does it... it's racism? Anyways, number of walks is an example of an actual fact. These so-called facts you present are called hearsay in a court of law. "I just didn't want a foreign player to break Oh's record."-- yes, this guy probably did say that. But, obviously it wasn't a conspiracy by all of Japanese baseball as you claim. If so, they should have at least walked over the course of the season close to as much as Oh did in the season he got his 10th most walks.

Oh, you listed 3 people. Who are the other 3 of the half dozen?

...the sarcastic "champ" comment... meant as an insult... does tell a lot about you, hoserfella.

They just covered this quite openly on Super News (and it is super). No secret of how the record was protected. Not gonna happen this time though. Six runs over 33 games, he'll get it, especially with the new bouncy ball back in action this year. Note that he got 31 last year and the year before with a more US ball.

I witnessed a lot of what is mentioned here during my twenty-plus years in Japan. But there is one story that will top even all of this. Daryl Spencer in 1965. Vying for the Triple Crown, he once went to bat holding his bat upside down in protest of being walked time and again. Also, Spencer was known for riding his minibike to and from the station nearest his home on his commute to the stadium. One day, eleven games from the end of the season, he was run into a wall by a small delivery van and had his leg broken. He did, of course, miss the remainder of the season. His Japanese competitor for the title, Katsuya Nomura, won the Triple Crown. Rumors were rampant about the accident being "not so accidental".

slump - you still can't grasp the difference between being walked over a full season and not being pitched to at all over a few weeks at the end of a season to preserve a meaningless record. Barry Bonds and his walks have nothing to do with the Japanese home run record.

I believe my Wiki quote sums things up nicely.

Balentien (mis)hit another home run tonight, and another news program more than welcoming and excited by the impending new record. Four more to tie.

I'm sure he will hit 60. It doesn't hurt that he plays in Jingu, which is only 330 feet to left field. In contrast, it is 355 feet at Wrigley. I've seen him off balance, chasing a change-up or curve ball, making contact with only one arm, only to have the ball float to the stands. He looks a lot bigger than his listed 220 pounds.

Good luck! I agree that it's a shame the teams try so hard to protect Oh's record, but with 33 games left it'll be tough to keep him from it.