'BOBBY V' SPEAKS HIS MIND 'BOBBY V' SPEAKS HIS MIND KOCHI, JAPAN - Bobby Valentine is beginning his sixth season managing here. The former Texas Rangers and New York Mets manager has strong opinions about baseball on both sides of the Pacific Ocean: On top Japanese players competing in the USA: "There's nothing left to prove. Their best hitter (Ichiro Suzuki) has gone and succeeded. The best power hitter (Hideki Matsui) has gone and succeeded. Now, their best pitcher (Daisuke Matsuzaka) has gone and he'll succeed. It's supposed to end now in a lot of fans' minds." On Matsuzaka's chance of success with the Boston Red Sox: "He'll be fine. He'll have some outstanding complete games. He'll give up some home runs, some long home runs. He needs to do well early. Otherwise there will be questions about the differences in style and he might stop doing what gets outs for him. But Japanese rookies aren't going to start well when it's 40 degrees." On his connection to baseball in Japan: "I have a vested interest here. I've spent enough time and energy for a true commitment here." On the future of baseball leagues around the world: "The commissioner was a great concept when it was created in North America. Maybe it's time to have that kind of czar globally." On the passion of Japanese fans: "We have 400 people sitting five hours in the sun just to watch spring training batting practice." On the possibility of steroid use in Japan: "I don't think so. I was pretty nai ve about it at first in the U.S., but I think you'd notice it on these guys." On dealing with the media in Japan: "It's more like being in a dentist's chair than being in New York. But they don't hurt anyone. Let's just say they let fans use their imagination. I try to have patience." By Paul White BASEBALL IN JAPAN BASEBALL IN JAPAN Frenzy subsides: Solid but unspectacular season cools Matsuzaka mania Sights and Sounds: Americans playing in Japan; Valentine, Hillman discuss managing; Matsuzaka legend's origins Culture shock: American, Japanese players learn to adapt to new surroundings Export fears: Japanese leagues worried about exodus of prime talent Matsuzaka mania: Pitcher faces sharp learning curve after his arrival in America American influence: Valentine, Hillman, Collins become successful Japanese League managers More Digg



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Facebook In an occasional series, USA TODAY examines the rapidly changing relationship between the Far East and America's pastime KOCHI, Japan — Terry Collins, bat in hand, was sprinting the quarter-mile from a practice field to the stadium at the Orix Buffaloes spring training facility. His translator labored to keep up. Two autograph-seeking fans did better. They got Collins, a former manager of the Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels, to stop. His eyes darted around the scene in front of him, his mind apparently still racing although his legs had stopped just for seconds as he signed at lightning speed. How much more would he have to sign, he wondered, eyeing the fans who had parted to clear a path. There was so much work to be done, especially if he is to continue the latest trend in Japanese baseball — winning with American managers. It's two in a row and counting after Trey Hillman won the 2006 Japan Series with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, after Bobby Valentine's championship with the Chiba Lotte Marines, the first non-Japanese managers to win titles in the country's pro leagues that were established in 1936. Collins, 57, has so much to do, taking over a team that lost 81 of 136 games last season. As the fourth American manager among the country's 12 major league teams, he can take solace, however, in his three-year contract and his compatriots' achievements. Former New York Mets and Texas Rangers manager Valentine and Hillman, a minor league manager for 12 years in the New York Yankees system, took their current jobs in 2003 and soon ended long droughts. The Marines' title was their first in 31 years; the Fighters won their first since 1962. "I do not use the word change here," Collins says. "I came to add things to Japanese baseball." American players have been coming to Japan since 1959, when pitcher Glenn Mickens and catcher Ron Bottler joined the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Players generally must fit into the Japanese baseball culture and style of play, but managers can inject more Western influences — for better or worse. When Hillman arrived in 2003, his players didn't know how to react to a manager who snuck up behind them during infield practice and pulled on the back pockets of their pants as they tried to field grounders. "He was confusing the players," Kanako Ishikawa, a reporter who covers the Fighters for the Doushin Sports newspaper, says through a translator. "Now players from other teams are interested in coming here." Valentine, fired after managing Chiba Lotte in 1995, has won enough games and won over enough fans since returning in 2003 that the Japanese media have labeled him "Bobby Magic" for his gregarious style. It's in contrast to the staid demeanor of most Japanese managers. So imagine the surprise when Marty Brown, 44, the other U.S. manager and a former minor league manager of the year, made his debut in Japan last season with the Hiroshima Carp, the team he played for from 1992 to '94. His team won only 62 times, but he attracted the most attention for pulling a base out of the ground and tossing it. That was after one of his three ejections, a league record for managers. Three ejections over a 146-game season would hardly be noticed in the USA, and it didn't cause the Carp to flinch. Brown is back, and that probably bodes well for Collins, who had a reputation in Houston and Anaheim for being feisty and volatile. "I'm not Joe Torre," says Collins, who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers' Class AAA team in Las Vegas last season. "I didn't play in the big leagues. I worked my (butt) off. I care about the game." That's an approach that could play well in Japan, where hard work and emphasis on fundamentals is accepted and embraced by players. Especially so for a team that hasn't finished first since 1991 and last won the Japan Series in 1984. "We have to quit making excuses," Collins says. "We have to change the attitude. Let's just go and play well. … They tell me, 'We're Japanese, we're smaller. We can't do the same things.' OK, but we're going to do those things properly." Respect the culture The Americans are careful not to be seen as turning Japanese baseball upside down. Little tinkering is done with the Japanese training regimen, not only the six- to eight-hour days in camp but even a traditional fall camp that normally gobbles up all of November. With spring training beginning about Feb. 1 for a season that starts the final week of March, the far-from-home commitment is almost year-round. "Understanding the culture will do more for you than anything else," Hillman says in Nago City. "If you can be perceived as truly respecting the culture, you have a much better chance of being accepted and succeeding." Still, success comes with its bumps, as Hillman, 44, quickly learned. "They play for one run much more so than we do," he says. "The first two years, we didn't bunt hardly at all. But there was a reason for that. We didn't have the pitching staff to play tight, low-scoring games." Hillman was regularly criticized by the media for not bunting and was reminded again last year as his team won — and bunted more often. "Give me a break," he says. "We scored the same amount of runs per nine innings the year before when we weren't bunting as much. Last year we also had the best earned-run average in the league. I can bang my head against the wall with the media, but I just ask them, 'Be fair, look at the big picture.' " Toshi Shimada is the Fighters' chief supervisor, roughly equivalent to a general manager in the USA. He agrees Hillman has been a big part of the team's success but is quick to remind, "He had to make some changes, too, in order to succeed." "I gained more of an appreciation for the way they play for one run," Hillman says, adding sacrificing for the good of the team is seen as a heroic gesture. "When somebody gets down a good bunt, it can really pick up the team here. It definitely changes the atmosphere of the dugout. "In the U.S., the philosophy is, don't give away outs. Some studies show it's actually counterproductive to bunt. But I'm not sure those studies would hold up here." Challenging life Valentine, 56, who speaks more than passable Japanese and converses with players and fans, says language is the most important adjustment. Although he has a translator, he'll often begin to answer questions before they are translated. He still gives most answers to the media in English to ensure he expresses himself correctly. Regardless, it's not an easy life. Much like players who come to the USA from other countries, these managers can spend upward of nine months in a foreign land where day-to-day opportunities to have normal conversations in English are rare. Each team can have up to four foreign players (but no more than three pitchers or three non-pitchers) on its active roster. Managers must be careful about forming too close a relationship with any players, let alone Americans, so the managers from the USA routinely bring along a coach. Hillman has former infielder Dave Owen, and Valentine has Lyle Yates, who managed in the Mets and Astros organizations. Brown has Jeff Livesey, who coached under Brown in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. Collins brought along longtime Dodgers organizational coach Jon Debus. All would love to get — or get back — to the major leagues. Valentine is the highest-paid of the four American managers at $1.5 million a year but has a clause that allows him to leave for a major league job. Hillman was interviewed this winter for openings in San Diego, Texas and Oakland. "Sure, I was disappointed," Hillman says. "We all have an ego. We all want to be somebody's selection." Families are another consideration. Hillman says he keeps returning to Japan because his two children, 10 and 13, enjoy attending an international school in Sapporo, where the Fighters are based. Valentine's wife, Mary, spends part of the season in Japan but also returns home to Connecticut, where she raises collies as show dogs. Different mentality Like all managers, Valentine, working in Kagoshima, is most comfortable in uniform and on the field. The Japanese players have a lot to do with that. It's after 4 p.m., and the day's workouts, which began before 10 a.m., have just ended. The grounds crew has put away the batting cages and other equipment and finished manicuring the field while Valentine chats in the dugout. He looks up to see three players pulling a couple of protective screens back out onto the field for some more hitting practice. "Look at this," Valentine says, adding it's not unusual. "What am I supposed to do, walk out there and say, 'That's enough?' It's enough when they say it's enough. … "Back home, it's standard operating procedure for a manager to come in and say, 'I don't have rules other than be on time and hustle.' If you said that here, they'd look at you like you have three heads." Valentine and Hillman are no longer seen as curiosities in Japan because they have won, the challenge that still faces Collins and Brown. For now, Collins says he feels less pressure working in Japan, partly because his front office is committed to developing young players and partly because he feels he has a clean slate in a new country. "I have nothing to prove here," says Collins, who had waited to get another major league managing job since 1999, when he resigned from the last-place Angels with 29 games left in the season. That was the only one of his six years in the majors when his team didn't finish in second place. He says he isn't sure why he never got another chance despite several interviews, the most recent after the 2005 season, when the Dodgers chose Grady Little to replace Jim Tracy. But Collins says he realizes his reputation probably still follows him. "I think I'm different now," Collins says. "We get a little carried away with (reputations). I had good players. My teams played good, too." He maintains it all could have been different if not for the 1994 strike. As a rookie manager, he had the Astros a half-game behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central when the season was stopped in August. "We would have won that year," he says. "I guarantee it." He's making no promises about this season, although he bristles at the suggestion there's little chance of a championship by a third American manager. That reaction passes quickly, something that might not have happened a decade ago. Now there's too much to do, too much to learn. "It's been a riot, been a blast," Collins says, who is featured in advertising, pointing like an old Uncle Sam poster, under this year's team slogan, "One Heart Beat." "They gave me a chance," he says of his new employers. "I wake up in the morning knowing I'm going to the ballpark. They gave me something to get excited about." Share this story: Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook Enlarge By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman poses with his Japanese coaches for a team picture during spring training. Hillman, a former Yankees minor-league manager, is one of several American skippers making his mark in Japan. 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