In Okajima’s case, Giants Manager Shigeo Nagashima, a legendary figure in Japanese baseball who is now retired, would distribute fight money during team meetings. After a player received his envelope, his teammates applauded. Okajima noted that since the amount was relatively small, the financial reward paled in comparison to the gratification of being recognized.

In Major League Baseball, many players have incentive clauses in their contracts that reward them for things like making the All-Star team or playing in a certain number of games. But there is no known day-to-day reward system. Several major leaguers who did not play in Japan said they had not heard of the fight money custom; some wondered why players in Japan, where salaries are much less than they are in Major League Baseball but top players make about $5 million a year, needed extra motivation.

“It’s such an odd concept over here for us,” Mets pitcher Tom Glavine said. “My immediate reaction is you’re paying guys extra for what they’re getting paid to do anyway.”

Glavine said fight money reminded him of the pay-for-performance system proposed by major league owners in 1990. The system, which was rejected by the players’ union and never implemented, would have paid players based on their tenure and their statistics from the previous two seasons.

Image Credit... Illustration by Bob Kessel

Glavine also said fight money could create conflict.

“If you’re a player and you think, ‘Hey, I got a chance to go 4 for 4 today and I might get that money at the end of the game,’ ” Glavine said. “ ‘But, man, we got runners on first and second, or a runner on second, and the better thing for me to do here might be to sacrifice him over. But now I’m going to go 3 for 4 instead of 4 for 4.’ You kind of start getting into that gray area.”

Bobby Valentine, who managed in the majors for 15 seasons and is now the manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, said in some ways fight money went against Japanese values like group harmony. Superstars are likely to receive the bulk of fight money, setting them apart from their teammates, he said.