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Essay about Japanese Baseball: Nippon Professional Baseball

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Baseball has homegrown roots here in America. Starting in 1839 it instantly became a phenomenon that still captures American hearts and attention spans today. The Japanese created their own league called the Nippon Professional Baseball in 1920. Though they borrowed the idea and sport, there are key differences in how the game is played on the tiny island nation. In true Japanese fashion, they took an idea making innovations and improvements to create something resembling the past but yet having differences to stand on its own. The Nippon league and the Major League Baseball (MLB) possess similarities in regard to rules. Both countries along with countless other nations wear uniforms that all parallel one another. The physical game is …show more content…

It gives American players more experience and a shot to play for a major league organization. Often paid more than minor league players but less than major leaguers, American players come to play on the island to gain more experience and a longer career than a U.S. player would. But once they come to play here American players get culture shock. Besides the obvious differences, American players are given different values to uphold than back in America. American players are often overshadowed by Japanese players even if their stats are better. The Japanese managers do want to win and have American players do well but they would rather a Japanese player hit home runs and help the team over Americans. This steams from Japanese culture which has remained unchanged for many centuries. Japanese culture is centralized around harmony and balance. Japanese teams do not want American players to outshine others. If a player hits multiple home runs an umpire will expand or shrink the strike zone for American players so they don’t hit as many home runs to balance them with the other players and team. No singular team wants to “crush” another. This is why playing for a tie is important in Japan because through ties honor is neither gained nor lost. For championships a team will win only a few games over another, whereas American teams, will often win ten or more games more overall than their opponent.

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