IN THE JAPANESE BALLPARK

Japan’s national pastime.

Fitts, the author of several books about Japanese baseball, takes a close look at the inner workings of Nippon Professional Baseball through first-person accounts from players, front-office personnel, data analysts, business executives, and, engagingly, one of the urikos (“beer girls”) who lug hefty kegs through the stands: “When I poured a drink, I always smiled,” she said. “At night, after the games, my face usually hurt from smiling.” While the oral history format usually allows for a more personal approach, it’s hampered here, as the author acknowledges in his introduction, by the propensity of team owners to limit direct access to the players and staff and attempt to control the message. The result, while detailed, comes across at times more like a “just the facts” approach than Moneyball, where the different strands were pulled together for a compelling narrative. Nevertheless, the author offers a clear picture of a thriving subculture that most American readers likely know little about, apart from passing familiarity with transplanted superstars like the Dodgers’ celebrated two-way player, Shohei Ohtani. Differences in the way the game is played are front and center. The Japanese prefer small ball—getting runners on base, bunts, steals, and moving things along—over Major League Baseball’s listless power game. Cheerleading is also hugely popular. When Saori Ogure, director of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighter Girls, choreographed the viral “Fox Dance,” even players joined the fun. Former MLB manager Bobby Valentine, looking back at his time heading the Chiba Lotte Marines, said, “They knew how to play the game. They just needed someone to let them know that they knew how to play the game.”

An informative if sometimes dense read for curious sports fans.