for power. Our understanding of baseball is not limited to events on the field. Clubhouse, practice, spring training, contract negotiation all have meanings attached to them. These meanings go beyond the physical and represent a society's attitudes. Doing things differently in baseball or requesting others to change their behavior, can easily be interpreted as evidence of rudeness, arrogance, stupidity or all of the above. Baseball in Japan is different. It has developed differently from the American game. In America it evolved from an English ball game called rounders. In Japan it was imported as a finished product in 1873. Japanese baseball has probably retained more of the flavor of that era than the American game has. The American game has been more subject to inovation, while the Japanese game is more mindful of its past. The function that sports and popular entertainment play in a society, is intertwined with that society's culture. To expect Japanese and American fans to have identical attitudes towards baseball would be naive. On the other hand, there is much to be learned from the way other people do things. Approaching different practices with an open mind is an important step towards understanding our own habits and customs. Baseball, like life, doesn't stand still. It is always changing. Recognizing its changes are one of the pleasures of being a fan. The game changes and some part of it is completely new. Sometimes the game runs in cycles and we will see something which may look new, but which in fact is very old. A rebuttalOne reader has suggested that Horner's ire with Japanese baseball was justified in that he was continually being called out on pitches well out of the strike zone. The same reader suggested that there was an effort on the part of the Giants at one point during the season to keep Horner from braeking some record held by then manager Sadaharu Oh. This is not an unusual play in Japan. Former Tiger slugger R...
