And then, solemnly, he pitched to Hondo, with an old sportswriter calling balls and strikes. After the 10th and final strike, Ishimaru threw down the ball, walked on the plane and flew off. He never returned. The funny thing is not how different Japanese and American baseball is, but how, in some ways, each country longs to be a little more like the other. In Japan, they stress fundamentals over and over, so much so that making a bad error is an almost certain way to get yanked out of the game.
Players bunt and steal bases, pitchers throw strikes, nobody draws attention to themselves.
Yet, here the game is played with a looseness, a joy, that is missing for many players there. Japanese baseball is serious business, beginning early in the morning. Pitchers run miles the day they pitch. Hitters will take batting practice for an hour before every game. The strike zone is wider there, the pitchers throw harder here, the ballparks are smaller there, the season is longer here.