If you can get your hands on it, buy this issue for this article alone. Written by Robert Whiting.
One passage dealt with the way Japanese players appreciate setting their own practice schedule after years inthe regimented Japanese system, they believe it creates and "unfinished" player, unrefined in the basic fundamentals like bunting and base running, because fundamentals aren't stressed here to the same degree in Japan.
Whiting writes:
No doubt startled that Ichiro thought teaching the fundamentals was his job.
One passage dealt with the way Japanese players appreciate setting their own practice schedule after years inthe regimented Japanese system, they believe it creates and "unfinished" player, unrefined in the basic fundamentals like bunting and base running, because fundamentals aren't stressed here to the same degree in Japan.
Whiting writes:
The constant emphasis on power, they believe, is a detriment to equally important parts of the game, such as advancing the runner. As Ichiro put it to startled St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa during an offseason dinner discussion, "You Americans would be much better if you practiced like you should."
Comment