breaking records
Baseball history is being made. A homerun record is (possibly) about to fall. No, I’m not talking about Barry Bonds. I’m talking about Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes, playing now (where he’s played since 1996) for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in Osaka, Japan.
The current Japanese single-season record of 55 was set by the legendary Sadaharu Oh in 1964. Oh also holds the all-time homerun record of 868. He was, without a doubt, one of the greatest players ever to play the game.
His record has been challenged once before by an American—in 1985, Randy Bass, playing for the Hanshin Tigers, was within one home run of tying Oh’s mark, with two games to play. As destiny would have it, those final games were against the Tokyo Giants, whose manager was the very same Oh. Bass had nine at bats; he was walked six times.
As the scheduling gods and fate would have it, the Buffaloes’ last two games, on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2001, are against the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks—managed by, of course, Sadaharu Oh.
I can’t wait to read the results of those games. I only wish they were televised in the U.S.
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