I am a former baseball kid.
Now in my 60s, I still watch MLB games on TV a lot.
I cheered for Shohei Ohtani, the two-way player, a year ago and two years ago too.
I still want to cheer for him now.
But lately, something bothers me.
He spits a lot now.
Every time he is on TV, he spits onto the field.
I find that gesture so disappointing.
Nothing more, nothing less.
When He Spits
When I watch closely, I see a pattern in when he spits.
When he is pitching and gives up a home run.
When he swings and misses at the plate.
In frustrating moments, he spits.
I played baseball for a time too.
I understand the frustration.
But I cannot help thinking, does it have to come out as spit?
As Someone Who Learned Baseball in Japan
I played baseball in junior high and high school.
We smoothed the dirt. We bowed. We kept the field clean.
That was just normal.
Spitting was out of the question.
The field is a sacred place.
That is soaked into my body.
Even now, 40 years later, that feeling is still there.
When a spitting scene comes on TV, it bothers me every time.
“Is this okay for a Japanese player?”
I catch myself thinking that.
That Player Is Not a “God”
People treat him like a god.
He hits, he pitches, he gets results. That is truly amazing.
But are people not treating him too much like a god?
He is one human being, one baseball player.
If you live in America for a long time, some of the culture will rub off on you.
That cannot be helped.
But the way he spits more often now
is a letdown for me, a man in my 60s.
The way he bowed in the days he learned baseball in Japan.
The way he took care of the field.
I hope he does not forget that feeling.
Maybe He Does It on Purpose
Sometimes a thought comes to me.
“He is Japanese, so he is serious and polite.”
“A good boy who would never spit on the field.”
Maybe he hates having that image put on him,
so he spits on purpose to make a point.
“I am not a good boy.”
“I am the same as the American players.”
Maybe he wants to show that.
Only he knows.
But if that is true, that is a pity too.
He does not need to make a point. He is already amazing enough.
Being serious is fine. Being a good boy is fine.
That is how he has gotten results all this time.
I Can Kind of Understand How He Feels
Still, part of it cannot be helped.
Over there, spitting is “normal.”
It is “just how it is,” and if anything, “not doing it is strange.”
When you live in a place like that, it is harder not to pick it up.
If I lived in America for a few years, I might pick it up too.
I admit that.
But if I came back to Japan, I would probably be back to normal in a few months.
Even if the habit stays for a while, it goes away fast when the environment changes.
That is how it is.
I Do Not Want the Younger Players to Do It
That guy on the Dodgers. That guy on the Cubs.
Japanese players who have already picked it up.
I will tell myself that it cannot be helped.
But the Japanese players going to the majors from now on,
those two who went to the Blue Jays and the White Sox,
I do not want them to do it.
What they learned playing baseball in Japan,
I hope they do not forget it after they go over there.
Take care of the field, bow, do not spit.
That kind of “Japanese baseball,”
I hope they stick to it over there too.
It is just my own selfish wish.
But it is because I cheer for them that I wish this.
In the Days of the Earlier Japanese Major Leaguers, I Could Not Watch Even If I Wanted To
When Japanese players first went to the majors,
there were almost no live MLB broadcasts in the first place.
Even when there were, I was busy at work.
I had no time to watch.
I learned the results from the news. I watched the big plays on recordings.
That was about it.
So I do not know in detail how the earlier Japanese players acted on the field.
But I have no memory of them spitting.
After I retired, I started watching MLB closely.
I watch almost every Shohei Ohtani game live.
Maybe that is why the change catches my eye.
I Only Watch on TV. So Why Do I Feel This Way?
I have never met him. I have never talked to him.
Some may ask why a man in his 60s who only watches on TV talks as if he knows so much.
But I have watched for a long time.
One year, two years, three years, I have cheered for him.
That is exactly why I can see small changes.
I still want to cheer for him.
But that one gesture, I find disappointing.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I Want to Watch Him as One Player, Not as a God
I do not plan to watch him as a “god.”
I will keep watching him as one baseball player.
His strengths, his weaknesses, and his changes, all of it.
Spitting more may be a small thing.
But a small gesture shows where a person is now.
As someone in my 60s who has cheered for him, I am just disappointed.
That is all.
Something else I wrote about this:
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