As a high school student back in the early 1960s, I can recall reading a book titled, "A False Spring." It was authored by Pat Jordan, a Connecticut native and a superb teenage baseball pitcher who, according to Wikipedia, was pursued by more than 15 major league organizations in 1959. Interesting, as there were only 16 big league clubs at the time.
He signed a contract with the Milwaukee Braves, which included a $36,000 bonus, a huge sum of money at the time. A "can't-miss" prospect, Jordan somehow missed. He labored through three miserable seasons in the minor leagues before retiring to embark on a writing career.
Here in Japan, spring training camps wrapped up last week, and the Japanese pro baseball teams are playing exhibition games in preparation for regular-season openers on March 28. Excitement will arise as some rookie pitchers and position players put up great statistics during the "open" games, as they are called in Japan, and some foreign players may get the feeling Japanese baseball is easy.