Wayne Graczyk - The Japan Times

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Wayne Graczyk

Wayne Graczyk has written the "Baseball Bullet-In" column in The Japan Times since 1976. A native of New Jersey, he came to Japan in 1969 with the U.S. Air Force and is a 1977 graduate of Tokyo's Sophia University. Wayne was the long-time (1977-2004) sports editor of the Tokyo Weekender newspaper, he covers Yomiuri Giants baseball games for Nippon TV and, since 1976, he has compiled the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide. He is a member of the Tokyo Sportswriters Club and the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan. Notice Wayne Graczyk, the baseball columnist for The Japan Times for the past 40 years, passed away at the age of 68 on April 19. His final column was posted on April 8. Readers can continue to access his coverage of Japanese baseball through the online archives.

For Wayne Graczyk's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Nov 26, 2000

Get ready for the Ichiro onslaught

Hold onto your hats. The contract agreement between the Seattle Mariners and Ichiro (Suzuki) promises to offer an exciting, fun time with a frenzied media circus, possible extra events, increased tourism and brisk souvenir sales, as the former Orix BlueWave outfielder and seven-time Pacific League batting champion readies to become Japan's first position player in the major leagues.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Nov 12, 2000

Ichiro, Kinjo are the talk of the town

Talk on the Nagoya Dome field prior to Game 6 of the NTT Communications All-Star Series 2000 on Nov. 9, besides the chaotic U.S. presidential election results, centered around the news that some major league team had offered 14 oku yen ($13,125,000) for the rights to negotiate with soon-to-be-former Orix BlueWave outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. At the time, the team had not been named, but the next day it was learned the Seattle Mariners would be talking contract with Ichiro.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Oct 29, 2000

Hawks' Pedraza found relief in Japan

You wonder why he never made it to the majors. Talking here about Fukuoka Daiei Hawks relief ace Rod Pedraza, the best closer in the Pacific League if not all of Japanese baseball, and one big reason the Hawks have won the PL pennant each of the two years Pedraza has been their game-ender.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Oct 15, 2000

Former Carp farmhand making impact with Mets

It's always nice to see a player from Japan make it in the major leagues, whether it be a Japanese pitcher such as Hideo Nomo or Kazuhiro Sasaki, or a foreigner such as Matt Stairs, Rob Ducey or Lee Stevens getting another shot at the Bigs after spending time in the Central or Pacific Leagues in Dai Nippon. Now, there is a third category: Dominican graduates of the Hiroshima Carp Baseball Academy in that country who, apparently, used the Carp as a stepping stone to get a shot at MLB stardom.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Oct 7, 2000

Catching up on Japanese baseball

With the Sydney Olympics now history, let's take a look at what happened in Japanese pro baseball while most of the sports world focused its attention on Australia and the Summer Games.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Sep 10, 2000

That Fukuoka Dome Japan Series screw-up

While it's pretty much a foregone conclusion the Yomiuri Giants are going to win their first Central League pennant in four years, the Pacific League race is a dandy that threatens to go to the Oct. 9 wire with three teams in the running: the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, Seibu Lions and Nippon Ham Fighters.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Aug 27, 2000

Kinjo: Is he the Central League Ichiro?

Yokohama BayStars cleanup hitter Bobby Rose enjoyed a 10-point lead in this year's Central League batting title race on Friday, Aug. 18. He was ahead of the runnerup, Yomiuri Giants slugger Hideki Matsui, .345 to .335. But the next day, Rose found himself in second place, 39 points behind the new leader, Yokohama teammate Tatsuhiko Kinjo and his .384. What happened? Where did Kinjo come from? Who is this guy? What's going on here?

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Aug 6, 2000

Yankees Day at Tokyo Dome on Sept. 3

The Nippon Ham Fighters have announced their annual Yankees Day promotion will be held on Sunday, Sept. 3, when the team will play host to the Chiba Lotte Marines in a Pacific League game to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Tokyo Dome. AIWA Co., Ltd., will sponsor the event and, as usual, the Nippon Ham club has provided 3,000 free tickets for foreign fans in the Kanto area (or from anywhere you'd like to come).

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Jul 30, 2000

How many all-star games are enough?

Is one all-star game enough? Are three games too many? Whatever happened to two? Those questions were being bantered about as Japan pro baseball took its weeklong, midsummer regular-season break July 21-27, during which a trio of all-star contests were played, from Tokyo to Nagasaki, with a stop in Kobe.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Jul 16, 2000

Carp's Lopez back where he belongs

One of the happiest foreign players in Japan pro baseball these days is Hiroshima Carp first baseman Luis Lopez. The 1996 and 1997 Central League RBI leader is obviously back where he belongs; hitting .300 and driving in those runs like he did three-four years ago for the Red Helmets.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Jul 2, 2000

Hanshin pinstripes a good fit for Franklin

Micah Franklin shakes hands with Hanshin Tigers official Katsuyoshi Nozaki during a press conference Thursday at the club office in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. I'd like to think Micah Franklin took my advice.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Jun 18, 2000

Giants and 'Maru-chan' a perfect match

Yomiuri Giants first baseman Domingo Martinez last week celebrated his one-year anniversary with the team, and plucking him out of the Mexican League last June and bringing him back to Japan was one of the best things the Giants have ever done.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Jun 4, 2000

Dang! There goes Dingo

Too bad about Dave "Dingo" Nilsson leaving the Chunichi Dragons. He's gone back to his native Australia for treatment of a painful lower back condition, and it appears his Japan career, at least at the varsity level, may have come to an end. What was supposed to have been an exciting season in Japan for a bona fide .300 hitter in the majors has gone completely haywire.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

May 21, 2000

Bun-chan's pitching reminiscent of Bross

The pitching of Chunichi Dragons right-hander Mel Bunch during the first six weeks of this season reminds me of the way Terry Bross was throwing for the Yakult Swallows during the second half of 1995. If you were here then, you may recall Bross, also in his first year in Japan, posted a 5-5 record through July, then was unbeatable following the All-Star break.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Apr 30, 2000

Lotte closer Warren can't get a game in

Perhaps the most frustrated player in Japan pro baseball at present is Chiba Lotte Marines relief ace Brian Warren. With the team off to such a bad start in the 2000 Pacific League pennant race, Warren can't get into many games. As the team's closer, he's been extremely underworked, because Lotte has seldom had a lead, and there just has not been any closing to do.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Apr 23, 2000

Battlin' Battle just can't stop winning

Hanshin Tigers third baseman Howard Battle began the 2000 Japan pro baseball season on a 15-game winning streak, and team manager Katsuya Nomura is probably wondering why he sent the former Atlanta Braves player to the farm team following the spring exhibition schedule.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Apr 9, 2000

BayStars' Rose picks right up where he left off with hot bat

How about that start by Yokohama BayStars cleanup hitter Bobby Rose? In the 'Stars first six games of the season, five of which they won, Rose went 14-for-21, belted four home runs, including a grand slam, drove in 12, scored nine, hit four doubles and compiled a .667 batting average, .750 on-base percentage and 1.429 slugging average.

BASEBALL / MLB

Mar 24, 2000

Cubs, Mets set to make history in Japan

Sports history will be made next Wednesday and Thursday when the first official Major League Baseball games ever to be played outside North America will take place right here in Japan. The New York Mets and Chicago Cubs will square off at the Tokyo Dome to open the Year 2000 National League championship season, and it is a hot ticket.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Mar 12, 2000

New Fighters skipper Oshima faces foreign slugger dilemma

Nippon Ham Fighters freshman manager Yasunori Oshima will be faced with a dilemma of sorts when the 2000 Pacific League baseball season begins April 1. He's got three quality foreign hitters but, once the exhibition schedule comes to an end, he'll only be able to play two of them. Japanese baseball rules being what they are, only two foreign position players and two foreign pitchers may be registered at a time on each team's varsity roster.

BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN

Feb 13, 2000

Hey Rockhead, it's time to say it like you mean it

Being from the New York area (northern New Jersey, actually) and a bona-fide Mets fan, I think I'll enter the John Rocker controversy here. This situation is basically on hold after the Atlanta Braves ace relief pitcher testified this past week at a hearing where he appealed a three-month suspension for his racist and homophobic comments about New York in that Sports Illustrated magazine article in December. You know the story, and you know what Rocker said, even if you have not read the entire interview.

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[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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