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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
Jan 30, 2000
More Japanese baseball games on the horizon?
Japanese sports papers are saying the Central and Pacific Leagues are thinking of expanding their season schedules to 140 games in 2001, and the PL is considering re-adopting its split-season format used between 1975 and 1982. If they follow through, it will be the most games played by the teams here since 1965, when the number was reduced from 140 to 130. The schedule was increased to 135 games in 1997. I, for one, would welcome the boost to 140 games, which would still be 22 fewer than played in the major leagues. But, frankly, I don't care for the split-season, spring-summer pennant race idea. June is just not pennant-clinching season, and it seems to me the team that wins the first half becomes complacent in July, August and September. But if the first-half winner does stay hot, you have a chance of the same club winning both legs -- and there's no playoff.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 16, 2000
Dragons getting the real thing in Nilsson
The Central League's Chunichi Dragons have signed free-agent ex-Milwaukee Brewers catcher and bona fide major-leaguer Dave Nilsson, and Dragons manager Senichi Hoshino couldn't be happier. Having lost out to the rival Tokyo Yomiuri Giants for the services of Japanese free-agents Akira Eto and Kimiyasu Kudo, the Drags took some of the money they would've spent signing those two and bagged a biggie.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 3, 2000
Bad predictions ring out 1999; New Year to see games in Nagano
Apparently, my ability to predict where Japanese free agent ballplayers would sign new contracts is no better than my infamous skill at picking pennant winners. You may recall in the Nov. 21 Baseball Bullet-In, I speculated on which teams the three high-profile Japanese free agents would eventually sign contracts with for the 2000 season. Missed them all: O-for-3.

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