A most American pastime is breathing life into rural Hokkaido.
In the sleepy dairy town of Betsukai, residents of all ages gather at the local stadium to cheer on the Pilot Spirits, their hometown professional baseball team. Between turns at the plate, the crowd roars and drums echo across the surrounding fields. People come out, rain or shine, to drink beer and chant players’ names.
This year, five newcomers have flown in from afar to enter the fray of Hokkaido’s newest baseball league. And this fresh blood has energized Betsukai, where the population of 14,000 is far outnumbered by 100,000 cows.
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits are coached by Mitsuru Honma, 53, a 15-season Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) veteran who was a member of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) when they won the Japan Series in 1999 and 2003.
Honma is among the many extending a warm welcome to these players from around the world, who have come to Betsukai for love of the game.
For Roman Guthrie, 25, of Vancouver and Scott Bellina, 29, of New York, Japan is the latest stop in their burgeoning journeyman careers. Guthrie and Bellina both played in Europe with teams in Austria and Germany, respectively.
In 2024, they joined the Japan Winter League, held in Okinawa, where they met future Pilot Spirits teammates Dan Frey, 26, of Boston, and Leo Jiminian, 26, of Saint-Lo, France. The Winter League is a platform for teams such as those from Betsukai or Ishikari to scout foreign players.
The final member of the group is Yuta Yamanaka, a 19-year-old Japanese national who grew up in Sydney and joined Betsukai following his high school graduation.
“Living in a small town provides a unique experience as you see the shock from the locals to see new faces in town,” says Guthrie. “They love to see us.”
“A small town like Betsukai is peaceful, with a tight-knit community that makes it easy to feel connected,” adds Bellina.
New frontiers
In 2024, the Pilot Spirits joined the Hokkaido Frontier League, an independent professional league established two years prior with the goal of bringing fresh energy to rural Hokkaido.
The Frontier League operates with regional revitalization in mind. Players are offered dormitory housing and the Japanese members of the team are even encouraged to work for local companies.
Some hold part-time jobs at gas stations or nursing homes, while others work at sponsor companies or for the city itself — all of it a collective effort to support towns with waning populations. After their baseball contracts are fulfilled, there are further incentives for the players to remain in the community.
The Hokkaido Frontier League was formed when three teams from Bibai, Ishikari and Shibetsu split from the Hokkaido Baseball League, established in 2020. The separation centered on a dispute over when the original league would join the Independent Professional Baseball League, which currently counts 29 teams from six leagues across Japan.
With Betsukai joining, the Hokkaido Frontier League now has four teams that take to the diamond from July to September, drawing enthusiastic fan bases that often accompany them on road trips.
In August, an all-star game was held at Es Con Field Hokkaido in Kitahiroshima, home to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, the northern island's only NPB team. The all-stars were decided by a fan-voted roster combining players from Ishikari and Betsukai to challenge Bibai and Shibetsu.
Like their domestic teammates, Betsukai’s overseas talents receive dormitory housing and a small stipend. It's not uncommon to see them in full uniform promoting the team at the local supermarket or festivals, drawing the attention of fans of all ages. “At the end of the day, we’re all role models,” says Yamanaka. “The kids here look up to us.”
Outside of baseball, the five enjoy exploring the region in their team van, road tripping across the vast Hokkaido landscape to fish or find new places to eat.
After every home game, win or lose, the players will line up to high-five and greet all of the departing fans. Kids mill around the dugout, waiting to snag autographs on baseballs and collectible cards.
When the team travels for away games, they often stay in the local community center. “We all sleep on the floor, we cook together. It's fun,” says Frey. “Our fans travel too — the fans are amazing. They're drumming, they're singing, chanting.”
“Some fans will make homemade towels or posters of us, or a fan (will have) our jersey number on, which is always awesome,” says Guthrie.
While the language of adoration proves universal, there is indeed a language barrier between coaching staff and non-Japanese players. Yamanaka, who speaks Japanese, helps interpret between the players and their coach, Honma.
“He’s tough — one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” says Yamanaka. “And he pushes me like no other.”
“The way (the foreign players) throw themselves into baseball — I honestly think it’s something even Japanese players should learn from,” says Honma. “They play with such aggressive energy that you can feel how much they’re genuinely enjoying the game.” Beyond the diamond, the coach says they have also shown a positive attitude and eagerness to integrate themselves into the community.
Global game, local flavor
For Betsukai’s overseas sluggers, adjusting to the domestic game has brought with it a fresh understanding of baseball. With contracts only lasting one season, the players hope to carry a newfound skillset as they continue to advance their careers.
“I like Japanese baseball,” says Jiminian. “It's more structured — not more rules, but more strict. ... They're just trying to play the game here and score runs, and don’t care for the unwritten rules.”
“In the States, it's very much a strength game,” adds Frey. “You’re always trying to overpower the other team, whether that's through home runs or strikeouts. The MLB is a home-run, strikeout league.
“I think Japanese baseball is awesome. It's a faster, quicker game where you don’t need as much pure strength or power. ... It’s a disciplined game.”
Guthrie had coached several Japanese players when living in Austria, and it was this experience that inspired him to make the jump to Japan. “It’s nonstop,” he says admiringly of his teammates’ work ethic. “My body is exhausted after practice, and to watch them (continue for an extra hour or two) is incredible.”
When it comes to game time, Guthrie notes the scores in Japanese baseball trend lower, with less focus on swinging for the fences and more subterfuge. In Japan, there are more uncommon styles of play, such as submarine pitchers who deliver the ball lower to the ground in order to throw off the batter.
“I’ve seen more submarine pitches in these months here than I did in my whole life in America,” Guthrie says.
Following this yearlong stint in Betsukai, Yamanaka aims to work on his game in the hopes of joining a more competitive league.
For Guthrie, the road remains wide open. “I want to ... use all the knowledge I’ve learned here to go abroad elsewhere or to coach back home,” he says.
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