The Feb. 27 edition of the Nikkan Sports Japanese language newspaper carried a front-page banner headline, complete with blaring blue, yellow and red kanji characters featuring the names of major league superstars Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. Photos of the two sluggers were included on Page 1 as well. So, what was the news?

Did Piazza and Griffey say they want to play ball in Japan some day? Are the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds going to play regular season games in Japan? Was there a trade between the two National League teams, that would send Mike the masked man to Cincy and Junior to the Big Apple?

Nope. None of the above. In fact, the story had nothing to do with Piazza or Griffey. Rather, it was speculation the Yomiuri Giants are about to sign a foreign position player to take the place of Domingo Martinez who was released over the winter. One of the leading candidates on the Giants shopping list is said to be outfielder Butch Huskey, a former big-league fence buster who spent the 2001 season in the minor leagues.

So, what's the connection with Piazza and Griffey? Well, Huskey previously played for the Mets and the Seattle Mariners while KGJ was still there, and he sometimes batted third in the lineup of both clubs. Therefore, the Nikkan Sports headline, translated into rough English, would read something like this: Giants may sign a former major league slugger who previously was a member of the same cleanup trio with Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr.

Man, I'll tell you; the Japanese sports papers sure do some reaching when it comes to imagination and dreaming up their front-page copy. Now you know why the papers are so neatly folded and displayed in the racks at train and subway stations and airport kiosks and in the convenience stores. The headline is always on the right, conspicuously at the top, as the papers are placed in their slots.

How many fans do you think bought the Nikkan that day, curious to see what's up with Piazza and Griffey, only to find out the Giants might -- might -- be considering thinking about contemplating the possibility of maybe -- maybe -- offering a contract to Butch Huskey?

If -- if -- Yomiuri does acquire Big Butch, I'll bet his uniform number will be 42, the one he's worn throughout his seven-year major league career with the Mets, Mariners, Red Sox, Twins and Rockies. That numeral was retired for all the American and National League teams by Commissioner Bud Selig in 1997, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier in 1947, but Selig decreed that any player wearing 42 at that time could keep Robinson's number until his own retirement.

Also, 42 is available on the Giants, now that pitcher Darrell May has left Yomiuri for the Kansas City Royals, and it is one of a handful of numbers Japanese players consider unlucky, along with 4, 9, 44 and 49. In 2001, Huskey played in 122 games for Colorado Springs, the Rockies' Triple-A affiliate, hitting .323 with 19 homers and 87 runs batted in but, for whatever reason, was not recalled to Denver.

Now, lets see if the Giants can get the guy who once batted ahead of Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. and probably sold several copies of the Nikkan Sports on Feb. 27.

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Several fans have asked about the SKY PerfecTV! major league package for the coming season. Once again, the broadcaster will provide one MLB game live per day on weekdays and two games on weekends. The Season Ticket will cost 25,000 yen and includes the regular season schedule and playoffs through the American and National League Championship Series. The Monthly Ticket is 3,000 yen per month and includes the regular season only.

There is also a Seattle Mariners Ticket geared toward Japanese fans who want to watch Ichiro (Suzuki) plus Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shigetoshi Hasegawa for 9,400 yen, and a San Francisco Giants Ticket (Tsuyoshi Shinjo) for 8,500 yen. The full schedule is also expected to be heavy with games of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo and Kazuhisa Ishii), New York Mets (Satoru Komiyama), St. Louis Cardinals (So Taguchi) and Montreal Expos (Masato Yoshii and Tomo Ohka). The full slate of games will be available in mid-March.

For more details or to sign up for one of the packages, call the SKY PerfecTV! Customer Service Center at 0570-039-888. Be patient, and press No. 9 for service in English.

Also in the cable and satellite TV field, there's good news for those frustrated by the fact Tokyo Giants games come on TV here at 7 p.m., an hour into the action, then get cut off at 9:21 p.m., even if the game is still going on. (Hey, that's everyone, isn't it?)

NTVs G+ Sports & News channel will televise all the Yomiuri home games from "Play Ball" until "Shiai Shuryo" (The Ball Game is Over). Actually, they'll come on before the game even starts, catching part of pre-game practice and giving the announcer a chance to set the scene and introduce the starting lineups in a leisurely fashion as they should be delivered, rather than hastily mumbled and squeezed in between a sacrifice bunt and a timely two-base hit in the bottom of the third inning. For more information, call in Japanese to 0570-001-012 any day of the week, between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

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Finally, this week, it's that time again. My next Baseball Bullet-In on March 20 will be the annual fans prediction column. As usual, I'm inviting fans to send in your picks for the order of standings for the Central and Pacific Leagues for the coming season. If you would like to participate, send me your choices for the order of standing, one through six, in each league. Be sure to include your name and the town where you live. Send them by fax to (0422) 21-9342 or e-mail to [email protected] by midnight on Saturday, March 16.