It is obvious Japanese baseball is changing. It was not all that long ago when such terms as free agency, posting, expansion, inter-league games and post-season playoffs were unheard of. Now, everyone here knows them.

For me, one of the more dramatic changes in the game here has been the acceptance of the foreign managers. Think about it. Bobby Valentine of the Chiba Lotte Marines and Trey Hillman of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters are each entering their third season as field boss of their respective teams and, unlike the situation of 25-30 years ago, there is no air of anxiety or doubt that everything can run smoothly.

Compared with what happened here in the past with American managers, this is a situation which clearly reflects the changing times. There used to be two questions that came to mind every time a Japanese team hired an American manager: Will he make it through Golden Week (April 29-May 5) of his first season? And what will be his undoing: his team's owner, the Japanese media, the umpires, back-stabbing by his own jealous coaches or just a general frustration because of the language barrier and other such problems?