When J.R. Sakuragi — well, he was known as J.R. Henderson at the time — was initially asked if he wanted to come play in Japan he turned it down, saying he didn’t “know anything about” the country.
He changed his mind once he realized how eager the Japanese team, the Aisin SeaHorses, was to sign him. So he came to Japan, where he would play for the next two decades.
“Coach (Kimikazu) Suzuki, he had already went to my college, UCLA, and asked about me and did some research about me,” Sakuragi, 43, told The Japan Times in an exclusive interview late last month, a few weeks after he announced his retirement. “And he said a lot of great things about me, so I just came and observed Japan, and started (playing the) next year.