Is is common for Japanese baseball to be played on all dirt infields? Or in the case of some of those pics, all mud infields? Looks like true hops would be few and far between on those fields

Actually, when I was living there in 2003, all the baseball fields in my town had dirt infields and outfields. The public soccer fields were the same way. Japan is generally more resource-conscious than North Americans and that is reflected in choosing not to use a lot of water on grass sports fields. Even NPB (Japanese Major League) teams play on dirt infields. All the stadia in Japan except for Yokohama also use artificial turf outfields.

REGARDING THE BLACK FIVES MERCHANDISE:

Thanks, Nick!

PS – The end of my original response was cut off and this system won’t allow me to post it for some reason …

USA soccer uni’s look pretty dang sweet in this combo!

Also, thanks for chiming in, Claude. I almost want to shell out for some Black Five Forces (love that liner).

Thanks. The liner is inspired by old-school basketball knee pads.

Claude, great job on the Black Fives gear! I want to do something like that for old Japanese baseball jerseys — there are some real classics out there!

Thanks. You should definitely do the Japanese classic jerseys, if you can get the rights. Create a niche!

First, it is a VERY GOOD THING that Claude Johnson and his company, THE BLACK FIVES, has made the effort at producing jerseys of older basketball teams that would not have been available to anyone without his efforts. The items offered by his company expand and make available jerseys, jackets, and other items that would not be available to anyone if not made by his company. Further, in making these items available he offers detailed histories of the teams, players and era that would not be readily available anywhere else but for his efforts.

Second, while I too would like Throwback jerseys and other items made available in authentic, historically accurate materials, such as real durene jerseys, the fact is that it is too onerous to expect this from each company that makes these items. In fact, I am very willing to cut slack on a smaller company, like Black Fives -who in some cases makes a “run” of only 12 jerseys for a particular team – and are much more affordable, when their materials are no worse than the pathetic efforts of the much the larger Mitchell & Ness when it comes to football jersey materials, at $300.00 plus a jersey with hundreds manufactured !!! Just look at the pathetic AFL Chargers/Altworth jerseys put out by M&N in poly knit materials – they easily could have done it right and cheaply chose not to.

Third and lastly, the founder of Black Fives found a passion, early African American basketball history, and stepped up to try to spread the word as well as the fashion. So its not perfect, What is. The guy is a real Mensch for making the effort. When one of US hits the Lottery and still sells cheap stuff, then you can complain.

SPEAKING OF HISTORY, I’m in a sporting goods store in New Orleans looking at jerseys. a young rapper type is in the store with his posse and is buying jerseys, holding a wad of bills of at least $5,000.00. I am near him when he points up to a St. Louis Stars baseball jersey, and he asks out loud where it is from. I say to him that it was from the Negro Leagues, and I immediately offend the posse, who surround me while Mr. $5,000.00 gets in my face ready to throw down, all offended.

It took my explaining for five minutes and three employees agreeing with me to convince them that there actually was a real baseball league referred to as the “Negro Leagues” and that I was not trying to make it up just to use the word “Negro” out loud to “dis” him.

Amateur teams also sport some nice uniforms — they really go all out with the quality.

One is the one mentioned before: Koshien Stadium, home to the big high school tournament as well as the home to the Hanshin Tigers.

Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, home of the Carp, also has an all-dirt infield.

Koshien keeps the field as all dirt mainly because of tradition. Since Japan gets a lot of rain, it was easier to get a field to drain if it didn’t have grass. And it was also cheaper to maintain. Nearly every Japanese stadium had all dirt fields until the 1970s when artificial turf hit the scene and most fields in Japan have it. At Koshien and Hiroshima, there is a fairly long break midway through the game when the grounds crew comes out and really reworks the field. The dirt at Koshien is a big deal and the high school players in the tournament will take home samples of the dirt.

Only Koshien and Hiroshima Municipal have grass now.

The Nippon Ham Fighters play in the Sapporo Dome, which has a retractable field. The baseball team plays on artifical turf, but when the local soccer team plays, a big field of grass is rolled in and the stadium is reconfigured.

Until 2004, the home stadium for the Orix Blue Wave in Kobe had a grass field that resembled a North American field. But then Orix merged with the Kintetsu Buffaloes and became the Orix Buffaloes and now play in the rather unattractive Kyocera Dome in Osaka.

Minna H. said:

David said:

On a unrelated note, on ESPN I’ve noticed an ad for ESPN Fantasy Baseball. Featuring John Kruk and Peter Gammons singing in a rock band. But I noticed that John Kruk was covered in tattoos, I had no idea he had any. Unless he got them for the comericial. Anyone got any info on this one?

David, can you link to this ad or tell me how to find it (or anybody else who has seen it)? I am sure it’s totally obvious, but I am brain-fried today.

Teebz, I have no female friends who have the slightest interest in sports, let alone unis. That’s why I post here!

Here you go! Enjoy.

http://youtube.com/w...

I’m still confused if they are fake or real. If we could get a photo of Kruky with shortselves on we could figure it out.

David, thanks for the link. I am 99.9% sure the tats are part of a shirt. I couldn’t find a pic of Kruk with tats, and I think there would be at least one floating around the ‘net if he had them.

MetsfanAZ, good point about knowing your history. I wanted to say something about getting attention from people who know what the shirt is about, but you phrased it much better than I could have.

Re: stickers/academic patches, etc. I don’t like any of them, but I don’t find the academic ones any more bothersome than the helmet decals. I would say get rid of them all or let it ride as is.