Posted by japanstats on 2009 April 3日 Friday
I’m sure many people noticed this, but some WBC uniforms are alarmingly similar to MLB uniforms. Guess that’s template at work (and lack of creative colour schemes due to flag colours, though not every nation adheres to their flag stripes). Anyways, without further ado, here they are:
Australia

South Africa

It was difficult to tell them apart on quick glance, especially since they played in the same pool in Mexico City.

Oakland Athletics


Different font, obviously, but pretty similar otherwise.
Canada (home)

LAnaheim Angels

Canada has the faux vest thing going.
Canada (away)

Arizona Diamondbacks

Reverse the font colouring, and you’re basically there.
Dominican Republic


Future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez pitching for his homeland, earning a job with the Mets in the process.
Texas Rangers


There’s that annoying underarm panel in many WBC jerseys, and the helmet bill’s different colour, but otherwise…
Italy

LA Dodgers

(Immortal Manny at work)
Obviously. Was this done because of the Piazza-Lasorda connection from the first WBC?
Netherlands (the Cinderella!)

Baltimore Orioles

Cap colours need to be reversed, and MLB teams seem to be fond of cursive fonts while WBC unis tend to use block fonts.
Now for the more far fetched connections after this jump
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Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, MLB, opinion, random | Tagged: 2008, 2009, anaheim, angels, arizona, aston, athletics, atlanta, australia, baltimore, beijing, braves, buffaloes, canada, china, cuba, dbacks, diamondbacks, dodgers, dominican republic, holland, italy, Japan, jerseys, kintetsu, korea, lions, los angeles, mexico, netherlands, oakland, orioles, puerto rico, rangers, saitama, seibu, shidax, SK, south africa, taiwan, texas, uniforms, USA, venezuela, villa, wbc, wyverns | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 February 6日 Friday
Kenshin Kawakami was ranked #5 and Koji Uehara was ranked #18 in the top 100 names to watch for in the upcoming MLB season, according to USA Today. No new info here, and the writers are probably working just on info off sites like NPBTracker, EWC, and JapaneseBaseball, with doses of scouting input, maybe. Well, since they’re new mid-rotation projected starting pitchers, they should be interesting no matter how they turn out. Uehara’s had a better record considering the park factors between the hitter friendly Tokyo Dome, and more of a pitchers park of the Nagoya Dome, but Uehara’s fragile. I doubt that either pitcher will be able to handle the every 5th day rotation, and will face some injuries/fatigue midseason (a la Matsuzaka in his first year.)
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, MLB, NPB, opinion, Sabermetrics, tokyo | Tagged: atlanta, baltimore, braves, chunichi, dome, dragons, giants, kawakami, kenhin, koji, nagoya, orioles, uehara, yomiuri | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2008 January 10日 Thursday
Japan’s homerun king Sadaharu Oh’s milestone homeruns on YouTube. The early Japanese camera angles make it difficult to see his funky stance and step in the batter’s box until near the end of the clip when we reach more modern times.

Oh vs Hammerin’ Hank homerun derby highlights. Aaron won it 4-2, Hank makes ’em look easier. Oh translates to a 500+ HR hitter in the majors when taking league competition and park effects into account. A Hall of Fame calibre career in any league.

Posted in 02_English, baseball, MLB, NPB, opinion | Tagged: braves, giants, hank aaron, homerun contest, Japan, korakuen, sadaharu oh | 2 Comments »