Just An Ocean Away

What began as a national pastime has become an international game. Teams around the league are widening their focus to include overseas prospects. And as more and more of these foreign development programs discover untapped potential in international talent, international leagues are becoming more credible. The Padres have long been scouring foreign lands for their talent and before Friday’s game one of the greatest Padres’ Japanese talents returned to his stadium. Akinori Otsuka was a Padres’ relief pitcher from 2003 to 2006 before being traded to the Texas Rangers, along with pitcher Adam Eaton, and minor league catcher Billy Killian, for Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez (now having an All-Star season with the Boston Red Sox after his trade during the past off-season), and outfielder Terrmel Sledge.

Trevor Hoffman 1995 Signature Card

Japanese Baseball Card Menko 1976

Otsuka was born in Chiba, Japan and played in the Japanese League with the Chunichi Dragons before his career to the US. Before the game I got a chance to catch up with Aki and discuss a pillar of any baseball fan’s memorabilia: the baseball card. In Japan the cards are completely different than the ones found here in the US. The Japanese cards are cartoonish, depicting caricatures of the players as opposed to the real still-life photos found in American cards. And while American cards are always found in the typical rectangular shape, Japanese cards vary in shape and size. Some cards came looking like masks with holes punched out for eyes, some were circular, and some were the size of a stick of gum. But one thing that transcends the differences across the ocean is the magnetic draw of the cards for children of all ages. Aki remembers going to the store every single day after school and buying a bag of what would be equivalent to potato chips here in the US, for thirty cents and excitedly opening it to see what card would be inside.

“My favorite card to get was Sadaharu Oh,” Otsuka tells me with a grin. “He had 868 homeruns and he was the general manager of the 2006 Baseball World Classic Team, where I was the closer.”

When I asked him what it was like to work under the man he had admired so much throughout his young life, his broken English turned into the star-struck speech of every child with a hero.

“It was everything I could imagine. When he came out of the tunnel and I was right there, it was just…” his sparkling eyes and Cheshire grin said more than words ever could.