If you happened to see any of the Red Sox home games of this year’s World Series, your eyes were no doubt drawn to two sets of handheld circular signs in the crowd behind home plate. Some loyal fan has brought these signs to nearly every game at Fenway Park this year, although their meaning is a mystery to most American fans. One pair of signs is colored highlighter yellow and the other highlighter pink, and they both carry the same (Japanese) message: The front side says 三振 (sanshin), meaning “strikeout,” and it is hoisted proudly in the air whenever any Red Sox pitcher records a K (K being the equally mysterious American symbol for “strikeout”). The signs’ reverse side says 上原, the family name of the star Red Sox closer and ALCS MVP, Koji Uehara.
And why are these foreign logographs being hoisted upon the American subconscious? Because Koji Uehara has become the latest household name among Japanese baseball players, winning the American League Championship Series MVP Award and closing out games for the Red Sox’ World Series title. At 38 (that’s about 70 in baseball years), Koji has a new-found celebrity status, earning his success with split-finger fastballs and a sense of humor that really translates.
An Unlikely Star
Uehara didn’t spring from the womb a baseball player like many of Japan’s greatest players. He never played in the mega-popular Koshien high school baseball tournament, and he initially failed his university entrance exams. After a year of studying and working as a security guard, Uehara finally entered the Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences, not exactly a baseball powerhouse. At this point, Uehara aspired to be a P.E. teacher, so he put on some bulk and joined the college baseball team, which was so casual that the manager told players to pick whichever position they liked best and stick to it. It was at that point that Uehara, previously an outfielder, decided to become a pitcher. Only a few years later, he would turn down a contract offer from the Anaheim Angels to join Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants, Japan’s marquis baseball team.
It’s not hard to see why a Major League team would look to sign Uehara. With the Yomiuri Giants, Koji won the Rookie of the Year and two Eiji Sawamura Awards (the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award, given to the best pitcher in his league each year). Uehara had tremendous success as a starting pitcher, but after an injury in 2006, he transitioned spectacularly to the closer role, finishing 2007 with a 1.74 ERA, 32 saves, and only 4 walks. Combining that with terrific play in the 2006 World Baseball Classic for Team Japan and one game in 2002 in which he struck out Barry Bonds three times, it’s no wonder why MLB teams were closely watching him.
But the Yomiuri Giants refused to sell Uehara via the “posting” system, in which Japanese players under contract are sold at blind auction to American Major League teams. While Daisuke Matsuzaka got to enjoy the American limelight, Uehara was stuck in Japan, waiting for his contract to run out. It finally would in 2008.
Major Leaguer
Uehara with the Orioles, perhaps one of the finest examples of an Asian with facial hair.
By the time he reached America, Uehara was already showing the signs of an aging baseball player. He was 34 years old and picked up injury after injury in his first year with the Baltimore Orioles. Initially, he had asked to be a starter, but after injuries sidelined him for much of 2009, he resigned himself to a bullpen position. He was still a great pitcher–striking out 11 per nine innings pitched in 2010–but aches and injuries plagued him, a common symptom of Japanese pitchers who throw many more innings than players in America, wearing out their arms.
In 2011, Koji was traded to the Texas Rangers for Tommy Hunter and the then-disappointing, now-spectacular slugger Chris Davis. There he was, incredibly, reunited with his high school teammate Yoshinori Tateyama, who had been the ace pitcher of their team while Koji was an outfielder. Uehara pitched well with the Rangers, but again only in limited work, pitching only 36 innings for the team in 2012.
In December of that year, Uehara signed with the Boston Red Sox, and he became their closer after two of his fellow relievers were injured and he was all that was left. Finally, Uehara was healthy for an entire year in the Major Leagues, and he shined, becoming one of the team’s greatest assets and suddenly a star.
Funnyman
Japanese players are typically quiet, reserved, and solitary when they come to the Major Leagues. This is partly due to Japan’s baseball culture of hard work and stern professionalism, but mostly Japanese players keep to themselves because it’s hard to make friends through a translator. Uehara speaks through a translator as well, but his Kansai sense of humor comes through nonetheless, and he has developed a reputation as “the life of the party.”
“He’s one of the coolest people I ever met,” Red Sox teammate Drake Britton said. Set-up man Craig Breslow agreed, saying “I don’t think guys think of him as someone who has come over from another continent. They think of him as one of the guys.” To get around his difficulty with the language, Uehara does exaggerated physical impressions of teammates and former teammates, such as an apparently popular one of Baltimore Orioles closer Jim Johnson. He has also developed a style of pithy humor that’s popular in the clubhouse. Breslow explains, saying “He doesn’t have the opportunity — because he doesn’t speak the language clear enough — to try to build up jokes. His one-liners are quite a bit more poignant because there’s not this setup and kind of ‘Let’s get to the punchline.’ Every time he opens his mouth, it’s a punchline. He’s got a great sense of humor.”
His humor isn’t reserved solely for the clubhouse, either. Uehara recently joked to the press about the mysticism they applied to Japanese former Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. Much of the initial excitement over Dice-K coming to America revolved around his mysterious new pitch, the “gyroball.” “I don’t think anybody believed that,” Uehara said, expressing disbelief over the American sports media’s gullibility. “The Japanese people are clever,” he said, laughing, “they never believed that.” After receiving his ALCS MVP award and being asked the standard empty question about how it felt pitching in such a big game, Uehara replied “I thought I was going to throw up.” Then there are, of course, his giant, comical over-the-shoulder bear hugs with David Ortiz after Red Sox wins, which always get played at the end of the highlight reel. On his blog, Uehara mused on these hugs, saying “Am I that light? Or maybe it’s that Papi is too strong. [A photo of the hug] was in US newspapers the day after the game. This made me really happy.’’
Postseason Superhero
Koji Uehara has had a very good career, from his two Sawamura awards to his 14/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with Texas last year. But this year, and especially this postseason has been something different. Uehara had a 1.09 ERA in the regular season. He threw 74 innings, more than he ever had in America, at the age of 38, and only gave up 9 runs all year. Uehara also tied the record for saves in a single postseason with 7. Uehara is closing games out for the Red Sox as reliably as one could possibly hope. His sole mistake in the playoffs, a walkoff homer given up to Jose Lobaton of the Rays, seems like it happened years ago. His latest, most famous achievement came in Game 4, when Uehara picked off Kolten Wong to end the game, the first ever playoff game to end with a pick-off play. It is this dominance that has made Koji Uehara into an overnight sensation and has made the fans put his name on those sanshin signs at Fenway, as they flip from saying “strikeout” to telling us who threw it.
While Koji Uehara may be America’s current Japanese baseball hero, there are many more Japanese players who have etched themselves into MLB history. Of course you have Ichiro, Dice-K, Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui, Nomo, and plenty more. Who’s your favorite Japanese baseball player to come stateside (or who’s still in Japan). Surely the next big thing from the land of the rising sun is yet to come, don’t you think?
Sources:
The New Yorker – Koji Uehara: The Boston Red Sox’s Brilliant Closer
Providence Journal – Uehara is Life of Sox Party
ESPNBoston.com – Koji Uehara’s Unusual Journey
Boston Globe – Translating Koji Uehara’s Blog
NESN.com – Koji Uehara Once Wanted to Be High School Phys. Ed. Teacher
Baseball-Reference.com – Koji Uehara Statistics and History