Randy Bass and Alex Ramirez are Inducted Into Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
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In a move without precedent in Japan’s long baseball history, players from Oklahoma and Venezuela were inducted into the country’s Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. For the inductees, Randy Bass and Alex Ramirez, the event was yet another in a long line of opportunities to exceed all expectations for players from the Americas in Nippon Professional Baseball. Bass, famous in Japan for his blondish beard and back-to-back triple crowns, led the Hanshin Tigers to the franchise’s only championship in 1985. Ramirez, who struggled to get playing time in Major League Baseball, is the only foreigner to attain 2,000 hits in an N.P.B. career, reaching the coveted milestone in 2013 with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. “The Japanese Hall of Fame was never on my radar growing up in that little town of Lawton, Oklahoma,” said Bass, who played only six seasons in N.P.B. but made an indelible mark on the game there. “I’m just grateful to the Hanshin organization that despite the way it ended, ...
