A Dream Come True
HANOVER-Katsuhiko Suzuki spent only one year in Hanover as a Tuck School student in 1968-69.
But he vowed that one day he would return.
It took him 15 years.
Suzuki went back to his native. Japan after graduation to take job with Mobil.Five years later Katz, as he likes to be called, moved 20 miles east from Tokyo to chiba, a newly formed condominium community built on reclaimed land from Tokyo Bay.
Chiba quickly became a city of 76,000 and Suzuki recognized a need.
“No one knew each other at that time, so I thought I would start a baseball team,”said Suzuki, who played first base at Nagoya, the Japanese national univerusity.
“There were no organized sports programs for children. I learned the spirit of community cooperation and the frontier spirit while I was at Dartmouth and I thought I could be of some help to the children if I organized a baseball team for them. It is only one of the areas of our community involvement.”
When Suzuki formed his group in 1974,he remembered the spirit that he had felt at Dartmouth, one which he hoped to recreate for the young sters of his community. Suzuki chose to name his organization the Saiwai-Cho(a town within Chiba) Little Indians in honor of the Dartmouth symbol.
He felt that the symbol embodied the philosophy of his team:
To develop strong spirit and body in practicing and playing games.
To promote independence through recycling and paper drives.
To devote oneself to the community and promote community activities.
To love and ensure nature by giving care to plants.
To make friends throughout the world.
“The time he spent here gave him the impetus to start the team, ”said Fred Salvatoriello, Sr. of Hanover. “It reflects the quality of life we share. This is a special place.”
“It is a sacred place,” corrected Suzuki. “Just ask any Dartmouth man.”
Ironically,while Suzuki was honoring his former school and its symbol, Dartmouth was doing away with the Indian. It took five more years before Suzuki would hear of this development, and it was an historic occasion in more ways than one.
Suzuki arranged for the Little Indians to introduce baseball to China in 1979.“The Chinese at the time thought it was a typical capitalist sport. Now its very popular,” he said.
A sightseeing tour in China brought Suzuki his first knowledge of the change at Dartmouth.
“At the Great Wall I met a Dartmouth grad and he told me that they no longer use the name in Hanover, so I am a little sensitive about the name of the team,” Suzuki said. “But we had built the whole team around it, with the green uniforms and I said ‘we can't take it back.'
“Everyone here (in America) is so confident.The spirit and concept are very important and I applied that to the team. The concept can be independent and it reflects the spirit. The boys are proud of the name because they believe the Indian is strong and brave and can run fast in the forests and mountains.”
The success of the China trip promted Suzuki to ask his team to become even more dedicated, in hopes of bringing Nanshiki baseball to America. The Little Indians responded, having collected over 440-metric tons of newspaper and 250,000 empty cans.
On Monday, Suzuki returned to Hanover in triumph.
“It took 15 years, but my dream has come true,”said beaming Suzuki.
-Jim Needham
The Universal Game
Little Indians Show Hosts Baeball, Japanese-Style
by JIM NEEDHAM
Valley News Writer
HANOVER-Kazu Nishida is a typical Little Leaguer with typical Little League dreams.
The 12-year-old wants to follow in the footsteps of his favorite ballplayer and some day play in the big leagues.
There is just one thing that sets Nishida apart from his contemporaries in the Upper Valley. HIs favorite major leaguer is Sadaharu Oh, the slugger who broke Hank Aaron's career home run mark. And the big leagues he dreams about are in Japan.
Nishida is the catcher and captain of the Sai-Waicho Indians, a Little League team from Chiba, Japan which has come to Hanover to play a series of games with teams from Hanover, Norwich, Canaan and Enfield.
All the Japanese players are staying with families in the Hanover area, and none of them speak more than a few words of English, Nishida is the guest of the David Butler family in Hanover, and host John Butler has found a universal language he shares with his Japanese friend: baseball.
“ We’ve mostly been throwing in the backyard,” said Butler, a shortstop on the Hanover team. “He's been using this new ball (the Nanshiki) that we're going to play with for five years and he's trying to help me get the feeling of it.
“Last night we just watched television and had a few sodas. They don't have a TV and he likes to watch it whenever he get's the chance. And when it comes to Atari, forget it. He's really good.
“It's been really fun having him. It's neat to feel like he's a part of the family and from a different country and all.”
Yesterday, the Indians played a double-header against Norwich and Hanover, winning both games in a rout. The Japanese showed an excellent understanding of baseball fundamentals, a strong team spirit, and outstanding pitching.
They also brought their own umpires and their own baseballs.
The Indians play Nanshiki baseball using a ball of the same name. Nanshii was developed in Japan in the 1920s as an inexpensive alternative to baseball. The balls are two layers of one-eighth inch rubber and are air filled, making for some starting hops and erratic spins.
The cost of Nanshiki baseball is one-quarter that of a hardball because less equipment is needed (the impact is like that of a tennis ball) and the balls rarely wear out and are much cheaper to make.
In addition, Nanshiki reduces injuries significantly. Batted balls and inside pitches are no longer shied away from and injuries to tender young arms are almost eliminated.
The balls come in four sizes and are gradually increased in size with the growth of the players. Otherwise the rules are the same. Baseball is the number one sport in HJapan with 10 million participants - 90 percent of them play Nanshiki.
While the arguments in favor of Nanshiki make a lot of sense, particularly for young players, the Hanover and Norwich teams could make little sense of the ball yesterday, after having used it for only one practice.
“I don't like it,” said Butler. “It bounces too much. And you have to hit it squarely - dead center - to get it sailing.”
Anyone who has ever played stickball in their youth can get a sense of Butler's frustration. The most common hit yesterday was a wildly spinning popup in the infield.
Pitching the ball isn't much easier without practice, either. The ball used was about an inch smaller in circumference than a baseball and the American pitchers'
control suffered greatly.
“It's weird,” said Fred Salvatoriello, Jr., who was Hanover's starting pitcher. “It goes faster, but it's much harder to handle, like a tennis ball. It doesn't seem to move as much as a baseball, but it moves in some weird ways. I prefer the ball we use. And the ump hasn't helped at all today.”
Complaining about umpiring is one American tradition that hasn't made its way across, the Pacific. The japanese umpires were always in full control yesterday. Each Japanese hitter made a small bow in the umpire's direction before getting in the box.
After being called out on a close strike, an Indian player never grimaced, but ran back to the bench, placed the bat down and picked up his glove.
At the end of the game, the umpire called both teams out and had them line up facing each other with their hats off. The teams then shook hands and returned to their spots as the umpire bowed to each team, saying “Thank you, thank you very much .” The brightest moment of the first game occurred when Kohji Tsubokura was inserted at second base in the fourth inning. Tsubokura was by far the smallest player on the field at 127 centimeters tall (barely four feet). Sitting on the bench his feet never touched the ground. But stature was all that he lacked.
His over -the -shoulder running catch in short right field broughyt loud applause from fans on both sides.
The only other exciting moment was when Kate von Ammon went in to play second base for Norwich in the fifth inning. The Japanese team and fans could hardly contain their curiosity.
“Are girls allowed to play over here? How long have they been able to do this? asked Kohji Arai of the Kyodo News Service, one of two Japanese journalists traveling with the team. “In Japan, girls don't start playing any sports until they are at least 13.
“And even then they aren't as active as here. They might play basketball or volleyball, but never baseball. But things are changing. Many things are changing.”
Before the second game, Fred Salvatoriello, Sr. who had organized the American end of the international series, had arranged a short ceremony.
Both teams lined up along the foul lines and each sang its own national anthem. As the Japanese finished their final words, Salvatoriello invoked another Amercan tradition :“Let's play ball,” he roared.
Both teams let out with a shout. Nobody had any trouble understanding those words.
HANOVER-Katsuhiko Suzuki spent only one year in Hanover as a Tuck School student in 1968-69.
But he vowed that one day he would return.
It took him 15 years.
Suzuki went back to his native. Japan after graduation to take job with Mobil.Five years later Katz, as he likes to be called, moved 20 miles east from Tokyo to chiba, a newly formed condominium community built on reclaimed land from Tokyo Bay.
Chiba quickly became a city of 76,000 and Suzuki recognized a need.
“No one knew each other at that time, so I thought I would start a baseball team,”said Suzuki, who played first base at Nagoya, the Japanese national univerusity.
“There were no organized sports programs for children. I learned the spirit of community cooperation and the frontier spirit while I was at Dartmouth and I thought I could be of some help to the children if I organized a baseball team for them. It is only one of the areas of our community involvement.”
When Suzuki formed his group in 1974,he remembered the spirit that he had felt at Dartmouth, one which he hoped to recreate for the young sters of his community. Suzuki chose to name his organization the Saiwai-Cho(a town within Chiba) Little Indians in honor of the Dartmouth symbol.
He felt that the symbol embodied the philosophy of his team:
To develop strong spirit and body in practicing and playing games.
To promote independence through recycling and paper drives.
To devote oneself to the community and promote community activities.
To love and ensure nature by giving care to plants.
To make friends throughout the world.
“The time he spent here gave him the impetus to start the team, ”said Fred Salvatoriello, Sr. of Hanover. “It reflects the quality of life we share. This is a special place.”
“It is a sacred place,” corrected Suzuki. “Just ask any Dartmouth man.”
Ironically,while Suzuki was honoring his former school and its symbol, Dartmouth was doing away with the Indian. It took five more years before Suzuki would hear of this development, and it was an historic occasion in more ways than one.
Suzuki arranged for the Little Indians to introduce baseball to China in 1979.“The Chinese at the time thought it was a typical capitalist sport. Now its very popular,” he said.
A sightseeing tour in China brought Suzuki his first knowledge of the change at Dartmouth.
“At the Great Wall I met a Dartmouth grad and he told me that they no longer use the name in Hanover, so I am a little sensitive about the name of the team,” Suzuki said. “But we had built the whole team around it, with the green uniforms and I said ‘we can't take it back.'
“Everyone here (in America) is so confident.The spirit and concept are very important and I applied that to the team. The concept can be independent and it reflects the spirit. The boys are proud of the name because they believe the Indian is strong and brave and can run fast in the forests and mountains.”
The success of the China trip promted Suzuki to ask his team to become even more dedicated, in hopes of bringing Nanshiki baseball to America. The Little Indians responded, having collected over 440-metric tons of newspaper and 250,000 empty cans.
On Monday, Suzuki returned to Hanover in triumph.
“It took 15 years, but my dream has come true,”said beaming Suzuki.
-Jim Needham
The Universal Game
Little Indians Show Hosts Baeball, Japanese-Style
by JIM NEEDHAM
Valley News Writer
HANOVER-Kazu Nishida is a typical Little Leaguer with typical Little League dreams.
The 12-year-old wants to follow in the footsteps of his favorite ballplayer and some day play in the big leagues.
There is just one thing that sets Nishida apart from his contemporaries in the Upper Valley. HIs favorite major leaguer is Sadaharu Oh, the slugger who broke Hank Aaron's career home run mark. And the big leagues he dreams about are in Japan.
Nishida is the catcher and captain of the Sai-Waicho Indians, a Little League team from Chiba, Japan which has come to Hanover to play a series of games with teams from Hanover, Norwich, Canaan and Enfield.
All the Japanese players are staying with families in the Hanover area, and none of them speak more than a few words of English, Nishida is the guest of the David Butler family in Hanover, and host John Butler has found a universal language he shares with his Japanese friend: baseball.
“ We’ve mostly been throwing in the backyard,” said Butler, a shortstop on the Hanover team. “He's been using this new ball (the Nanshiki) that we're going to play with for five years and he's trying to help me get the feeling of it.
“Last night we just watched television and had a few sodas. They don't have a TV and he likes to watch it whenever he get's the chance. And when it comes to Atari, forget it. He's really good.
“It's been really fun having him. It's neat to feel like he's a part of the family and from a different country and all.”
Yesterday, the Indians played a double-header against Norwich and Hanover, winning both games in a rout. The Japanese showed an excellent understanding of baseball fundamentals, a strong team spirit, and outstanding pitching.
They also brought their own umpires and their own baseballs.
The Indians play Nanshiki baseball using a ball of the same name. Nanshii was developed in Japan in the 1920s as an inexpensive alternative to baseball. The balls are two layers of one-eighth inch rubber and are air filled, making for some starting hops and erratic spins.
The cost of Nanshiki baseball is one-quarter that of a hardball because less equipment is needed (the impact is like that of a tennis ball) and the balls rarely wear out and are much cheaper to make.
In addition, Nanshiki reduces injuries significantly. Batted balls and inside pitches are no longer shied away from and injuries to tender young arms are almost eliminated.
The balls come in four sizes and are gradually increased in size with the growth of the players. Otherwise the rules are the same. Baseball is the number one sport in HJapan with 10 million participants - 90 percent of them play Nanshiki.
While the arguments in favor of Nanshiki make a lot of sense, particularly for young players, the Hanover and Norwich teams could make little sense of the ball yesterday, after having used it for only one practice.
“I don't like it,” said Butler. “It bounces too much. And you have to hit it squarely - dead center - to get it sailing.”
Anyone who has ever played stickball in their youth can get a sense of Butler's frustration. The most common hit yesterday was a wildly spinning popup in the infield.
Pitching the ball isn't much easier without practice, either. The ball used was about an inch smaller in circumference than a baseball and the American pitchers'
control suffered greatly.
“It's weird,” said Fred Salvatoriello, Jr., who was Hanover's starting pitcher. “It goes faster, but it's much harder to handle, like a tennis ball. It doesn't seem to move as much as a baseball, but it moves in some weird ways. I prefer the ball we use. And the ump hasn't helped at all today.”
Complaining about umpiring is one American tradition that hasn't made its way across, the Pacific. The japanese umpires were always in full control yesterday. Each Japanese hitter made a small bow in the umpire's direction before getting in the box.
After being called out on a close strike, an Indian player never grimaced, but ran back to the bench, placed the bat down and picked up his glove.
At the end of the game, the umpire called both teams out and had them line up facing each other with their hats off. The teams then shook hands and returned to their spots as the umpire bowed to each team, saying “Thank you, thank you very much .” The brightest moment of the first game occurred when Kohji Tsubokura was inserted at second base in the fourth inning. Tsubokura was by far the smallest player on the field at 127 centimeters tall (barely four feet). Sitting on the bench his feet never touched the ground. But stature was all that he lacked.
His over -the -shoulder running catch in short right field broughyt loud applause from fans on both sides.
The only other exciting moment was when Kate von Ammon went in to play second base for Norwich in the fifth inning. The Japanese team and fans could hardly contain their curiosity.
“Are girls allowed to play over here? How long have they been able to do this? asked Kohji Arai of the Kyodo News Service, one of two Japanese journalists traveling with the team. “In Japan, girls don't start playing any sports until they are at least 13.
“And even then they aren't as active as here. They might play basketball or volleyball, but never baseball. But things are changing. Many things are changing.”
Before the second game, Fred Salvatoriello, Sr. who had organized the American end of the international series, had arranged a short ceremony.
Both teams lined up along the foul lines and each sang its own national anthem. As the Japanese finished their final words, Salvatoriello invoked another Amercan tradition :“Let's play ball,” he roared.
Both teams let out with a shout. Nobody had any trouble understanding those words.