Category Archives: Baseball

Coach Keizo

Keizo Kawashima, a cheerful durable 171-centimeter infielder who played 886 career games over a 15-year career in which he played 100 in a season just three times, is now done with playing but not done with baseball.

His remarkable little career ended in 2022 with the Rakuten Eagles, whom he signed on to coach with in 2023.

After a year coaching in the minors, Kawashima is now one of the Eagles’ major league batting coaches under first-year skipper Toshiaki Imae, who started on the farm last season with Kawashima before a mid-season promotion sent him to Sendai.

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Seouled out

SEOUL — After two days of my being completely lost in Seoul starting on Monday, I had figured enough things out to make me sad to leave Friday.

Hwang Dong Un outside Gocheok Sky Dome. Courtesy of Hwang Dong Un.

I couldn’t figure out the rail system on the first day after arriving from the airport, but was lucky enough to catch a ride to the ballpark with Blake, photographer from Dodger Blue, who had called an Uber.

Since Task 1 was doing a story based on what fans were saying, I met a Seoul-based Korean colleague from my day job, I was able to hear from Korean fans outside the ballpark about their overwhelming admiration for Shohei Ohtani and some other MLB stars, especially San Diego Padres shortstop–and former Kiwoom Hero– Kim Ha Seong.

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