With much attention given to MLB’s World Tour Tokyo Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers this week, few understand better than Orestes Destrade the experience of playing professional baseball in Japan.
“The biggest problem is adjusting to the time change. Once [Los Angeles and Chicago] landed in Tokyo, the players would have needed a good three days to adjust,” MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) veteran Orestes Destrade told The Epoch Times on Tuesday.
With the Dodgers and Cubs having a busy schedule set for the tour, which included four exhibition games involving both clubs each playing NPB’s Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers, then opening MLB’s regular season on Tuesday, much planning went into the many adjustments players coming across the Pacific Ocean would face.
Destrade, who has been returning to Japan fairly regularly over the past 30-plus years, has no doubts that MLB is coordinating itineraries for the Dodgers and Cubs to enjoy all the nuances of Tokyo and the Japanese culture. Having starred for five seasons in NPB from 1989–1992 and in 1995 for the Saitama Seibu Lions, Destrades transformed himself from a 237-game MLB career with three clubs as a journeyman to a superstar in the “Land of the Rising Sun.”
Destrade’s resume of success playing Japanese baseball includes being named the 1990 MVP of the Japan Series (MLB World Series equivalent), three times the Pacific League’s home run leader, and three times elected by journalists as the best first baseman—as a postseason all-star recognition.
After a Dodgers 4–1 win Tuesday in Game 1 of the Tokyo Series, Game 2 is scheduled at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Once returning stateside from Japan, both clubs are off until March 27. Los Angeles will begin a six-game homestand beginning with the visiting Detroit Tigers, and Chicago embarks on a seven-game road trip that calls for four games in Arizona and three at Sacramento, Calif., with the Athletics. The return trip from Japan to the United States, according to Destrades, will possibly be the most demanding aspect of the Tokyo Series.
“After the players had a few days to acclimate in Japan, coming back, it’s a tough grind. They have to have a solid week to feel back to normal. Travel for sure is demanding but well worth it.”
Places of worship such as the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples are top destinations for ballplayers when visiting Japan from Destrades’ experience, and he has little doubt that such historic sites are scheduled to be toured.
“What the teams and MLB people will experience in Japan will be the depth of the country’s history. It’s so majestic. They will also see how considerate the Japanese people are, and how very respectful they are. There’s a sense of cleanliness in Japan that I haven’t seen anywhere else,” said Destrades, who at age 6 immigrated to the United States with his family from Cuba.
The Dodgers signing pitcher Hideo Nomo in 1995, who had been one of the most popular players in Japan for the NPB Kintetsu Buffaloes, began the migration of star-quality athletes signing with MLB clubs. Destrades sees the Nomo signing as the most important factor of international players being in-demand in North America.
“If [Nomo] failed, that would have been embarrassing,” Destrades recalls. “Nomo signed a contract with his Japanese team stating that he was retiring. This allowed him to move on to the Dodgers.”
Although Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese-born player to be with an MLB club when signing with the San Francisco Giants, his call-up in September 1964, as Destrades views the signing, is far less significant than Nomo’s coming to the Dodgers.
“Japanese teams then would lend young players to teams, who then would assign them to lower-level minor league affiliates. Getting experience in the California League and the Midwest League was important to the players’ professional growth.”
Shuttling back and forth from his home in Tampa, Fla., and Japan in an ambassador’s role for the Lions, Destrades fills many roles at the behest of the club’s owner. The former Marlins’ first baseman has maintained a working relationship with the Lions since his final game in 1995. Visits will typically last between one week and 10 days. Destrades gushes over the Lions’ 23-year-old infielder Reon Murata as the next big superstar of NPB.
With former NPB superstars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga, and Roki Sasaki front and center for MLB’s visit to Japan, Destrade is as excited as the fans when tuning into the games. Declaring himself Cuban-born and Japan-influenced, Destrades only sees a bigger and better agreement on the horizon between MLB and NPB.
