Japan Celebrates New Home Run King

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/sports/baseball/in-japan-a-new-home-run-king.html

Version 0 of 1.

TOKYO — It was a day few thought would arrive. Japan’s single-season home run record had fallen — to a foreigner.

On Sunday night, the former major leaguer Wladimir Balentien, an outfielder for the Central League’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows, hit his 56th home run, pushing him past Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera.

When his three-run blast reached the left-field seats at Meiji Jingu Stadium, the announced crowd of 30,319 went into a frenzy.

Balentien was not done. In his next at-bat, he hit No. 57.

“I am so happy now,” Balentien, 29, a native of Curaçao, said after his team’s 9-0 victory against the Hanshin Tigers.

With the record being highly cherished in Japanese sports, foreign challengers have faced unsportsmanlike actions, some of which had links to Oh, perhaps the most popular player in Japanese history.

Going into the last game of the 1985 season, the Tigers’ Randy Bass had 54 home runs. But the Yomiuri Giants, then managed by Oh, walked him four times.

In 2001, Rhodes, then with the Kintetsu Buffaloes, repeatedly saw pitches out of the strike zone down the stretch against the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, a team that Oh managed, as Rhodes attempted to surpass 55.

The next year, Cabrera, with the Seibu Lions, received similar treatment.

Over the last few weeks, Japan’s sports newspapers speculated on whether Balentien, who spent three seasons in the majors, with the Seattle Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds, would see any pitches in the strike zone. It proved to be a nonissue. Balentien was challenged repeatedly, not only by the Tigers but also by the Carp during a three-game series earlier last week.

Oh congratulated Balentien on breaking his record. “I am looking forward, like all baseball fans, to his final total for the season,” said Oh, as reported by the public broadcaster NHK.

Masahiro Tanaka, the right-handed pitcher for the Rakuten Eagles, who on Friday ran his record to 21-0, wrote on Twitter: “Balentien is unbelievable!”

Balentien missed the first 12 games of the season after injuring his leg while representing the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. Since then, he has been knocking balls out of the park about once every other game.

Balentien’s progress has been charted with the Coco Meter, a reference to his nickname, on the team’s Web site. Outside the stadium Sunday, fans took photographs in front of a similar meter erected at an entrance.

For last-place Yakult, there have been few positives this season. Balentien, who leads the league with a .338 batting average, is the main attraction.

After the game, Balentien did a victory lap through the outfield, raising his hands as the crowd roared. Balentien’s mother, Astrid, was among the fans.

“I was so glad,” she said after the game. “I was the most glad mom in the world for God blessing me with Balentien, with Coco.”

Balentien said he could not have been more pleased.

“I think this is the best present I could give her forever,” he said.