However, the amount of media hype and attention is where the similarities between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hiroki Kuroda end. While Kuroda’s entrance into the Major Leagues this season has gone under the radar for most of the country, Daisuke’s entrance last year caused a media frenzy. The “Dice-K” movement was the likes of which baseball hasn’t seen since Nomomania. Why does Dice-K (and yes I will refer to him as Dice-K the rest of this paper) get so much more media attention when they both throw the same pitches, and when the Boston Globe even reported in November of 2007, “some believe (Kuroda) is better than Daisuke Matsuzaka.”

This is the elemental issue that must be addressed in order to figure out how well Japanese baseball will fare in the American mindset. The importance that Japanese players have on the game is in its expansion. It has been hypothesized that within the next five years, we could see the necessary steps in expanding Major League Baseball into a global league. The way the media treats these Japanese stars transition into the MLB will be the judge.

Historically, the United States hasn’t been very receptive of Asian influences in sports or society. For the past few decades, Americans have had very stereotypical perceptions of Asians and Asian-Americans. They have been referred to as the “model minority”, which suggests that people of Asian decent, “conform to the norms of society, do well in school and careers, are hard working, and self-sufficient.”

A growing concern for Americans from the 1970s all the way into the 1990s was the economic threat of Japan. The following is taken from an article that appeared in Newsweek in 1991, in a series that marked the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “Fifty years later, many Americans wonder who won the war after all. They see Japan’s business-suited legions conquering worldwide markets, wiping out entire U.S industries and planting their flag on blue-chip properties all over America. The Japanese thrive by dint of virtues once considered distinctively American: hard work, thrift, ingenuity. But they sometimes appear to grasp success by underhanded means.”

What is most shocking about this statement is the obvious parallel between this and the expansions the United States has made over the past 200 years. We even coined a term for ours: “manifest destiny”. We claimed that it was our God-granted destiny to lengthen our borders, infiltrate new lands and markets, and ethnocentrically influence others into our capitalistic, democratic way of life.

Now that another nation has learned from us, we shun them. We teach others our ways, but get mad when they use them in competition. Therefore, when Japanese athletes such as Hideo Nomo and Ichiro come to the United States and dominate America’s pastime, some people become distraught. Phrases such as “Asian Invasion” place these modest athletes, whose culture has taught them honor, sportsmanship, and teamwork, and turn them into invasive aspects of “America’s game”.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?