WILL BASEBALL AID IN HEALING JAPAN?

Tsunami streams from the Japanese earthquake:
tragic seams of destructiveness

It is far too soon to know, but in the wake of the mammoth 8.9 earthquake in Japan, we know that as bad as things are there right now (and mere words cannot possibly describe the conditions), the "good" news is that the epicenter of the quake could have been so much more destructively placed than it was. One can only imagine the scenes the world would be witnessing had it been centered in, say, the Toyko-Osaka corridor...

Those of you who follow Japanese baseball already know that the least known of the Bavasi brothers (Buzzie had four sons, two of whom followed directly in their father's footsteps), Bob Bavasi, runs a very useful website that assists those of us in the States with keeping current with "Japan ball" (and that's the name of the site: japanball.com). Bob has been quick to post news about the conditions there with respect to the status of baseball. Here is an abridged version of his reporting (for the full text, please visit the site directly):

The Tokyo airports and those south are operating, as are trains in Tokyo and southbound from there.  However, northbound flights and trains to the Sendai area, the epicenter of the quake, are not operating.


The baseball season in Japan is scheduled to begin on March 25. The weekend pre-season exhibition games after the earthquake of March 12 and 13 were cancelled. The games resume on Monday, March 14.


The stadium in Sendai has suffered damage.  Once the season starts, the Sendai club, the Golden Eagles, will likely play their early home games on the road or at an alternate "home" stadium in another town for the time being.


You can get an idea of how far removed the other teams are from Sendai by looking at the stadium map:


There seems to be every expectation that the Japanese leagues will resume play shortly and that the season will not be delayed. We can hope that baseball will be especially helpful in providing the people of Japan with  a much-needed diversion as they endure the after-effects of this devastating event, and that it can assist in a general healing for the nation as a whole. In the midst of great tragedy, one astonishing, miraculous fact  comes into play over and over again: life goes on, and the daily rituals of that life can help us heal and grow.

Let's hope that baseball can be part of a healing touch that is so needed in that battered and beleaguered region.

A big thank you to Bob Bavasi for his ongoing coverage of Japanese baseball.