Isao Nakauchi, the founder of the Daiei supermarket chain, sold off his 40 percent interest in the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks for slightly more than \1 a share to the current owner, his son Masashi.
Old man Nakauchi, a master at driving a hard bargain, must have looked long and hard before selling his 288,000 shares for the pitiful sum of \300,000.
Some less generous people might stoop low enough to call it little more than a tax dodge. If it were a gift, junior might have to pay tax on the value. And if Masashi paid the market price, dad might have faced taxes on a vastly higher scale.
After all, if Masashi's purchase price reflected the real value of the Hawks' franchise, the club would be worth a grand total of \750,000--an amount of money that no self-respecting tax official would even consider taking as a bribe.
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Three weeks ago, this column reported the possibility that one maker of official baseballs was juicing them something fierce. One large Kansai sporting goods maker, that should remain nameless, is now in the process of cornering the market for baseballs. Two more teams will switch entirely to the rabbit ball made by Mizuno--oops that one got out.
And because Mizuno's balls fly so well, the phrase "Oops, there it goes" might rival "Don't walk him, but don't give him anything to hit" as the sentence most likely to be heard on mound at Nagoya Dome this season.
Just how well do Mizuno's balls fly? In case you are wondering, two teams last season used Mizuno's balls as well as those by other makers in their main parks. In games last season at Chiba Marine Stadium and Fukuoka Dome, Mizuno balls wound up in the seats 31 percent more often than those by other makers.
The Hawks, like the Chunichi Dragons, will use Mizuno's rocket-propelled grenades this year. And their flight characteristics are well known to the people who decide which balls to purchase. Every team official contacted agreed that there would be more home runs. Expect to see about 14 more at Nagoya Dome and 10 more at Fukuoka Dome.
With so many areas in the Japanese game begging for improvement, teams apparently are eager to capture the thrill of the long ball. But what are they going to do when everyone starts hitting homers by the basketful?
This trend is going to continue as long as teams delude themselves into thinking that livelier baseballs are a cheap and practical alternative to livelier baseball.
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But while the pros may be taking shortcuts. High schools remain a reliable stronghold of yakyu traditions. Mind you, they are not always attractive traditions--take systematic brutality, for example. But what the heck, no pain, no gain.
In January, according to a story in The Yomiuri Shimbun, a second-year player at Tsuruga Kehi High School in Fukui Prefecture fractured the skull of a first-year teammate with a bat. It wasn't an accident but rather a lesson on how it important it is to be on target.
The freshman was doing an unsatisfactory job as a batting practice pitcher, causing his senior to teach him a lesson.
"Close your eyes, and I'm going to swing my bat just above your head," said the older boy, who then swung and missed low, hitting the freshman in the head. The first-year student then had six weeks in the hospital to contemplate the meaning of the lesson.
A school official said that it was a prank that should not have occurred while the vice principal said, "It was nothing like bullying" and that the second-year student was "feeling deeply sorry."
Thank goodness for that. Japan will certainly be going to hell in a hand basket the day school sports clubs become a haven for bullies--as opposed to just a harbor for merry pranksters.
The Hot Corner appears each Thursday in The
Daily Yomiuri .