A Baseball Story That ...

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As best I can surmise from passport stamps, I made my 48th trip to Asia last week.

It never gets old.

Every trip – this one with stops in Tokyo and Beijing – brings a unique adventure, knowledge and inevitably a touch of weirdness that defies Western sensibilities.

I think most people are familiar with the Madonna movie called “A League of Their Own” which chronicles the first female professional baseball league. For the Jeopordy crowd, the women are divided into four teams with Madonna playing for the Rockford Peaches.

If you think those are bygone days, think again.

A women’s professional baseball league has launched for real in Japan, as I learned during my time in Tokyo.

Each team plays a 40-game season.

But here’s the catch –

There are only two teams in the league.

That’s right.

The Hyogo Swing Smileys and the Kyoto Asto Dreams will play each other 40 times.

Brings new meaning to the Shakespeare line “Familiarity breeds contempt.”

If the sportswriters covering the league believe in storytelling, I suppose one could make an argument that 40 games provides ample field to develop the characters.

BTW, the Smileys crushed the Dreams in the season opener 8-0.


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