One additional detail I heard about the Randy Bass story from Gaijin Baseball's channel is that according to Bass' contract, Hanshin was required to fully cover his and family's medical bills. The surgery needed to save Bass' son's life cost $40,000, and Hanshin's penny-pinching management was determined to get themselves off the hook - firing him for being "absent without leave" was a cover story. Why human beings who were apparently rational enough to have gained high rank in a major Japanese business conglomerate thought that illegally firing their best player and a nationally beloved superstar to avoid contractual obligations that required them to foot the bill for one child's life-or-death medical operation was a good idea, I'll never know. Hanshin fans didn't riot simply from anger at team mismanagement, they were morally outraged. The whole affair would be hilariously stupid if it wasn't so disgusting. If I was the ghost of Colonel Sanders, I'd haunt Hanshin over *THAT*, not a cheap promotional statue.
Sadaharu Oh destroyed his own legacy starting with Bass in 1985. His "records" were a sad joke by the time Vlad finally hit #56. So much so that I don't even take 868 seriously. How many meatballs did he hit at the bequest of the yakuza? Probably 75% of them.
One additional detail I heard about the Randy Bass story from Gaijin Baseball's channel is that according to Bass' contract, Hanshin was required to fully cover his and family's medical bills. The surgery needed to save Bass' son's life cost $40,000, and Hanshin's penny-pinching management was determined to get themselves off the hook - firing him for being "absent without leave" was a cover story. Why human beings who were apparently rational enough to have gained high rank in a major Japanese business conglomerate thought that illegally firing their best player and a nationally beloved superstar to avoid contractual obligations that required them to foot the bill for one child's life-or-death medical operation was a good idea, I'll never know. Hanshin fans didn't riot simply from anger at team mismanagement, they were morally outraged. The whole affair would be hilariously stupid if it wasn't so disgusting.
If I was the ghost of Colonel Sanders, I'd haunt Hanshin over *THAT*, not a cheap promotional statue.
Amazing video and storytelling! Hope you keep making content, underrated for sure!
Randy bass は大阪では神と崇められています。🎉
Thank you for this vlog. Huge Randy Bass fan. Please do one on Ralph Bryant of Kintetsu Buffalo.
Bass gets inducted in NPB HOF in 2023 - Tigers break the curse.
Can you tell me what's the intro song please
Randy is thought to be the greatest player of all time among Japanese people.
People call him GOD.
Sadaharu Oh destroyed his own legacy starting with Bass in 1985. His "records" were a sad joke by the time Vlad finally hit #56. So much so that I don't even take 868 seriously. How many meatballs did he hit at the bequest of the yakuza? Probably 75% of them.
wait, huh... didn't the same happen for Matt Murton?
Very similar story, there's a lot of guys MLB eats up and forgets about