On the Road with Bobby V. and Frank Ramppen

Today is an off day after a tough 10 inning homerun for a 6-5 loss.

Mary arrives today and it will be the start of a big streak. Five years ago was the first day I drove a car in Japan. I drove to the airport to get Mary. Driving on the other side of the road and on the other side of the car was a great experience for me but a really scary one for Mary. She kept leaning into the center of the car and I think at times even closed her eyes at times. I cannot believe it was 5 years ago. Amazing how time flies…

– Bobby

Monday and Tuesday were off days.  We practiced on Monday and had the day completely free on Tuesday. Bobby and I worked out at Gold’s gym. Our little town of Makuhari actually has 2 Gold’s gyms. The older of the 2 is on the 33 floor of the WBG (World Business Garden) building and offers a fantastic panoramic view of the surrounding area, overlooking our stadium, Tokyo bay, Tokyo in the distance, and on a clear day, you can even see Mt. Fuji.

Back in January of 2004, my second day in Japan, Bobby and I went to Gold’s for a workout and were very lucky to see a perfect sunset with a silhouette of snow covered Mt. Fuji. Awesome!  Many Japanese spend all their lives without witnessing such a sight and we got to see on day 2. Good to be lucky.

Tonight we traveled to Tokyo to play the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.  Although The Swallows play in Tokyo they do not draw nearly as many fans as the Giants.

Things didn’t go very well, we got hammered 10-1. Have to bounce back tomorrow and get back on a roll.

Tokyo games are commuter trips for us. We travel individually and do not stay in a hotel. We can take the train, taxi or drive but I don’t have a car. Bobby does and does sometimes drive, which reminds me of a good story.

Two years ago during our spring training portion of our schedule, when games are played at the main stadiums and not spring training sites, we had a game at nearby Tachikawa, where the Lions play. It’s about 1½ hours away by car or train and it was a beautiful day so Bobby decided to drive. He had never driven there before so he had one of our interpreters program his navigator for the journey. The navigator spoke in Japanese but that was not a problem as we were traveling with one of our other interpreters, and great friend, Koji Takaishi, who we will talk about much more in another entry.

So it’s Bobby, Koji, Paul and I heading off to Tachikawa, to the Seibu Dome, from Chiba for a spring training game. The journey is going well, and as always Bobby is telling some great stories of past adventures.  About half an hour into the drive we make a wrong turn (not paying attention), but the “navi” readjusts our course and we are right back on track (we think). Shortly after we run into traffic and now become concerned about our time of arrival. We have plenty of time because there is a full workout before the game and we can’t be too far, but Bobby decides to call in the lineup so everyone knows who is playing that day. We also let them know that we hit traffic but should be there soon.

The traffic finally clears and we start cruising again. Things got really confusing when we came to a rotary type intersection on the highway. We kept following the signs and listening to the “navi,” but kept ending up back in the same place. So now we decide it’s time to “wing it” since we have an idea of where we are.

Well……………it’s now 2 hours into the 1½  hour drive, we are cruising along the highway that we think will get us to our destination and all of a sudden we see a huge sign “Welcome to Chiba.” Can you believe that!? Two hours later we are back in Chiba with the start of the game only 1½ hours away.

Bobby pulls off the highway, finds the nearest train station and we pile onto a train heading to Tokyo.  After some good directions and guidance from a few Marines fans we arrive at the Seibu Dome. Bobby and I throw on our uniforms and bolt into the dugout as the opposing pitcher is toeing the mound for the first pitch of the game as Bobby flashes signs to the third base coach.

How’s that for timing? Just as planned, huh?

June 8, 2009

Yokohama

Today was another special day.  Bobby, Paul, I and our team manager Sano-san (responsible for team travel etc.) caught a taxi at 8 am for Yokosuka, the nearby US naval base.

We are fortunate to have a friend, Ray Denny, originally from NJ, who served in the navy for 22 years and is now in charge of supplying all the ships in this area with food and supplies.  Bobby met him back in 1986 while Bobby was in Japan doing the World Baseball Clinic.

Ray invited us to the base for a tour of the USS George Washington, the largest Air Craft Carrier in the world.  What a great experience!  You just can believe the enormity of this ship.  It’s like a neighborhood within itself.

We took a full tour of the ship and met many of our great troops which was a thrill for me.  I loved hearing all the proud servicemen talking about our great country with such pride and respect.  Everyone, as usual, was very excited to see and meet Bobby V.  It’s incredible how many lives Bobby touches throughout his travels.  He is so much bigger and much greater than so many people realize!!!!!!

We were also honored to meet the CO, Cpt. David A. Lausman, who told us that when he spent time at Sikorski Airport in CT test flying helicopters, he frequented Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Café in Milford.  Small world huh?

We also met a few Marines, US Marines not Chiba Lotte Marines, so we took some photo’s with them to send back to our good Stamford buddy and ex US Marine, John O’Kane.

Some interesting facts about the USS George Washington:

One of the 3 nuclear powered air craft carriers in the world

Can travel 3 million miles before refueling which is estimated to be 28 years at sea.

24 stories tall

7 billion dollars to build

Capable of carrying 70 fighter aircrafts and capable of launching all 70 in only 14 minutes.  Totally amazing!!!!!

1038 ft. long

6000 members on board

18,000 meals served everyday.  Just a few more than Bobby and I served at Bobby V’s over the years.

For more info, click here.

That night we played the Baystars and lost another tough one.  We had a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the 5th when things got a little shaky for our young right hander, Ohmine.  A leadoff bunt hit, a base hit to right, a hit batsman followed by a grand slam, the first home run of the Baystars Kitagawa’s career and the 2000 grand slam in Japanese baseball history, put the Baystars ahead 4-3 and we never scored again.  After the game it was back home to Chiba for a 4 game home stand.

Tuesday was an off day with nothing too exciting to report.

Wednesday we played the Carp, managed by American, Marty Brown.  Marty has an American coach with him, Jeff Livesey.  Jeff’s dad, Bill, has been a long time employee of the Yankees and coached St. Leo’s college when I was playing for the University of Tampa.  Again, small world.  It’s always good to play the Carp so we get to see Marty and Jeff.

It was a very windy night at Marines Stadium, which is pretty common as the stadium is built on the coast of the Tokyo Bay.  Similar winds to that of the old Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The Carp scored 2 in the first and that was it.  We couldn’t take advantage of some scoring opportunities and it ended 2-0.

Thursday was a completely different story.  After going down 2-0 in the second, we scored 2 in the bottom half of the inning then 5 in the third highlighted by our third baseman, Imae’s, Grand Slam, the first of his career.   Believe it or not that was just the beginning.  In the bottom of the sixth we set 2 NPB records : 15 runs and 15 RBIs in an inning. The previous records are 13 for both categories.

We also made a new record of 14 consecutive runs scored and tied the NPB with 10 consecutive hits. Getting 12 hits in an inning ties the 2nd most in the history. We sent 20 hitters to the plate.

After all the close games of late, this sure was fun for all of us.  Hopefully this is what we need to get on a roll and get ourselves into contention.

After another off day the bats were still alive as the Tigers came to town.  (If you are wondering about all the off days, during the Interleague portion of the schedule, off days are scheduled in as rain dates in case of bad weather.  There can be no un played  games at the end of interleague play so that a champion can be crowned.)

The Tigers draw more fans than any other team in Japan and today was no exception.  On a beautiful afternoon the stands were full to capacity with as many Tigers fans as Marines fans in our own stadium, and they were loud.  But our bats were louder as we continued our hitting.  We had 13 hits, scored 9 runs and got another fine pitching performance out of Shingo Ono, who gave up only 1 run on a solo homer to Craig Brazell, a former Met prospect when Bobby was manager.

That night we had a great dinner at a new restaurant, right on the water in nearby Chiba Minato, called Ocean Table.  Great spot which is very westernized, great ambiance with beautiful views.  They have Italian cuisine on the first and second floor, Shabu-Shabu (as mentioned in our fist blog) on the third floor and a private room with a pool for private parties on the on the fourth floor.  In November of last year Bobby had a team party/birthday party for me on the fourth floor which was great.

The weather was perfect so we had dinner out on the veranda.  Bobby, myself, Lyle Yates, who was an assistant pitching coach and conditioning coach with our minor league team in 2006, 2007 and 2008, John Cox, currently the International Scouting director for the San Francisco Giants.  John’s boss, Brian Sabean, senior VP and GM of the Giants, ironically was my assistant coach at the University of Tampa.  Also at dinner were Larry Rocca and his lovely mom, Tini.  Much more to come about Larry in future blogs, stay tuned.

Off the field and not a dinner, another big event occurred on Saturday.  The leader of the “Group to bring back Bobby” presented a petition with 112,493 signatures to the owner of the Marines.

Think that will help?  They love him and want him back in a BIG WAY!  And why wouldn’t they.

Sunday, in front of another packed stadium, we beat the Tigers again.  Trailing 1-0, on another solo homer by Brazell in the 4th, our catcher, Satozaki went deep to the opposite field to tie it at 1.  Then, with the score still tied in the 8, Bobby made some perfect moves to lead us to victory.  The Tigers brought in their star left handed reliever, Jeff Williams (from Australia) as we had 2 lefties coming to bat to start the 8.  Bobby sent a right handed utility player, Masa Tanaka, up to pinch hit who drew a walk after a great battle.  After an out and a walk, we had another lefty scheduled to hit so Bobby sent up our top right handed pinch hitter, Takehara, who delivered a clutch, 2 strike triple to the right center field gap scoring 2.  With our catcher, Satozaki up now, not known for his bunting ability, Bobby called for the squeeze which “Sato” got down perfectly on a tough pitch to give us a 4-1 lead which is how it ended after Brian Sikorski, from Detroit, (no relation to the airport) shut down the Tigers in the 9.

Of course Bobby downplayed the moves he made but they were great moves, perfectly executed that kept us on a 3 game winning streak and continued to build our momentum.

Next stop, Jungu Stadium, Tokyo for 2 games against the Swallows.

Hello Stamford,

There has been some talk lately that a MLB team from Washington DC has contacted me about managing their team. I would like to set the record straight and say that the Nationals have not contacted me and I have not contacted them.

Many people come to visit me here in Japan but my next visitor will arrive on Friday and this is a special visit. Mary my beautiful wife of 30 plus years will be in the landing in the Land of the Raining Sun and I am very excited.

I have had many friends and many winners of Charity Auctions come here as my guest and many others have stopped by to say hi but the toughest thing about being here is not being close to my friends and family.

Mary has been here many times over the years but has 4 “other” dogs to take care of.

Mary shows 2 of our Collies..Skippy and Brooklyn.  Skippy is one of the top agility and obedience Collies in America.

This being said, to get Mary away from her full time passion is a treat for me. Mary happens to be having a birthday tomorrow so I will be reminded how lucky I am to have married such a wonderful younger gal.

I had another vistor from Stamford last week.

Flat Stanley made the trip here dirctly from the classroom of Mrs. Minkler’s second grade class in Stamford.  Mary Leydon, Daughter of John and Staci Leydon, sent Stanley to Japan on a class trip.

All should know that I took good care of Flat Stanley and he really enjoyed his time in Japan.

Welcome to “On the Road” with Bobby V. and Frank Ramppen.

Many of you know we have been in Japan for the past 6 years. We are both Rippowan graduates and have been in pro baseball collectively for more than 50 years. We will try and give you a close up look at what our lives are like thousand of miles away from home.

We live in the town of Kaihein Makuhari in Chiba Japan. It is the mid-point between Tokyo and the Narita International Airport. Our team is the Chiba Lotte Marines. The Lotte in the name is the name of our Parent Company. Lotte is a family owned multi billion dollar company and uses the team as an advertising arm for the brand. The nickname, Marines, refers to the fact that we are located on the Tokyo Bay…We play in the Pacific league of the 2 league, 12 team, NPB. (Nippon Professional Baseball)

We will try to make you feel at home while we describe our times here on the road in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Talk to you soon..

Bobby Valentine and Frank Ramppen

Mid May Bobby had some of his best friends visit. Frank Abbott, Bobby’s life long friend from Stamford who grew up playing ball with Bobby. Phil Hersh, who Bobby met in college, now an attorney living in Peekskill NY. Pete Serino, another college buddy, also an attorney who resides in Boseman MT on his 200 acre ranch. And Mike Abate, currently one of Bobby’s key employees and instructors at the Bobby Valentines Sports Academy on Camp Ave. in Stamford. Mike also played professionally for the Seattle Mariners and went on to QB in the Arena football league.

Big Mile Abate, Frank Abbott and Pete in Tokyo, Akiharbara.

Mike showed us his can still hit and with power as we took BP at Marines stadium on an off day and went deep often. My boys wanted his autograph after watching him hit.

Frank in the meantime took thousands of photo’s on his digital camera of all the adventures Bobby took them on during their stay. If you know Bobby, there is never a dull moment and never down time. It’s one place to another and one adventure after another. As he always says “enjoy the journey”.

One of the many great things I have had the pleasure to experience in my 30 years with Bobby is getting to meet and share time with many of his great friends. Frank, Phil, Pete and Mike are awesome and it was great to see them.

Phil Hersh, Frank, Pete Serino and Bobby Valentine singing a little karaoke.

Singing group from Stamford.

June in Japan started with some power and some ties.

Power in the form of “Tower of Power”, the legendary soul band, and more power and ties when the powerful Tokyo Giants (the Yankees of Japan) came to town.

During our previous road trip to Hiroshima, Bobby and Paul Pupo, Bobby’s long time friend, business associate and current Data Analyst for the Chiba Lotte Marines, ran into a few of the members of Tower of Power in our hotel lobby.  Of course they recognized Bobby and after talking for a while they invited Bobby and some quests to their upcoming concerts in Tokyo.

So on Saturday night after a day game (which we won) Bobby, Paul, myself and my wife Michelle went to the famous Blue Note Jazz Club in Tokyo to see Tower of Power.  First we ate at the original Shabu-Shabu restautant in Japan which is over 100 years old. Shabu-Shabu is a traditional meal here that consists mostly of thinly sliced beef and vegetables. Both are brought to your table on platters along with a pot of boiling hot water. You then cook the beef and vegetables yourself in the hot water. The beef is so thin it takes only seconds to cook and is as tender as it gets. There are several choices of sauces for dipping that enhances the taste. Wonderful meal, wonderful experience.

We then walk a few blocks to the Blue Note. The club is small and quaint so the sound was fantastic.  The boys rocked it like they have been doing since the good ole days.  During the concert the lead singer, Larry Braggs, announced to the audience that Bobby V was in the house which brought the roof down.  If you think Bobby is famous in the states, you should see him here.

On a side note, this was the first time my wife and I had the chance to go out together in Tokyo in our 6 years here.  With 2 young boys living in a foreign country, baby sitters are not easy to come by.  Fortunately for us Michelle’s parents, Mike and Lydia Lupinacci were visiting from Stamford so we had our sitters. Thanks guys!

After the concert we went back stage and met the boys, Emilio Castilla, Dave Garibaldi, “Doc” Kupka, Rocco Prestia, Larry Braggs and the rest of the band and crew. What a great bunch of guys.  They will be playing at Foxwoods at the end of June so Michelle will be heading up there with a bunch of friends now that she is a “big shot” and knows the band members.

Sunday night Bobby went back again with a good friend of his, Akizawa-san and again had a great night.

Tuesday the Giants came to town for a 2 game series. As I mentioned earlier, the Giants are the Yankees of Japan and therefore the stadium was packed for a weeknight game. After 12 innings of great pitching and a few squandered scoring opportunities, the game ended in a tie. That’s right sports fans I said tie. In Japan games only go 12 innings and end in ties. Very difficult to get used to at first but it’s better than losing. To the best of my knowledge, the reason games only go 12 innings is due to mass transit. Mass transit is heavily utilized here and the trains stop running at and early hour so when the games run late all the fans have to leave to catch their trains so they decided, why play when everyone is gone, let’s just make it a tie.

Wednesday night was like ground hog day. After great pitching from both sides again and a few squandered scoring opportunities, the game ended after 12 in a 1-1 tie. Go figure. 47 games into the season without a tie and now 2 in a row. Kind of like kissing your sister as they say.

Another side note, the 2008 season began for us with back to back ties. 2 months of spring training, everyone is pumped for opening day and we tie. Then come back the next day and do it again…..wow. crazy.

Thursday was an off day and not such a great day for either Bobby or me. Bobby either had food poisoning from a ham sandwich or had some type of infection. Either way, he felt like crap and had a fever for most of the day. Bobby is like Superman and never gets sick so let’s just say it was food poisoning.

For me, Thursday was rough because I had to take my family, Michelle and my two boys, Frankie and Zack, who mean more to me than anything in the world, to the airport for a flight back to the states for a month. Tough saying goodbye but time flies and they will be back playing ball and coming to the ball park in no time.

Thursday night the team travelled to Nagoya for our next 2 game series against the Dragons. For you movie buffs, the Dragons are the team Tom Selleck played for in Mr. Baseball.

Most of our travels are on a high speed train called the Shinkansen. What an awesome way to travel. The team travels in first class which has huge reclining seats, plenty of leg room and a food and beverage cart that rolls by regularly with all kinds of goodies for sale. And the best part is your on the ground and not 30,000 feet in the air. Not a big fan of airplanes as I’m getting older.

By the way, these games I have mentioned are all against the Central League teams so we are currently in the portion of the schedule that MLB calls interleague game. Here it is called Koreosen. The Marines play in the Pacific League. The main differences between interleague play here and in the US is we play all the other leagues teams 4x (as there are only 6 in each league) and there is a trophy and bonus money for the team with the best interleague record. In 2005 when we won the Japan Championship, we also won the Koreosen title.

So we arrive in Nagoya Thursday night at the beautiful Westin hotel directly across the street from the famous Nagoya Castle. Most hotels we stay in are Japanese but there are a few Westins that I love since they have great beds and pillows. Most Japanese hotels have hard beds and big, hard pillows which makes sleeping tough for some of us.

Bobby traveled he next morning so he could get a good nights sleep and recover from whatever it was that hit him.

Friday (June 5) we lose a tough one 2-1 on a 2 run homer to right center. Once again, excellent pitching but no run support.

Saturday, in an afternoon game, ……….you’ll never guess……….ANOTHER TIE. Down 2-0 going into the 7 we scored 4 but gave 2 back in the bottom of the 9 and nobody scored in extra innings leaving us with our 3^rd tie of the week and of the year.

Immediately after the game we are back on the Shinkansen heading to Yokahama for our next 2 games series against the Baystars. Yokohama has the highest population of foreigners in Japan and really is a cool city. Yokohma is the home of the first beer brewery in Japan, and is the first city to have ice cream. Many other first occurred in Yokahama since it is such a big port city.

Well, finally the bats came to life today as we scored 6 in the first highlighted by a grand slam by Chase Lambin, one of our new foreign players this year. It turned out to be a slugfest featuring 8 home runs (2 by Ohmatsu our RBI leader last year who has been struggling of late…..good sign) with the good guys coming out on top 9-7. After the game, Bobby and I wandered around the city which was mobbed with young kids who had just let out of an Excile concert at the Yokohama arena. Excile is a pretty hot band in Japan these days.

We ended up running into Chase and his wife Sarah and all had dinner together at an Italian restaurant. It was a beautiful spring night and we sat outside and had a great dinner.