The Tokyo Baseball Experience
My God, the joy.
TOKYO —
Hi friends,
Yesterday (or today, I have no idea what day it is), the Cubs played the Hanshin Tigers in the Tokyo Dome and the Dodgers played the Yomiuri Giants in their penultimate spring training tune-ups before the MLB regular season begins on Tuesday.
I’ve been staying by myself in a hotel near the Dome (aka The Big Egg) for the last few days, and I’ve been waking up jet lagged at 3 am with no idea how to fall back asleep, how to turn on my hotel room TV, or where the day will take me. I’m pretty good on my own, but walking around in a city where I don’t speak the language and don’t know anyone has been humbling, to say the least. Everything from ordering breakfast to asking where the stadium exits are has been an adventure in itself, and I’ve been thinking about the movie Lost in Translation a lot.
Anyway, yesterday I trudged down to my hotel lobby around 10 am in search of coffee, and spotted the first Cubs fan of my trip. (Dodger fans are everywhere.).
The man was sitting down waiting for friends to arrive, so I walked up to him and asked where he was from. It turned out that this lovely person named Rene is a long-time usher in the bleachers at Wrigley and he flew here on his own dime, unsure if he will even secure a ticket to one of these games. (The get-in price to Cubs vs. Dodgers on opening day is over $2000 on StubHub). I clocked his replica 2016 World Series ring he proudly wears every day, along with his well-worn Cubbie zip up jacket and knew I had to sit down and talk baseball with this dude.
After a few minutes, his friends walked up. I introduced myself, feeling a little social anxiety after two days of not really being able to communicate with other human beings due to the language barrier. “Hey are you Molly Knight?” one of them said. “I subscribe to your newsletter. Come to the Cubs bar with us!”
The man’s name was Al Yellon, and he writes for Bleed Cubbie Blue. I about cried tears of joy. A friend?! A Cubs bar?! I’m not a big drinker— especially not at 10 am— but I figured, well…..it’s 6 pm back in Los Angeles. And drinking Japanese beer is research for this newsletter, right? Right?! Let’s roll with it.
Reader, they turned the TGI Fridays next to the Tokyo Dome into a Cubs bar.
It was so sweet. <3
Al told me he has been to 553 consecutive Cubs home games (not counting the Covid season when fans weren’t allowed). He sat in the right field bleachers for 27 years, but he moved over to left field 18 years ago. His partner of 18 years, Miriam Romain, rounded out our group of four at the restaurant. She is also a diehard Cubs fan, but *only* attends maybe 75 of their 81 home games (she won’t go when it’s freezing cold and raining, because she is a reasonable person).
I learned two things from Al yesterday that I will remember for the rest of my life.