BEAT ME TO IT AGAIN, REPOZ!


I worry that this will cause Cubs fans to find the grave of the Billy Goat in order to exhume it and bring it's rottened-away bones Wrigley.

Also: if Japan loses in the WBC, Yomiuri Fans will blame it on the Colonel being found. Bank on it.

Sounds like a Simpson-esqe mob. Must have been a great party.

I worry that this will cause Cubs fans to find the grave of the Billy Goat

Mmm. . . Gyros sandwiches!

Sounds like a Simpson-esqe mob. Must have been a great party.

Random Lady: Look, it's the long lost Colonel Sanders statue!

Homer: Chicken? Where!?

They don't explain this story fully. IIRC they picked people out from the crowd that resembled each of the Hanshin starting 9. They couldn't find any white guys for Randy Bass, which is why they threw in Colonel Sanders.

It wasn't just exuberant vandalism.

Was it playing "Dixie" on Babe Ruth's piano?

So what are the baseball salaries like in Japan?

Huh, I always thought Randy Bass was black.

No, white, with a bearded lumberjack look

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065766/1/index.htm

Cool article from 1987 on Bass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Bass

The Curse Of the Colonel

Bass is also famous in Japan for the "Curse of the Colonel." Following the 1985 Series victory, revelers celebrated by calling off the names of team members one by one. At each name, a fan who looked like that player would jump into the filthy Dotonbori canal. For Bass, someone threw a life-sized model of Colonel Sanders, the mascot of Kentucky Fried Chicken and the only close-at-hand likeness of a bearded American, into the river. The statue disappeared and is said to have caused the subsequent decade-long dismal performance in the Central League.

In an attempt to remove the curse, fans made repeated attempts to find the model, making offerings to the statues of the Colonel for forgiveness. In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with one of the worst records in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from rabid Tigers fans. The newly replaced Colonel Sanders statue in the Dotonbori KFC branch is bolted down to prevent a repeat of the incident. The Tigers failed to win the series, so the curse is presumably intact.

On March 10, 2009, the top half of the statue (minus hands and legs) originally thrown into the Dotonbori River was recovered during construction of a walkway. A diver said that he had thought he had found a large barrel, but was surprised when it turned out to be the upper body of Colonel.[2] The statue's legs and right hand were recovered the following day. The statue is still missing its glasses and left hand. KFC is reportledly considering donating the statue to the Osaka Tigers' home stadium.[3]

making offerings to the statues of the Colonel for forgiveness

Awesome.

A thousand years from now, he will be venerated as a god, his 11 Golden Branches of Wisdom a guideline for harmonious and just living.

Huh, I always thought Randy Bass was black.

Same for me. I guess we're thinking of this guy.

I have to admit that I, too, confused Randy Bass for Kevin Bass until 30 minutes ago.

Huh, I always thought Randy Bass was black.

You're thinking of Kevin Bass.

(EDIT) Oh, goddamnit. I guess we know what happens when I Bassume...

"...his 11 Golden Branches of Wisdom a guideline for harmonious and just living."

No! The recipe for enlightenment will always be a secret!

Does Repoz take his meals at the House of the Venerable and Inscrutable Colonel?

So what are the baseball salaries like in Japan?

Easier to make $300K to, say, $1.5M than in MLB, not likely to make more that. So a very attractive option for a AAAA/fringe player who would be making $65K or $10,750 (if outrighted and playing in AAA) here.

yeah, the curse stays until ALL of the statue is found.

The full excavation of the statue is a job for Senator Randy Bass and the Oklahoma Senate.

That Bass article was fantastic. I thought I'd heard all the good Rickey stories, then this arrives:

Rickey had a pair of heels on that were about four inches high. Everything was fine until these people came in yelling that they had guns. Then they started shooting.

Of course, the stuff about Bass is great, too.

Can someone give me the final 1987 stats for Bass and Ochiai? Having a hell of a time finding historical NPB stats.

The statue of Colonel Sanders from one of our local KFC outlets disappeared recently.

This website should be easier to find.

(Almost) Complete Japanese Baseball Statistics.

Bass is under "Retired Foreign Player Batting Stats." It's not quite Baseball Reference, but it does the job. Diamond Mind disk homebrewers beware!

Well, Bass finished in basically a dead heat with Ochiai, so let me just say:

America, #### YEAH

"Can someone give me the final 1987 stats for Bass and Ochiai?"

IIRC, Bass's line is also printed in "You Gotta Have Wa".

Don't they have to blow up the statue to lift the curse?

Another Japanese Baseball site.

320/403/607 for Bass, 331/435/602 for Ochiai, Jeff K.