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Date: Monday, May 07, 2001 9:19 PM
Subject: Fwd: Story


>Thought you guys might like this since you don't get the Express News.
>

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From: "King, David" <DKing@express-news.net>
To: "'pedraz8811@aol.com'" <pedraz8811@aol.com>
Subject: Story
Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 09:59:57 -0500
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Rodney,

Our Web site is atrocious. Here is the story, as it appeared in Sunday's
paper. I am sending your mom some extra copies today.

David King

"Wa" is a Japanese term meaning unity and team spirit. Every person playing
baseball in Japan must have it.
*
- Author Robert Whiting, from his book on Japanese baseball, "You Gotta Have
Wa"
,
David King
Rodney Pedraza has gotten wa.*
Oh sure, he's still a gaijin, *an imported player, in the insulated world of
Japanese baseball.
But as he starts his third season with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks* of the
Pacific League, the Cuero High School graduate and former University of
Texas pitcher has earned the respect of his peers - and developed a mutual
respect.
"(The players) know how the system works, how we could be here one year and
gone the next," said Pedraza, noting that most non-Japanese players don't
stay with teams more than a season or two. "It's hard for them to open up to
us, knowing that, but since this is my third year, most have opened up to
me."
It doesn't hurt that Pedraza, who never climbed above the Triple-A level in
North America, has become the top closer in Japan.
In 1999, he had 27 saves. Last year, he had 35, tying a Pacific League
record, and earned the Fireman Award as the league's top reliever.
Pedraza had been a starter throughout his pro career, but the Hawks needed a
middle reliever when he joined them early in the '99 season. One night, a
pitcher was hit by a line drive, and he wound up throwing the final three
innings for a save.
"They asked me if I could close, and I said I would give it a shot," he
said. "I told them I didn't have closer stuff, but I would go after guys and
throw strikes."
It's worked so far. The combination of a sinking fastball, a slider and
amazing control - he walked four and struck out 40 last season - has made
him almost automatic for the Hawks, who have gone from the league's doormats
to contenders the past two seasons.
The Hawks, managed by Sadaharu Oh,* Japan's home-run champion, won their
first Japan Series in 26 years in 1999.
"It was kind of overwhelming for me because it was my first year, I made the
All-Star team, I was being successful at something I hadn't done since
college ..... and as a team we were in the middle of a pennant race,"
Pedraza said. "It was over before I could really get a grasp on what was
going on."
He got the final strikeout of the Japan Series-clinching game against the
Nippon Ham Fighters.
But he admits he was a little puzzled by the postgame celebration, which
included the players tossing Oh in the air multiple times, a march around
the field with the championship pennant and a solemn ceremony in the
clubhouse.
The adjustment to Japanese culture - on and off the field - can be
overwhelming for a lot of players, as Whiting wrote in his 1988 book. But
Pedraza went to Japan prepared to be flexible.
He got his opportunity through Lee Tunnell, who pitched three seasons in
Japan. Tunnell was his pitching coach at the Rangers' Class A team in Port
Charlotte, Fla., in 1998, and he recommended Pedraza to scout Shin Mizumori*
the next spring.
Knowing he wasn't going to get beyond the Triple-A level with the Rangers,
Pedraza, 29 at the time, signed with Mizumori.
He sat down with Tunnell and Mizumori before leaving and got a full
briefing.
"They told me to have an open mind and go have fun," Pedraza said. "The
culture is very different, but it doesn't affect me that much. I've gotten
used to most of it, or at least the things that mean anything to me."
One problem has been the language. Although he has a translator, Pedraza
said he misses the camaraderie with his teammates, some of whom speak no
English.
"There are some neat guys that I'm missing out on only because I can't speak
to them," he said. "I'd like to know about them and what they are thinking,
and I can't ask," he said. "We try to talk and just end up smiling at each
other and walking away."
His main contact with the English-speaking world is his laptop computer and
the Internet. Pedraza, who is single, talks to his mother virtually every
day on the telephone as well. She also visits occasionally.
"We've been to Japan his first two years. It's a completely different world
over there," said his mother, Imogene Stakes.
Pedraza also takes advantage of his brief offseason - teams that make the
playoffs don't finish their seasons until the end of October, and spring
training starts Feb. 1.
"That's not much of an offseason, because that's the time I have to spend
getting ready for the following year," said Pedraza, who recently bought a
home and property near Cuero. "I have to squeeze that in along with my
hunting and fishing."
It's not easy, but right now, he wouldn't trade his life.
"I don't miss much about playing in the States," he said. "I am playing a
game I love, and it doesn't matter where it is."
Sounds a lot like he's gotten wa.