Barring a major natural catastrophe, war or government upheaval, the vernacular news headlines for the next several months are almost certain to be dominated by baseball. Specifically, former Nippon Ham Fighters hurler, Yu Darvish, who on April 8 is scheduled take the mound in his first start for the Texas Rangers of the American League.
In his last season in Japan, the 25-year-old Darvish won 18 games and had a remarkably low earned-run average of 1.44, so he begins his U.S. career with high, perhaps unreasonably high, expectations — $107.7 million worth.
Not only is Darvish expected to excel on the playing field: Win or lose, a large contingent of Japanese reporters will be poised to pounce on anything that smacks of a departure from upstanding decorum. His manager, coaches and teammates will be pumped for their observations about his performance and insights into him as a person. His behavior when out of uniform will be tracked almost as closely as his activities on the baseball diamond.
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