Japan's sixth all-weather stadium was the setting last week as the Yomiuri Giants and Chunichi Dragons played the first official pro baseball games at the Sapporo Dome. The June 26-28 series was won by the Giants, who took the first and third games. Chunichi won Game 2.
Sellout crowds of 43,000 (mostly Giants fans) each of the three nights celebrated their new ballpark by drinking Sapporo Beer -- lots of it -- and getting used to a new atmosphere on the island of Hokkaido: night baseball. Pro ballgames have been played for years at Sapporo's Maruyama Stadium and in the cities of Hakodate, Kushiro, Asahikawa and Obihiro, but all during the day, as none of the fields have lights.
Trivia buffs will remember American left-hander Darrell May of Yomiuri throwing the first pitch at the Sapporo Dome, and it was Dragons leadoff man Kosuke Fukudome who got the first hit, scored the first run, marked the first RBI and hit the first homer when he slammed May's initial serve over the right-center-field wall. No doubt there will be many more homers hit and great games played at what seems to me to be the most attractive of this country's domed stadiums.