Apparently it is a jinx to be the manager of the Oakland Athletics and be named to head a Major League All-Star tour of Japan. For the second time in four years, an A's skipper has been changed after getting the assignment to lead a visiting team in the nichibei yakyu.
In October of 2002, then-Oakland field boss Art Howe was named the post-season Japan tour team manager but, by the time November came around and the club arrived in Tokyo, Howe was no longer with the A's but instead wearing the uniform of the New York Mets, who had just hired him to replace Bobby Valentine.
Now Ken Macha, appointed this year's MLB Japan tour team pilot as the Athletics season was winding down, has been fired, and his return to Japan has been pre-empted for a second time.