Kroon latest player to attempt to break 'Yomiuri jinx'

Can Marc Kroon break a jinx with the Giants?

Marc Kroon, the fire-balling, fork-balling All-Star closer with the Yokohama BayStars the past three seasons, is the latest in a long line of foreign players in Japanese baseball to have signed with the Yomiuri Giants after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract with his former team.

The list of gaikokujin players having left Central and Pacific League teams for the glory — and, yes, the money — that comes with being a member of the Kyojin goes back to 1978 when John Sipin, hot-hitting second baseman of the Taiyo Whales (forerunners of the BayStars), skipped over to the Giants after six seasons with the team that brought him to Japan.