Japanese baseball will have at least one American manager for the eighth consecutive year in 2010, as Marty Brown takes over as field boss of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles after four years managing the Hiroshima Carp.

Trey Hillman began the string when he became skipper of the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2003, and the trend reached its peak in 2007 when there were four U.S. managers: Brown, Hillman, Bobby Valentine with the Chiba Lotte Marines and Terry Collins on the Orix Buffaloes.

When he assumes the Eagles post, Brown will become the third manager in the history of the Eagles and the second foreigner to manage two Japanese teams.