Wladimir Balentien: The New NPB Home Run King

Wladimir Balentien celebrating
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Wladimir Balentien has broken the single-season home run mark in the Nippon Baseball League. Balentien hit his 55th and record tying homer on Wednesday. On Sunday, he hit two home runs to become the new single-season home run champ of Japan. The record though, has, and will be surrounded in controversy. 

Sadaharu Oh hit 55 home runs in 1964 to set the record. Oh is considered the greatest player in the history of Japanese baseball. He has the professional home run record with 864 round-trippers. Twenty-one years later, Randy Bass was within one home run of tying the record. Many Japanese players and fans did not want a foreign player breaking such a sacred record. On the last day of the season, Bass' Hanshin Tigers faced the Yomouri Giants. The Giants' managers was Oh. Bass was intentional walked four times. In a fifth at-bat, Bass reached out and poked a pitch into the outfield. Oh denied telling his pitchers to throw balls. It was later revealed that a coach would fine a pitcher one thousand dollars for throwing a strike to Bass.

In 2001, another event involving Oh and the record occurred. Tuffy Rhodes, also an American, tied the home run record. He then went to play the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, managed by Oh. The pitchers on Fukuoka Daiei Hawks refused to throw strikes to Rhodes. Oh denied involvement again. One of his coaches said the pitchers were following what he told them. The coach, Yoshiharu Wakana, commented on the race, saying, "It would be distasteful to see a foreign player break Oh's record."

The next year, another non-Japanese player came close to breaking the record. This time it was Alex Cabrera of Venezuela. He tied the record with five games left in the season. He, like his fellow foreign players who came close to the record, saw little strikes. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes, but they did not. Cabrera didn't hit another home run.

Now, back to Balentien. He is in his third season with the Yakult Swallowers of the NPB's Central League. Born in Curacao, he was signed by the Mariners in 2000 at the age of 16. He made his major league debut on September 4, 2007 with the Reds. Two years later he was traded to the Mariners. He played the 2010 season in Triple-A. Before the 2011 season, he signed with Yakult. He had 147 minor league homers and 15 major league dingers in his career in the states. 

Wladimir Balentien
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This year, Balentien has been outstanding. He has a .338 batting average, .462 on-base percentage, .816 slugging percentage, 132 hits, 57 homers, and 120 ribbies. While there has not been controversy over team's not throwing strikes, there still has been controversy. In June, NPB announced they are using a livelier ball, without notifying the players. That may spark some controversy around baseball if he really is the champ. But, Oh also used "juiced" equipment. He was using a compression bat, which could hit a baseball ball farther then the average bat. These bats were banned in the MLB, but not in NPB until the 1982 season. So, you could say the two even out. 

In the end, you need to give Balentien his props. He earned this honor. And hopefully, the people of Japan will accept that.