Eyewitness update on Nishi, now an All-Star

Joe Steinberg from Burnsville sent along this eyewitness account of a scouting mission to watch Tsuyoshi Nishioka play in the Japan League:

"My son Kyle and I went to a Hanshin Tigers' game last night to watch All-Star second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka-san play. How did he return to All-Star status so quickly, you ask?

It was obvious to us that there were five small things overlooked by the Twins' scouts when they signed him:

1-He plays on an all dirt infield in Japan and thus can't lose routine ground balls in the grass.

2-He has a Japanese-speaking hitting coach to constantly remind him to keep his feet 'in' in the batter's box when he swings the bat. He does that here.

3-He likes wearing his number, 7, and not having some other "slugger" wearing it.

4-Japanese baseball fans have organized and loud cheers for each player when he's at bat. Nishi badly missed his cheers in Minnesota; obviously, the boos didn't work.

Thanks, Joe, for the Nishi update. The latest numbers I was able to find on our old friend were .277, two home runs, 18 RBI in 267 at-bats. He had played in 65 of the Tigers' 66 games.

Nishioka was a runaway leader in the competition to be the Central League's starting second baseman in the Japan League's All-Star series. In recent years, Japan has started having three All-Star games, scheduled during a one-week break in the regular schedule in mid-July.

Steinberg had one other note to offer from his trip to a Japanese ballgame:

"The Japanese have come up with a novel way to sell and serve beer at their baseball games: Attractive and strong young ladies walk around with kegs on their back. Don't ever let the Vikings see this. They'd have their cheerleaders pulling double-duty all game long."

Joe sent along this photo of a woman vendor humping her keg through the stands: