March/April 2015 Digimag

INSIDE: JAPANESE BASEBALL VETERAN RYOJI AIKAWA INSIDE: COLLIN MCHUGH IS

IN THE CLEAR

INSIDE: US BOXING CHAMP MARLEN ESPARZA

INSIDE: NBA LEGEND DAVID ROBINSON

INSIDE: BOXER MANNY PACQUIAO IS PREPARING

TO FACE FLOYD MAYWEATHER, JR.

FEATURES

CONTENTS

CLOSEUP:

Around the world: Euan Murray (p4) Women in sports: Marlen Esparza(p6) In the news: Manny Pacquiao (p8) Where are they now: David Robinson (p10)

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IN THE CLEAR

A long stretch in minor league baseball had Collin McHugh doubting whether or not he should continue playing the game, but a break and some clarity helped him see that it was well worth the journey

BY STEPHEN COPELAND

AIRING IT OUT

Jonathansloane / Getty Images

Memory Lane and Life’s Lessons

BY BRETT HONEYCUTT

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STILL ON THE DIAMOND

Veteran catcher Ryoji Aikawa credits Christian faith for a 21-year career in Japanese baseball

BY WAYNE GRACZYK

Courtesy of Danny Wuerffel

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Stacy Revere / Getty Images

OPINION

David Rogers / Getty Images

Cover photo: Bob Levey / Getty Images

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AIRING IT OUT

BY BRETT HONEYCUTT

OPINION

b h o n e y c u t t @ s p o r t s s p e c t r u m . c o m | F o l l o w @ b re t t _ h o n e y c u t t

Memory Lane and Life’s Lessons Jonathansloane / Getty Images

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trip down memory lane brought me some cash, great conversations, new memories to share and a lesson about what our earthly possessions can teach us about life here and the life to come.

It also reminded me of a simpler time when I was a kid, where baseball ruled and where popcorn, a slice of pizza and a coke were less than $3, and where summers were long and fun because of the simple game of baseball.

I have always been fascinated by the game. The smell of the leather gloves, pine tar and wooden bats, and cowhide or horsehide baseballs (whichever they used back then) are still fresh in my memory.

Even smelling newly cut grass now can elicit those memories of watching my brother play at the local park when he was a 7- or 8-years old (and I was too young to join the team), and later playing on the team with my brother, playing baseball on my grandfather’s farm, or just watching the local minor league team.

Mainly, though, baseball reminds me of newness (it’s spring time, school is close to an end and everyone is making plans for the summer and then another school year), and a freshness and long summer nights.

The memories of watching this simple game, though, are what I can’t escape. I saw plenty of baseball growing up, although then I didn’t appreciate it for the strategizing that can make a game seem like a chess match.

If I wasn’t playing baseball with a team or in my grandfather’s pasture (where a weather worn, burgundy-colored barn sat in between center and right field and my dad threw ball after ball while we hit and fielded), we were watching games in Charlotte, N.C., at one of America’s last wooden baseball stadiums, Crockett Park.

The team, the Charlotte Orioles and later the Charlotte O’s, were the Baltimore Orioles’ AA team (two steps from the majors). We saw Oriole greats Eddie Murray, Mike Boddiker and Cal Ripken, Jr., and future stars on visiting teams like Don Mattingly, Willie McGee, Jesse Barfield, Bo Jackson, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire before they made it big and when they viewed signing autographs as a pleasure and not a chore.

We saw former big league greats (Don Baylor and Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm) and future big league managers (Grady Little and Buck Showalter), old-time greats (Bob Feller) who would show up to sign autographs for free, and even enter-

tainment that rivaled the big league clubs (the San Diego Chicken and Max Patkin).

What I remember fondly, besides the time spent with my mom (who went to games because she loved us and wanted to be with us), dad (who loved baseball and loved us more) and brother (who enjoyed the game more than me and kept score in his scorebook likely better than the official scorer) at games, though, was the memorabilia we collected.

We bought programs, took photos, got autographs, cracked bats, baseballs and game-worn hats from players, and acquired other memorabilia from the late 1970s until the late 1980s.

The collectibles were a cheap way to enjoy the game as a kid, and they still elicit the same kid-like memories today.

Recently I had a chance to sell some of the memorabilia (and also give some away). It made me think about what I used to treasure and what I treasure now.

It also made me realize that what made me happy then still makes me happy now, but in a different way. Back then, I lived for it. Today, I enjoy it but it’s not everything to me like it was then.

I live for deeper things – to encourage people and help them see Christ in a way that will motivate them to see Him, whether they are Christians or not.

Brett Honeycutt is Because if things alone made us the managing editor happy and fulfilled us, wouldn’t the of Sports Spectrum Creator of all things bring us even magazine. Follow more fulfillment? him on Twitter: @Brett_Honeycutt.

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AROUND THE WORLD: EUAN MURRAY

Euan Murray INTERNATIONAL RUGBY STAR EUAN MURRAY HAS GIVEN UP A LOT FOR HIS CONVICTIONS, BUT HE’S NOT BOTHERED BY THE DECISION TO HONOR GOD

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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uan Murray may best be known for what he doesn’t do as opposed to what he does do, but that’s fine with him.

Murray, a Scottish professional rugby player since 2001 and who plays for the Glasgow Warriors in the Pro12 and European Champions Cup and the Scottish national team, doesn’t play rugby on Sunday, and he doesn’t participate in non-religious activity, including interviews, on that day, either.

It’s a commitment Murray made in 2009, a decision that linked him and another great Scottish athlete, 1924 Olympian Eric Liddell, who refused to run on Sundays and was the subject of the Academy Award-winning movie, Chariots of Fire.

“It’s basically all or nothing - following Jesus. I don’t believe in pick-n-mix Christianity. I believe the Bible is the Word of God, so who am I to ignore something from it?” Murray told multiple media outlets.

Despite winning two World Cups, five Six Nations tournaments, he understands what matters.

“The most important thing in my life will always be serving Christ,” said the 34-year-old Murray.

Sunday is “a day where I can enjoy the Lord…ultimately rugby’s not what fuels my happiness in life.”

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WOMEN IN SPORTS: MARLEN ESPARZA

Marlen Esparza MARLEN ESPARZA’S BOXING CAREER NEARLY ENDED TWICE, BUT SUCCESS IN HER SPORT AND FOCUSING ON THE 2016 RIO OLYMPICS HAS KEPT HER GOING

Rick Kern / Getty Images

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arlen Esparza is known for becoming the first nine-time U.S. boxing champion in history.

She’s probably the only former high school class president to dominate women’s boxing, as well.

Esparza, who won her 10th U.S. title in January (nine U.S. national championships and one U.S. Olympic trials) when she beat nemesis Ginny Fuchs for the flyweight title, nearly quit the sport in 2007 after winning bronze at the 2006 World Championship and winning her second consecutive U.S. title in 2007.

But after hearing that the 2012 Olympics would include women’s boxing for the first time, she decided to stay with the sport and become part of history. A bronze at the London Olympics, though, gave her a hint of what was possible and she decided to postpone retirement once more with the hopes of winning the 2016 Olympic gold in Rio. “All honor and glory goes to God. That simple. I’m just blessed to be on the ride,” tweeted Esparza, who has also won the 2008 Pan Am Games and the 2014 World Championship. “Love God, love what you do, and love yourself. You can’t go wrong with that.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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Wesley Hitt

CLICK HERE

to watch Manny Pacquiao...

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IN THE NEWS: MANNY PACQUIAO

Manny Pacquiao MANNY PACQUIAO’S LONG-AWAITED BOXING MATCH WITH FLOYD MAYWEATHER, JR., WILL LIKELY BREAK RECORDS, BUT IT WILL ALSO GIVE A PLATFORM TO A CHANGED MAN

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he fight that seemed destined to never happen, is now scheduled to take place: Manny Pacquiao will fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on May 2 in what experts are saying will be the richest purse in boxing history.

The two are legendary in the ring.

Mayweather is a five-division champion, has never lost (47-0, 26 knockouts), and has been rated the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world by most boxing experts.

Pacquiao (pah-key-OW) is the first and only eight-division champion and is 57-5-2 in his career.

But that’s where the comparisons end.

Mayweather is widely known for flaunting his money and possessions, his flamboyance, run-ins with the law and his lavish and promiscuous lifestyle.

Pacquiao was known for his promiscuous and lavish lifestyle, as well, until he had an encounter with God and became a Christian in 2011.

In 2011 after his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, he said God spoke to him and he stopped cheating on his wife, drinking and doing other things that seemed to be destroying him.

“I’m happy because I found the right way, salvation, born again,” he told The Guardian newspaper and online news service. “We are required to be born again, all of us. Christ said unless we are born again we cannot enter the kingdom of God. So it’s very important to me. Jesus Christ said: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ There is no other way. The only way is through Jesus.”

He told Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace in February: “When you have Jesus in your life, when you have God in your life, like the thing in this world is not important to your heart. The more important is God in your heart.”

Many of the secular news services have talked about Pacquiao’s conversion to Christianity and given an open platform to share his faith.

Pacquiao, who is also a politician in the Philippines and is currently building a church there, seems to be passionate about his mission.

“What we’re doing by building this church is obeying what the Bible says,” Pacquiao told Yahoo! Sports. “We’re going to feed the poor, help the widows and teach and inspire the children about the greatness of the Lord. That’s what we’re told to do and that’s what I am doing.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? DAVID ROBINSON

David Robinson EVEN IN RETIREMENT, NBA LEGEND DAVID ROBINSON CONTINUES TO MAKE AN IMPACT

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CLICK HERE

to watch David Robinson...

he Naval Academy’s most recognizable basketball alum earned another recognition recently.

Former NBA star and Hall of Famer David Robinson earned the Distinguished Graduate Award from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Alumni Association on March 27 after demonstrating “commitment to a lifetime of service” and making “significant contributions to the U.S. Naval Academy, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the nation.”

“Our 2015 distinguished graduates join an elite group of leaders who are great role models for our Brigade of Midshipmen,” said Byron F. Marchant, president and CEO, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation, who graduated from the academy in 1978. “They embody the Naval Academy mission and represent an extraordinary spectrum of achievement and service to the Naval Academy, their communities and our country.”

Robinson, who has appeared on the cover of Sports Spectrum the most of any athlete, received the award along with three others during the 17th annual ceremony.

He graduated from the academy in 1987 after taking Navy to three NCAA tournaments (including the Elite Eight in 1986) and winning the Naismith College Player of the Year and the John Wooden College Player of the Year awards.

After serving two years of active duty in the navy, he began playing with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Impressively, during his first six years in the NBA, he served in the Naval Reserve, while also winning the 1990 NBA Rookie of the Year, the 1992 Defensive Player of the Year, the 1994 scoring title, and the 1995 MVP. He also played on three U.S. Olympic basketball teams (including the 1992 Dream Team), winning two gold medals and one bronze.

Robinson ended his 14-year NBA career with two NBA titles (1999, 2003), 10 All-Star Game appearances, the 2001 NBA Sportsmanship Award and recognition on the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time team in 1996.

After retiring in 2003, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice (in 2009 for his individual accomplishments and in 2010 for playing on the 1992 Dream Team) and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame twice (in 2008 as an individual and in 2009 for his role on the 1992 Dream Team).

He’s not just resting on his past accomplishments, though. He has his hand in ventures outside of basketball now. He began the Admiral Capital Group and Admiral Capital Real Estate, and, along with this wife, Valerie, the IDEA Carver Academy, which was named after botanist and inventor George Washington Carver and provides more opportunities for inner-city children.

“I’d rather be out there moving for God because you can’t stand still,” said Robinson, who became a Christian in 1991, concerning his retirement.

“You cannot. It’s a love, it’s a passion. God didn’t stand still and leave me out there, and it’s the same passion He’s given me for other people.”

- BRETT HONEYCUTT

Tim Defrisco / Getty Images

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IN TH E IN THE INCLEAR THE CLEAR A long stretch in minor league baseball had Collin McHugh doubting whether or not he should continue playing the game, but a break and some clarity helped him see that it was well worth the journey

BY STEPHEN COPELAND

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Stacy Revere / Getty Images

Al Bello/Getty Images

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ouston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh and his wife’s three-bedroom, three-bathroom house in the East Atlanta Village is more than a home. It’s a symbol.

Their five-year journey together through marriage has been anything but tranquil, but their new home seems to represent how far they’ve come and also how they’ve survived as a couple. In a sense, their house is a metaphor for the normalcy they’ve always craved—especially in the helter-skelter realm of professional athletics.

Other marriages might have fallen apart at the cost of following a dream; other dreams might have fallen apart in an effort to save the relationship. For the McHughs, however, somehow both have stayed in tact.

But it wasn’t easy.

bo, which happens a lot more often than people would think,” McHugh says. “I remember saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore; it’s not worth it; I’m not a dumb person; I can go back to school, get a job, and provide for my family in another way.’”

What do you do when your passion is tearing you away from the person you love? Maybe it was time to go home, time for a change.

SPRING IN BINGHAMTON Sitting on his front porch in Binghamton, New York in 2011—surrounded by southern New York’s mix of mountains and hills—Collin McHugh remembers picking up his phone to call the director of his farm team, the Binghamton Mets. It was a beautiful, spring day in the northeast, but the peaceful weather did not match the turmoil brewing in his soul.

“I was just tired and lonely, and over it,” McHugh says. “I was just sitting there on my front porch and was thinking to myself, ‘This is it, I’ve got my bags packed and I’m ready to go.’”

After being drafted by the New York Mets in 2008, McHugh had gone up and down within the Mets farm system for three straight years.

This particular instance, he had just gotten called up to Class AA after starting the season in Class A. He had decided that if he were sent back down to Class A, he would walk away from the game he loved.

“You just have so little control over anything in baseball,” McHugh says. “You control how you release the ball—and that’s it.

You don’t control who wins, who loses, when you’re released, when you’re traded; nothing else is in your hands, so it kind of feels like a crapshoot a lot of times.”

If McHugh were still single, that’d be one thing—he’d have no problem continuing to pursue his dream of pitching consistently for an organization in Major League Baseball.

But he wasn’t single; he was married. Upon getting drafted in 2008, he had married Ashley in 2009. But the first two years of their marriage, with McHugh hopping from team to team within the Mets development system, had been the exact opposite of newlywed bliss. This particular instance, when he was sitting on his porch in Binghamton, he hadn’t seen his wife for six weeks.

“She didn’t know whether to come see me, (ABOVE) Starting pitcher Collin McHugh of the Houston Astros pitches against the Seattle Mariners on or if I was going to get sent back down, so September 9, 2014, in Seattle, Washington. (RIGHT) McHugh winces in pain after being hit on the wrist we were kind of in this minor league lim- on a line drive in the seventh inning on September 15, 2014, in Houston, Texas.

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THE CYCLE McHugh’s wife, family, and friends encouraged him otherwise.

“Stick it out through the rest of this year,” they told him. “Reevaluate once the season is over.”

McHugh listened, and the second half of his season resulted in the most promise he’d seen in three long years. And on August 22, 2012, McHugh made his major league debut against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field, where he pitched seven scoreless innings and totaled nine strikeouts. He only surrendered two hits and a walk, but still couldn’t get the win, as the Mets lost to the Rockies 1-0.

Despite McHugh’s solid start, his debut would end up being one of his best performances over the next three years.

He only started in three more big league games in 2012—posting a 7.59 ERA and 0-4 record on the mound—before he was demoted, once again, to the minor leagues.

The 2013 season was much of the same old story for McHugh.

Hopping from team to team. Back and forth between the minors and majors. Even playing for two different organizations, the Mets and the Rockies.

He only started in five MLB games in 2013, one with the Mets and four with the Rockies, posting a not-so-glamorous 10.29 ERA with the Mets and 9.95 ERA with the Rockies—still unable to win his first MLB game.

Once again, McHugh wondered what the impact was of the lifestyle he had chosen. In all, since being drafted in 2008, he had lived in 19 different places.

Nineteen. Sometimes it’d be with Ashley; sometimes it’d be without her. Often, because McHugh’s lifestyle was so gypsy-like and inconsistent, Ashley would remain home with her immediate family in Atlanta while McHugh was relocated from place to place.

“Most of all, it’s guilt—guilt for leaving your wife or your family or your friends,” McHugh says. “When you leave for spring training, you don’t come back for eight months, and it’s like, that’s it— it’s a whole season of that hanging over your head, of me saying to myself, ‘I know what I’m missing, birthdays and weddings, and the birth of my niece and all these things.’ It just starts to wear on you after a while; and when things are going poorly on the field, that’s when everything starts to culminate.”

McHugh’s struggles on the baseball field had thrown his marriage into an exhausting cycle. Why did they get married to begin with if they didn’t get to enjoy the perks of being married? They hardly saw one another, and it was as if they were living two separate lives.

“It was like living a single life under the restrictions of marriage,” McHugh says. “Our single friends around us were enjoying it, enjoying everything about it, dating and doing all of that stuff,

“When you leave for spring training, you don’t come back for eight months, and it’s like, that’s it—it’s a whole season of that hanging over your head, of me saying to myself, ‘I know what I’m missing, birthdays and weddings, and the birth of my niece and all these things.’ It just starts to wear on you after a while...”

Bob Levey / Getty Images

and you are like, you start to question, ‘Why did we get married?

What’s the point in this?’ I never questioned it to the point that I wished I wasn’t married. I always questioned, ‘Why am I playing baseball?’ I knew I wanted to be married—she was great and wonderful—but why am I torturing myself playing baseball and not being able to be with her and see her?

“For us, it was that internal struggle of, I know I want to be with this person because they are the person God made for me—I know that—but it just doesn’t seem logical. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to work. I want to be married to you, but did we make a mistake? Should we have waited? I would always come back to, ‘Well, I’ll just quit baseball; I’ll stop playing; it’ll be fine.’ She would say, ‘No, that’s your gift. It’s what you love doing, you’re really good at it, you’ve worked at it your entire life. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I told you to stop playing baseball if you want to be with me.’

“Was I taking things away from her? Or do I give up my dream so we can have the normal 9 to 5 [work day]—the more simple life with a simple job?”

FAITH IN THE PROCESS At the crux of all the big decisions McHugh and Ashley had to make during this time was their faith in Christ. Though the inconsistencies of the world they were living in might have tested their marriage and the survival of their dreams, they clung to the One who understood what they couldn’t understand.

A passage McHugh clung to in his lowest moments was Jeremiah 29:12-15: “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to

you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Those verses, of course, follow the frequently quoted Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The solution McHugh found in Scripture, however, had less to do with getting an answer to his prayers than it did resting in the presence of the One who could strengthen him in the process that him and his wife were enduring.

“For me, it always came back to the promise in Jeremiah, and a promise in my life that He has proved over and over again in every big decision I’ve had to make,” says McHugh. “When God says, ‘Seek me with all of your heart,’ literally every big decision I’ve had to make—where I’m asking God for wisdom for just a clear head about things—it always comes back to, ‘Seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart, and I will be found by you.’ Just the idea that God is never far off—His answer is never far off, even if things look super weird, like nothing is ever going to work out, the reality that we will always have that line of communication with Him. It’s never cloaked, and it’s not conditional; it’s just the

You could say that it was their seeking of God and His presence in their lives that carried them through the havoc and confusion.

Then, following the disappointing 2013 season with the Rockies, McHugh received news that would change the direction of his career.

best, and it’s better than anything you can ask for. For me, that’s something I’ve always been able to go back to.”

“But I had a fresh start.”

In his debut, however, McHugh struck out 12 batters in 6 2/3

“Just the idea that God is never far off—His answer is never far off, even if things look super weird...”

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BREAKTHROUGH When the Houston Astros decided to pick up McHugh off waivers in December 2013, McHugh had to be wondering: Would this be any different than the other organizations, the Mets and the Rockies? Or would his sojourn to Texas result in the same inconsistencies and headaches professional baseball had caused him and his wife for nearly a half decade?

The Astros manager at the time, Bo Porter, told McHugh, “You belong here,” and the coaching staff mentioned to McHugh that the spin rate on his curveball was one of the highest in Major League Baseball.

“They said, ‘We believe in you, we have confidence in you, go do your thing,” McHugh told ESPN. When McHugh got his first big league start for the Astros against Seattle on April 22, he took the mound with an 0-8 MLB record and had an 8.94 ERA—a summation of his rocky journey and struggles through professional baseball.

“Not many people cared about my story, and with good reason, because I hadn’t really done anything noteworthy,” McHugh says.

Glenn JohnsonOtto / Texas Greule A&M Jr Athletics / Getty Images

Otto Gruele Jr. / Getty Images

scoreless innings to earn his first MLB victory. His next start, McHugh took a one-hitter into the ninth inning.

“The coaching staff was really encouraging and great with sticking behind me,” McHugh says. “They were enjoying my story as much as we were, so it was a good marriage between the two.”

Overall, McHugh finished the season with an 11-9 record. He was especially hot the final two months of the season, when he made 10 starts and was 7-0 with a 1.77 ERA and 55 strikeouts.

Heading into 2015, ESPN writer David Schoenfield labeled McHugh as a sleeper 2015 Cy Young candidate in the upcoming season—quite the climb since everything he felt that spring day on his porch in Binghamton, four years prior.

“I kind of learned what it felt like when Jesus said, ‘Ye of little faith,’” McHugh reflects. “I didn’t lose my faith in Jesus being my savior (during those years in the minor leagues). I didn’t lose my faith in believing that God existed. I just kind of lost the faith that this was going anywhere, that this was going to be worth it.

When this is all said and done, those are five years I’ll never get back—and will it end up being worth it?

“Now, you are able to look back, and I wouldn’t give back those five years for anything. In our five years of marriage, we feel like we’ve lived about 15. Most people who got a house and did the normal 9 to 5 might not deal with some things until 10 or 15 years down the road when there are kids in the picture—it’s harder. But the struggles really kind of give you a perspective. For me, it cemented my faith. I know it’s real.

I know these things are real in my life. I’ve seen God’s provision amidst the struggle.”

In October 2014, following his stellar season with the Astros, McHugh and Ashley celebrated their five-year anniversary and also bought a house—their first time really having a place of their own after living in 19 different locations in a five-year span.

Still, as thankful as he is for the season he had and the sense of consistency he and Ashley have been given through their home, McHugh admits that if there’s one thing he’s learned, it’s this: baseball will always be baseball.

“It still feels the same in the sense that there is still such little control in the things that are going to happen,” McHugh says.

“We are thinking about trying to have kids, and it’s been good to realize that it really is a gift from God if He decides He is going to give us one. Just to be able to rely on Him, the fact that that He fulfills His promises to you and that He is satisfying to the core when you have a relationship with Him. If I had a terrible year this year or got hurt this year or won the Cy Young or won the World Series, if any of these things happen, all the variables that could happen in baseball, it’s not going to change the way He feels about me, it’s not going to change anything. He cares about our desires—He wants to give us the desires of our heart—but the desires of our heart and how we work that out is not conditional about how He loves us. He loves us the whole way through.

“For me, this year, I’m just trying to enjoy the time God has given me to play this game that I really do love. Everything is kind of icing on the cake at this point. Obviously, I’m going to go out there and work my hardest, and give it everything that I have and try to do some great things in this game, but He has already given me so much that I want to tell people about it. I want to talk to my teammates and, you know, hear their stories, and see how God works in different ways for different people, see a bigger picture—hopefully that’s what I’ll be able to do with people when they hear this.”

Stephen Copeland is a staff writer and columnist at Sport Spectrum. magazine.

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still on the diamond Veteran catcher Ryoji Aikawa credits Christian faith for a 21-year career in Japanese baseball WAYNE GRACZYK

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Veteran Japanese baseball catcher Ryoji Aikawa will be playing his 21st season in 2015, joining his third team in Japan’s Central League. At 38, Aikawa will be playing for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, the country’s most popular team often referred to as “Japan’s Yankees.”

Aikawa credits his Christian faith and appreciation to God for his long career in professional baseball. He recalls becoming a Christian after going to church with his family as a youngster.

“I was in the third or fourth grade in elementary school and was impressed by my parents’ praying and worship of the Lord, and I have tried to carry on that tradition.”

The family consists of six members, including Aikawa’s mother and father and three siblings besides himself. Their religion is Baptist.

Hailing from Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo, Aikawa was a high school baseball star in Tokyo and was selected as a No. 5 draft choice by the Central League Yokohama BayStars in 1995.

Despite being drafted so low, he later became one of Japan’s best catchers, an all-star and a member of the first World Baseball Classic championship team in 2006. He also represented Japan in the 2013 Classic and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, winning a Bronze medal.

In 2009, he exercised his right to free agency and moved from the BayStars to the Central League rival Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Through the 2014 season, Aikawa had played in 1,401 games as a catcher, compiling a batting average of .259. In recent years, as age began to catch up with him, he saw less playing time and appeared in only 58 games in his final season with the Swallows.

Retirement may have crossed his mind, but he felt God giving him the opportunity to play for the Giants—a dream of most every Japanese professional ballplayer—in 2015, which resulted in his signing with Yomiuri. The Giants needed an experienced catcher such as Aikawa, as the club is at a crossroads with players at that position.

Giants all-star catcher Shinnosuke Abe, himself a 14-year veteran, will be moved to first base during the 2015 season, and second-year backstop Seiji Kobayashi may not be ready to assume the catcher’s duties full time. With Aikawa, the team has a man with the background to assist in the development of Kobayashi and take a turn behind the plate when necessary. He would also be a valuable pinch hitter.

“I am excited to join the Giants and to be extending my career,” Aikawa said. “I would like to play actively until age 40 and, after I retire, I hope to remain in baseball as a coach or in some other capacity.”

Aikawa has always been a rather low-key type of player; one who just goes out to do his job every day and not expecting any fanfare or a lot of credit. There was one notable exciting incident, however, that occurred on Sept. 14, 2013, when he got into a brawl with Hanshin Tigers American outfielder Matt Murton, an intensely religious and high-profile Christian player.

On a close play at home plate, runner Murton barreled into Aikawa, and they exchanged shoves in an un-Christian-like manner,

“I was in the third or fourth grade in elementary school and was impressed by my parents’ praying and worship of the Lord, and I have tried to carry on that tradition.”

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SPORTS SPECTRUM ~ DIGIMAG 2015

Adam Pretty / Getty Images

Koichi Kamoshida / Getty Images

(LEFT) Basball catcher Ryoji Aikawa during the World Baseball Classic on March 2, 2013, in Fukuoka, Japan. (ABOVE) Aikawa (middle foreground) celebrates with other players of Japan after playing at the first round of the 2006 World Baseball Classic on March 4, 2006, in Tokyo, Japan.

as benches emptied and teammates from both sides charged the field to separate the unlikely pair of fighters. Both were ejected from the game and fined 150,000 Japanese yen (about $1,500 at the time).

The following day, Murton said it is his style not to play half-heartedly and, since Aikawa was blocking the plate with the ball, he had no choice but to go in hard and try to jar the ball loose.

“I have nothing personally against Aikawa,” Murton said of his fellow Christian.

“But, even if it was my brother on home plate, I will go in hard. Aikawa held onto the ball anyway, so good for him.”

For his part, Aikawa admitted he lost control, no doubt remembering it was Murton who had slid into another Swallows catcher, Masahiko Tanaka, earlier that season. Tanaka suffered a dislocated shoulder in that collision. Aikawa had also been bowled over on a similar play by Yokohama’s burly first baseman Tony Blanco.

“Looking back, I suppose it was a normal play,” Aikawa said of the incident with Murton. “I know Murton was just doing his job in trying to score for his team, and Americans have a different, more aggressive style than Japanese on a play like that.”

Japanese baseball chief of umpires Osamu Ino also said he did not think there was anything wrong with the play, but the Tigers team apologized to the Swallows, and

Aikawa was OK after being examined at a hospital.

Unfortunately, Aikawa says, he does not often have the opportunity to attend church during the season, due to his traveling schedule and the fact day games are usually played on Sundays. However, he feels the presence of the Lord and lives his Christian faith every day.

“There are always hurdles and obstacles to overcome in daily life, but knowing God is there helps me get through difficult times,” Aikawa said. “I wish more Japanese people would find Jesus Christ as I have, and I am thankful I have been able to play professional baseball for such a long time.”

A native of New Jersey, Wayne Graczyk went to Japan in 1969 with the U.S. Air Force and is a 1977 graduate of Tokyo’s Sophia University. Wayne was the longtime (1977-2004) sports editor of the Tokyo Weekender newspaper, he covers Yomiuri Giants baseball games for Nippon TV and Radio Nippon and, since 1976, he has compiled the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide and has written the “Baseball BulletIn” column in The Japan Times. He is a member of the Tokyo Sportswriters Club and the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan.

SPORTS SPECTRUM ~ DIGIMAG 2015

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