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© 2013 AFPJapan baseball commissioner quits over ball scandal
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The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© 2013 AFP
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some14some
Now commissioner Kato may be regretting his signature that caused so much bounce that he went off balance.
USNinJapan2
What took him so long?
hoserfella
could be but I'd say the old guard that run the show in Japanese baseball (is there any other kind?) saw a foreigner breaking the HR record as the last straw. It just happened on Kato's watch.
fds
he looks corrupt. figures he was part of the government before he descended from heaven...
nath
He got fired for fiddling with the balls?
Balefire
It's about time.
Dennis711
It is not fare to the players to be cheated like this. I'm not a big baseball fan and I think it was a terrible thing to do.
Nipporinoel
One answer fits all situations in Japan.
This is most " regretable" but I'm sure he will " sincerely reflect on the situation", "collect all relevant information swiftly " and "take appropriate action speedily ". Namely, get/take a job with the 2020 Olympic cronies. Probably starts with them next month.
Shame.
canadianbento
Who put them up to this? Maybe the group that is ticked because a Foreigner is now the Home Run King..
nath
This seems like a play backfiring, I'd bet he thought a Japanese would break the record, he probably had little respect for the foreign sluggers, and it back fired on him and the corporate big wigs, which are most certainly liable for this fiasco, He didn't do this on his own, they know it, but Mr. Kato is more expendable, but no reason to feel sorry for the guy, he has more money than he'll ever need, him or his entire family, happy trails, enjoy retirement, you made baseball in Japan a little more interesting. you showed the thepitichers, they need to step up their A game, and showed the Japanese sluggers just how much they need to improve; I mean they made they ball easier to hit, and they still couldn't hit that many homers. Peace.
tokyoronin
They didn't need to change the ball to get a more exciting game in Japan. They could just get all the players to do steroids like major league baseball and everyone will be hitting 58 home runs a season! (BTW this is sarcasm folks!)
Nessie
Now he knows what extra bounce really means.
TorafusuTorasan
Maybe the bouncy ball idea was inspired by late night karaoke sessions back in the States. More Bounce to the Ounce by Zapp seems to fit. Kato was hypnotized by the vocoder so it wasn't completely his fault.
garymalmgren
And he will be giving up his retirement bonus too.
Well, maybe not,