Lifelong Giants fan here, but oh my goodness, Yoshinobu Yamamoto can pitch. Who didn’t come away from the World Series in love with that guy? If you, too, found yourself amazed, don’t miss the ESPN story about his trainer, Osamu Yada. Yada’s method seems to basically embrace tropes about East v. West, flexibility v. strength, kung fu v. boxing.
“There are things that are natural in nature, and then there are things that are normal in the sports world,” Yada said. “And what I’ve been able to do is teach Yoshinobu about things that occur in the natural world. And because the general philosophies and the things that are accepted are so different when you look at it from a sporting sense, it seems like something that’s outrageous.”
I’d love to read a New Yorker treatment of this figure, giving him a bit more skepticism and context. But the ESPN article is great fun. (One thing was off, though: no mention of iconic skinny pitcher Tim Lincecum! Criminal not to mention The Freak.)
