What Does it Take to Become a Legend?

[Wind Dancers]

What Does it Take to Become a Legend?

If you take a walk around one of the PEBA’s 28 beautifully crafted stadiums, you will find a vast array of fans. The youngster at his/her first ball game with Dad. The older crowd who have been around to watch both major league baseball and the many leagues that developed after it’s a downfall. Or likely the gentleman who has had a few too many and is "asking" you to stop walking around and sit your ass down. Ask these fans of this wonderful sport who their favorite players of all time are. Rob Raines, the PEBA stalwart who holds plenty of career records and will for some time. Markus “Fireworks” Hancock a 13-time all-star and 7-time pitcher of the year. Or maybe even an LRS mainstay in Nobuhito Hasegawa, a master of the hot-corner. What sets these “Legends” apart from other historically great players? Is it winning a championship or maybe personal awards? Would you describe a player as a club legend even if that club spent quite a few years near the bottom of the league?

In Toyama, our club legends go by the name of Shinobu Takeuchi (now applying his trade in AAA Yokohama), Shiro Adachi, and Sadatake Sato, all three apart of the LRS winning side in 2020. But this season we have had a player, quietly as expected from him, work his way into and above legendary company. He’s spent less time at the club as he is younger, he’s not a big power hitter, he hits for contact well but won’t lead the league, and his defense is solid enough to have earned him 2 all-leather awards. But without much success, since he made it to PEBA in 2022 some may not view him as a Toyama legend, despite personifying the essence of Toyama baseball.

Of course, I am talking about team captain 3B Ivan Juarez. Born in Havana, Cuba to a factory worker father and nurse mother, Juarez is the youngest of 3 brothers. He spent much of his time playing baseball in local youth leagues before being scouted by the Naucalpan Cafe Tacvbas in the Alianza Beisbol Al Sur de la Frontera in Mexico. Leaving his family back in Cuba at 17, Juarez moved to Mexico and spent the next 3-4 years playing for the Tacvbas development team. In 2020, Juarez would get traded to the El Ray Vampiros development team, eventually being promoted to the main team in 2022. Juarez drew international attention immediately hitting .288 with a .297 OBP in 46 games at just 23. What came next was a little unexpected for a 23-year-old in his first major league season. After release from the Vampiros at the end of the Mexican League season, a call came in from Japan, the Lupin Cliff Hangers to be exact. Lupin was in their last season as the Cliffhangers before making their switch to Toyama. They had improved since the previous season’s implosion but had failed to lock down a player at third base, rotating between 14 players in the team’s first 16 seasons. Following some negotiating, Juarez was on a plane to Toyama with a $2mil signing bonus.

Juarez was quickly plugged into a patchwork Cliffhangers lineup and quickly caught fans’ attention hitting .240 but providing consistent defense and a knack for getting on base. It was clear that Juarez was the guy they were looking for and he took over at third full time from that point on. His humble, quiet, yet motivational personality was a perfect fit in Japan and Toyama came to love the Wind Dancers quiet leader at third. And here we are, 9 years later and a month or so ago, Juarez became Toyama’s all-time leader in WAR strictly in the PEBA passing Sadatake Sato’s previous record of 28.2. His consistent, yet unspectacular play combined with his laid back attitude is viewed as the “Toyama Style” of baseball. No player is bigger than the team, win together lose together, and working hard without complaint out of respect for those working alongside you. Local charity work, being very approachable in person, and having built his family in Toyama has turned him into a hero with the locals.

At just 31, Juarez still has a few more years ahead of him and would surely be first on a list of future coaching positions with Toyama. He works for the community, he works for his team, so despite the lack of silverware, no “league-leading” stat, and only 2 individual awards, is Juarez a Toyama legend? Maybe not to some outside baseball fans who look at a stat-line or want to see a superstar mentality. But if you ask many of the local little league players who their favorite baseball player is, there is one name you will hear quite often.

[Borealis]

Very nice, Dylan! Always good to hear about those who hide behind the limelight...

[Arroyos]

When I first started reading your piece, Dylan, I assumed you were going to take us on a tour of all "28 beautifully crafted stadiums." Thank heavens, you didn't. Wise to focus on your stadium and not some of the others, like Yuma, which can hardly be accused of being "beautifully crafted." What it needs is to be beautifully bulldozed! We're working on that.

Thanks for the abbreviated tour!