Who Ya Gonna Call?

[Ghosts]

Niihama, Japan – 9 November, 2031

“I can’t believe it either! The Ghosts are coming back to PEBA, my boy!” Vanni Bruno clapped his hands and sung the words into the air of his mahogany and marble office. The morning light made the gloss of the room so piercing that it was often too much, requiring Vanni’s executive assistant, Vanessa Chambers, to keep the heavy burgundy drapes closed until around 11am. Usually that was not so much of an issue, considering Mr. Bruno rarely made it to the office before noon. He liked to keep close tabs on what his front office was doing – after all, there’s no better way to earn a profit than through your own sweat and toil, he always said – but that didn’t require a great quantity, or quality, of work from the Sicilian billionaire. Today, though, he’d been in the office since before Vanessa arrived at 7am.

“We’ll make big changes to prepare, huge changes! No, no, not to the uniforms – we can never lose our little Yuri!” Vanessa Chambers had seen her boss manic before, but this time he certainly had cause. The Ghosts franchise may have just doubled in value with one phone call from Harry Castle. She enjoyed these moods of his, even if it meant an inevitable depressive crash, but still, she couldn’t help but be irked at Vanni’s long-time habit of butchering the Japanese language. “Yūrei”, which meant “ghost”, and was the name given to the team’s mascot and logo until Vanni simplified it to the oddly Russian-sounding “Yuri” in order to “broaden the Ghosts’ appeal”. It was a mission of his ever since the dissolution of the League of the Rising Sun and the globalization of baseball reached Japan, freeing the Ghosts, in his mind, to become a franchise with global appeal. Of course his dream took a crushing blow when the team’s brief time in PEBA came to a crashing halt after the team’s worst season in history in 2022. Since then, the team has been a rudderless mess. In the two years after the team’s banishment to the WIL, the organization lost nearly $175M USD, and has yet to be profitable since despite Vanessa’s best efforts to prevent further fiscal madness.

Vanessa was well aware that her voice was one of only two that could ever reach Vanni Bruno – the other was whoever currently occupied the GM position – and that she could only ever hope to be heard as his manic episodes waned. She would have to bide her time to weigh in on matters during this pivotal time in the franchise’s history. She sat patiently outside his office, taking careful note of any details for his plans – and Castle’s plans for that matter – that Vanni would divulge during this conversation. Whoever the second actor in the performance that Vanni Bruno was currently putting on was likely two things: first, the exact opposite of Vanni’s exuberant and emotional persona, and second, Mr. Bruno’s top choice to herald a new era of baseball in Niihama. The measured voice on the other end of the call was impossible to understand through the heavy material of Vanni’s office door, but its owner could be either the best or the worst thing to happen to her career since her hiring. If the organization didn’t get this decision right, it’s that much more likely that the team loses its probable last chance to become a fixture of PEBA baseball.

“Big changes! We’ll have to add more seats! People will be crawling over each other to see the new Ghosts!” Vanni Bruno exclaimed, gesturing wildly over the expansive outfield of Oikake Maze. Vanessa’s heart sank. The organization has lost countless millions over the last seven seasons, and though she’d been able to help stem the tide, the team still lost money season and has just added tens of millions in new salary obligations. The Ghosts have also been losing for years now, and attendance was barely half capacity last season – how could the team afford to invest in more empty seats?

“We’ll do it all your way, my boy, all your way! I’ve already informed Toshikazu that he’s out. I know you haven’t agreed yet, but now you have to come! You must! This team was born a winner under your guidance! You must be the one to forge our new path!” Bruno pleaded into the phone with all the shame of a kindergartner begging for a new toy. Vanessa’s mind raced – “born a winner?”. Dan Vail was the original GM of the Ghosts, but he’s been in complete control of the Bakersfield Bears since his re-emergence into the baseball world. That team is a powerhouse and they’ve just posted their third straight 94+ win season since he took over. Why on Earth would he want to leave? Or maybe the question is why David Novak, the Bears owner, would want him out. Vanessa was relieved when she’d learned that Toshikazu Kichida had been fired as GM of the Ghosts. He never listened to her, hasn’t won more than 70 games in three seasons, and just signed several of the worst contracts she’d seen in the WIL. “Too bad he wasn’t fired a week earlier”, she lamented. Would Vail be any better? He already disappeared mysteriously on the Ghosts once and barely lasted two years in Bakersfield. He’s apparently one of the more aggressive GMs around – will he listen to reason? Will he listen to me?

“I know, I know – Vanessa said the same thing and I’ve spoken with the lawyers, I think we can void those deals. Kichida was tampering with those free agents before he was allowed to – it’s why I had to fire him! You’ll have our whole budget to work with! I promise, my boy!” Bruno’s pleading had shifted tone ever so subtly. Vanessa had long since learned when Vanni believed he had his hooks in his target, as if he were agreeing to keep up with the plea, but that he knew it was just a show at that point. “At least he agrees Kichida was a fool to sign those deals,” Vanessa mumbled aloud as she strained to hear the conversation.

“It’s a shame you coaxed Nobuhito out of retirement to coach for the Bears – he’s our native son! But don’t you worry, my boy, no don’t you worry! I’ve already lined up some names you’ll agree are top notch coaches. What do you say, my boy, will you come home to Niihama-shi?”