By Kisho Suzuki 4/3/2023 – Opening day for the home town fans won’t happen for the Ghosts until April 14th. When that date finally rolls around, fans will be treated to a new roof covering the Maze. PEBA’s insistence to playing in Japan’s rainy season has driven most teams to solve that problem with some […]
By Kisho Suzuki 12/26/22- After what was considered a disastrous Winter meeting for the Ghosts, Tanner was suspended from team operations. The length of his suspension was not disclosed, but reconciliation between Tanner, team owner Akane Kenkyusham Jr., and manager John McLaughlin is a prerequisite for reinstatement. Kenkyusham Jr. was confident the process would be […]
By Kisho Suzuki 12/22/22 – As the winter meetings get under way, there may be a chill in the air, but it seems the relationship between team owner Akane Kenkyusham Jr. and general manager Paul Tanner is downright frigid. Early this month, Akane forced Tanner to hire a manager, thus ending the dictator like combination […]
By Kisho Suzuki Monday April 4th – The Niihama-shi Ghosts hired Tanner to help transition the team from a very successful franchise in the now defunct League of the Rising Sun into becoming something more than afterthoughts in the competitive Sovereign League within the PEBA. While Tanner claimed that rebuilding was going to be a […]
With his father recently imprisoned for life because of ties with a Venezuelan cartel, Giovanny Zimolo‘s phone rang exactly four months and two days ago with new that would take him even further from his dad. “Tu vas a Japon,” were the words the hard-hitting catcher heard that briefly left him empty inside. Zimolo’s agent […]
Niihama-shi fans are still buzzing a day after saying “Sayonara” to their beloved, superstar left fielder who was sent to the Charleston Statesmen in a deal of epic proportions. Ryozo Takeuchi, 26, had established himself as Japan’s premier power hitter, but the Ghosts new GM, Brian Kotler, felt he didn’t fit in the team’s long […]
Traded Away as a Prospect, Abiola Returns to Ghosts in Twilight of Career The Dirt Dog is back, finally, in Ghosts green. (Niihama City, July 14, 2019) — “It was my one of biggest regrets as GM.” That’s the assessment of Ghosts GM Mike Dunn about his trade eight years ago of then-prospect Muhammed […]
(Niihama City, June 2, 2019) — The platitudes and cliches flowed easily from the lips of Ghosts second baseman Eisaku Ito. “I’m just happy to contribute.” And: “Individual awards are nice, but I’m focused on winning.” Still, the occasion of his remarks — being named the Shining Star Group Batter of the Month for May […]
(May 6, 2019, Niihama City) — The 2019 Niihama-shi Ghosts debut tonight with the first of three games against the always-reviled Evas in Shin Seiki. And diehard fans hope this series proves to be a harbinger of a season more successful than ’18. It was a season ago that the Ghosts made the playoffs […]
by Chiba Kooji, Niihama Chronicle (January 31, 2019, Niihama City) — Hours after thousands of angry Ghosts fans took to the streets in protest of the abrupt firing of GM Mike Dunn, the team’s owner succumbed to the pressure and announced the re-hiring of the popular gaijin. “I acted in haste” said owner Akane Kenkyusham Jr. in a statement […]