Thursday, December 1, 2016

Koki: Hello, this is Koki Suzuki of NHK World Radio welcoming you to Japanese Sporting Showcase, which is made available worldwide to showcase various sports in Japan. Today, we focus on baseball. The League of the Rising Sun is one of the most exciting sports leagues in Japan. We are pleased to be able to talk to the general manager of the Lupin Cliff Hangers, Jim Konopka. We are broadcasting this morning from the studios at the University of Toyama. We appreciate the courtesy of our facility host in allowing the broadcast of this show.

Please join me in a warm welcome to a man responsible for much of the behind-the-scenes activity of a professional baseball team. Good morning, Jim! We thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us today. It is a truly an honor to finally interview you after all these years. My producer has been trying to arrange this interview for several years, actually.

Jim: I apologize for that, Koki. A general manager is busy pretty much year round. It is really difficult to find an open slot on the schedule. Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide some information that will make the show worth the wait.

Koki: I think most of the listeners out there really don’t understand how busy a general manager’s job is. Most casual fans do not realize that the end of the regular season is when the bulk of the general manager’s work begins. Preparing for the upcoming season takes up the entire break between seasons. Players get time to relax at home with their families in the off-season. A general manager’s duties run all season long.

Jim: Right, and not only that – I’m a guy who really spends a lot of time on the job. I take my work to heart. Some people might call me a workaholic, but I really enjoy my job. I am one of those fortunate people lucky enough to be paid well for something I love to do. I put in long hours. Those hours aren’t always fun, but I go home each night with the confidence that I’ve done my best to help the team on that day. A baseball championship is decided on the field in a few days, but for me, it takes a full year of preparation to hopefully reach the championship.

Koki: Ah yes, long hours can pay off. You mentioned a championship. Unfortunately, that seems to be out of Lupin’s reach for the next year or so.

Jim: That is true. I feel the burden of that responsibility rests on my shoulders. The players are the ones who create wins on the field, but I build the team that will hopefully be competitive enough to eventually win a Neo-Tokyo Cup. I mentioned that I work all year long toward that goal. I have actually been working seven years on building Lupin. It may be an entire decade before Lupin can climb to the top since the rebuilding effort began.

Koki: Most fans wonder what could be so hard. They can sit in their armchairs and pick out the best players. Why not just get all the best players? The casual fan certainly feels that they could do that job, but there is really more to it than that, isn’t there?

Jim: Well, the ugly truth is that money is the biggest obstacle in building a team. If I was given an unlimited budget to work with each season, I’d have no trouble putting together a team of superstars to win the championship. The truth is those superstars need to be paid. Money does not come out of thin air. The owner rightfully expects profit on his investment. That is how the business world works. That is true in all professional sports. The hard reality is, even the championship team from last season brings in only a limited amount of money. After profits, there is only so much money to spend. That is the difficulty. It’s not really the amount of money available to spend but, rather, making the most of the money available.

Koki: Yes, I know from talking with most everybody in the sporting world that finances are a big part of why things happen.

Jim: It is really a competitive business. Players have a very difficult role on the field, but the game of baseball overlaps into the game going on in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The GM kind of bridges the gap between the players and the business man. The GM gets players for the manager to manage. Those players draw fans to the ballpark and television for advertisers. The fans bring money to the organization. The organization needs to pay for operation of the ballpark, personnel, and any number of other details, including the accountants who count all the money. Then each season, after a profit margin is determined, a certain amount of money is made available for me to pay players. When I acquire players or let them go, it is always about money. Of course, a pitcher who has the most strikeouts in the league could help us win, but decisions always boil down to how much money that pitcher might be able to make for the organization.

Koki: Well, that should help our listeners understand better why it is not as easy as it seems. Speaking of difficulty, what do you find to be the most difficult part of your job?

Jim: Without question, it is making a financial decision that greatly affects a human being’s life. For the organization, I need to make the most profitable decisions, but once those decisions have been made, I have the uncomfortable awareness that such decisions may have tremendous negative impact on a player. Not only that, but many of these ballplayers have families. Most of these decisions affect several people. That could be a wife and kids or a mother back in a home country receiving money sent by the player. Sometimes, a minor leaguer needs to be informed that he will never make it to the big leagues. Sometimes, a player’s children need to be uprooted from one school and dumped in a new one during the middle of a school year. Sometimes, a player’s career comes to an end, leading to depression and fear of how he’s going to handle life without the only thing he’s known since he was in little league.

Koki: I see the dilemma. Is there anything you do to help in these difficult situations?

Jim: I try to be as honest as I can with the players. Sometimes, I need to explain something very painful to them, but I believe they deserve at least my honesty. Most of the players appreciate that. When I can, I try to help a player out as much as I can, but usually there’s not much I can do to soften the blow of these life-changing situations. As far as being able to have the guts to finalize life-altering transactions, I turn to my spiritual side. If I picked the nicest guys or the guys who deserved a break the most, then our team might not win a game all season. The way I look at it, the man upstairs gave each player his skill set. Each player put in work, effort, heart, and soul to develop those skills. That kind of stuff is beyond my control. I mean, the big guy in the sky picked which player had the ability to knock out more home runs than anyone else or pitch a perfect game, and who had the desire to work to perfect their abilities. I just try to operate the best I can within a world that I did not create. Each morning, I ask for the strength and wisdom to perform to the best of the ability He’s given me. Each nigh,t I pray that I’ve made the right decisions throughout the day and ask for assistance for the next day’s decisions. I figure I’m not much, ut with that kind of strength on my side, I’ve got to be a little better.

Koki: As you probably know, we cover all sports on this show. Are you a “baseball only” guy, or do you have interest in or follow any other sports?

Jim: Well, the only sport I participated in for any significant time as a player was baseball, but I wasn’t very good and didn’t even make it to the high school level, so I went to college, hoping to make a career in baseball. That dream came true. Baseball has been my main interest. I enjoy following the college basketball March Madness tournament back in the United States. Sometimes, I’ll catch an American football game, but since moving to Japan, the sport that has caught my attention the most is what most of your audience will know as football. Us Americans refer to that as soccer. Where I come from, soccer seems something that mostly kids play. It is common for a sports fan in the United States to live an entire life without having ever watched a professional soccer game. Here in Japan, soccer is a big deal. In fact, it is a big deal in most countries around the world. I really like the fact that players are competing from all over the world. Players take pride in playing for a club, local organization, or representing their country on the national team. It is truly an international sport.

Koki: Well, Jim, I really appreciate you spending this time with us, but I am getting signaled that we are coming up to a commercial break. Would you like to make a quick plug about your Cliff Hangers?

Jim: I’d love to. Things are really exciting in Toyama. We finished last in the division, but it would really be difficult to imagine we will be finishing that low again for a long time. Things are really looking up for the club. We have a lot of good, young talent. We have players who can develop their careers and thrive. Following the season’s conclusion , some large contracts came off the books. That gives us the opportunity to build some cash reserve for the future. When we feel we are positioned to make a move, we’ll have funds to act. I am really proud to be part of the organization and excited about our near future.

Koki: Thank you again for spending the time with us today. We’ll have our producer immediately begin working on scheduling a time for you to return in a few years. (Chuckles)

Jim: It has been all my pleasure, Koki. I’d like to thank your audience for supporting this show and all aspects of Japanese sports. I hope they realize that none of this would be possible without fan support. That is very much appreciated by those employed in the industry.

Koki: Folks, that concludes this installment of the NHK Japanese Sporting Showcase. Join us daily at this time for the latest behind-the-scenes information about your favorite sports. Signing out from the studios at the University of Toyama, this is Koki Suzuki saying, “Good Day!”