I know it’s bad sportsmanship, but kind deserves kind: I hope the Japanese baseball team does not win the upcoming World Baseball Classic. That’s not out of any antipathy for Japan, nor for the players, but strictly out of contempt for the team’s manager: Sadaharu Oh. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.

When I first heard of Oh, I had respect for his record, if not for the claims that his higher number of home runs than Hank Aaron actually meant he was a better slugger; Japan’s ballparks are smaller than American counterparts, and if Aaron had been batting in them, he’d most likely have gotten far more home runs than Oh did. But since there is no way to strictly determine that, it’s enough to simply say that Oh holds the record for Japan, Aaron holds the record for America, and neither “wins” over the other.

But the respect I had for the man died when Oh showed unforgivably poor sportsmanship, not to mention racism (ironic for Oh, a half-Chinese man who initially faced racism himself in Japan) when he denied foreign ballplayers the chance to break his batting record–because they were not Japanese. This happened not once, not twice, but three times. First in 1985, when Oh managed the Yomiuri Giants and faced Randy Bass, who challenged Oh’s record of 55 home runs in one season. Next was in 2001, when Oh managed the Daiei Hawks, and faced Tuffy Rhodes, who had tied Oh’s record. Most recently, he denied the chance to Alex Cabrera, who had also tied Oh at 55 in 2002. In all three cases, the foreign players challenging Oh’s record faced the teams managed by Oh in the final games of the seasons. In all three cases, orders were given to the pitchers for Oh’s teams that these players were not to be given the chance to break the “King’s” record. While some other teams gave the batters chances, Oh’s teams have consistently blocked challengers on racial grounds. Oh tried to blame this on the coaches, saying he was “out of the loop,” but the fact that he never disciplined a coach belies this weak excuse. It was also commonly understood that if the players had been Japanese, they would have been given good pitches and not walked:

“The pitchers are always under the direction of the manager. So it is not up to them,” explains 25-year old Tigers fan Yasuhisa Tadera, seated in the left field stands, of the practice of intentionally not throwing strikes.

Sitting behind Tadera is Eiji Matsumoto. “The Japanese just don’t want the record broken by a foreigner,” he says.

So then if a Japanese player approached the record, would he see strikes?

“If [Hideki] Matsui of the Giants, for example, were close, they’d give him a chance,” admits Matsumoto, a 52-year old Giants fan, “The Japanese don’t play fair.”

Any person who acts with such a depraved sense of foul sportsmanship not just once but three times does not deserve any titles or respect. This is, after all, baseball: what happened to “three strikes and you’re out”? For Oh to lead this present team to a victory would be a crowning achievement for a man who has disgraced a sport which still idolizes him–for in Japan, unfortunately, such acts as Oh has taken part in are quietly dismissed. In America or almost any other country, the manager would have been ostracized and banned from the sport for such offenses. Japanese baseball is improving–when Oh shut out Rhodes in 2001, Japanese baseball commissioner Hiromori Kawashima criticized Oh, saying his decision was “completely divorced from the essence of baseball, which values the supremacy of fair play.” But Oh has not been penalized in any way, nor has he taken much of a hit in his popularity in Japan. After all, he was chosen to manage the Japan team this year in the World Baseball Classic. What does that tell you?