Its Gone Again Gone Home Boomer

In an era long before pro ballplayers ached to move to Nihon to heave their careers dorsum home, Greg "Boomer" Wells went from exile to icon, as the nation's baseball community adopted him and made him a member of its shut-knit family.

Sold by the Minnesota Twins to the Hankyu Braves of Japan's Pacific League in 1983, Wells set out to prove himself. In 1984, he became the get-go imported player to win a batting triple crown in Nihon, leading the Braves, the predecessors of today's Orix Buffaloes, to the Pacific League pennant.

Former Japanese pro baseball star Greg "Boomer" Wells, wearing his old Hankyu Braves uniform, throws out a formalism start pitch before an interleague game between the Orix Buffaloes and Yomiuri Giants on June two, 2012, in Osaka. (Kyodo)

In a recent online Kyodo News interview from his abode in Georgia, Wells said that MVP season created a need for his services. Japanese teams, he said, began request him to advise new imports on how to arrange, while major league teams wanted to sign him.

Nevertheless, Wells said the best offer he got that wintertime, from the Milwaukee Brewers, represented more of the aforementioned condescension he had faced every bit an undrafted player in the minors.

"They said they didn't want to become into a bidding war with the Japanese. If they wouldn't have said that, I might have gone back. But when they said that, it brought everything to the forepart," he said.

"I was like, 'Look. I would love to come up back to the states and play in front of my family and friends, but you lot guys sent me over 3,000 miles abroad to play baseball against my will. I got over hither and I succeeded. I enjoyed the game over here. I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the state. If you want me to come back to the States, then you're not going to bring me back to united states and pay me like a rookie.'"

And then Wells stayed with the Braves, playing at Hyogo Prefecture's Nishinomiya Stadium, and became ane of the faces of Nippon's game.

Wells finished his Japanese career in 1992 with the Daiei Hawks in Fukuoka. Over ten seasons, Wells striking 277 domicile runs and drove in 901 runs, while walking more than he struck out with Nippon Professional person Baseball's 5th-highest career batting average: .317.

None of that was a given when he arrived for his first jump training in snowy, cold Kochi Prefecture.

Back home, Wells signed with the Toronto Blue Jays after they gave him a tryout. Instead of creating major league opportunities, two large Triple-A seasons earned him a ticket to Nippon where his starting time American teammate, Bump Wills, was a more experienced big leaguer.

"The younger guys I always got forth with, but the older guys, they were kind of stand-offish. They gravitated toward Bump considering Bump was the star," Wells said. "He'd been a big leaguer for a while. But once they saw I could play difficult every day and that I did whatever it took to win, they started gravitating toward me."

Wells said he told new imported players that to succeed they had to adjust to Japan, since Japan didn't take to adapt to them.

"When I came to Nihon, they whispered and talked near the ugly American," Wells said. "We set out to change that. We did a pretty good job, the guys who played in my era. We played hard. We tried to succeed. We got forth."

Wells and his Hall of Fame Braves skipper, the late Toshiharu Ueda, became close, too. Although Ueda had a well-earned reputation equally a no-nonsense taskmaster, Wells' blithesome demeanor and his habit of joking and teasing teammates never invited the skipper'due south wrath.

"The guys used to tell me, 'No, no, no. No laughing. The dominate is going to go mad. No laughing on the job,'" he said. "But Ueda never said a word."

That was until one off-day practice session, when Wells was in no mood for humor and only kept to himself. Unused to his star leaving his teammates in peace, Ueda insisted Wells was sick and wouldn't exit it lonely.

"He called the trainer over and said, 'See what's wrong with Boomer,'" said Wells, who couldn't persuade the skipper he was fine. "I've got the trainer checking my pulse and looking in my optics. So, Ueda-san is speaking English at present, 'There's something wrong with Boomer. No laughing, no joking.'"

"So I had to get-go messing with people to get Ueda off my dorsum for thinking I was sick. Later on I institute out he enjoyed me talking and laughing and messing with people, so the team got looser and looser and everybody started laughing and having fun and we played good brawl."

Wells admits that some of Nihon's ways are but equally misreckoning to him now as they were xxx years ago, simply his effort to get along contributed to more than simply a baseball game career.

"I stayed in Japan. I enjoyed information technology. My manager, Ueda-san, was like close kin. I made a lot of friends in Nippon," Wells said. "When I become dorsum to Japan, we're hugging and talking and laughing and they tease me about my weight. You lot become to be family unit."

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Source: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/02/aced40e670b9-how-boomer-wells-got-his-groove-back-and-went-from-exile-to-japan-icon.html