Randy Bass
 |
Randy Bass | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Oklahoma Senate from the 32nd district | |
| Assumed office November 2004 | |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Height | 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) |
| Spouse | Kelley Bass |
| Occupation | politician, former baseball player |
| Randy Bass | |
|---|---|
| First baseman | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| Professional debut | |
| MLB: September 3, 1977, for the Minnesota Twins | |
| NPB: 1983, for the Hanshin Tigers | |
| Last appearance | |
| MLB: June 7, 1982, for the Texas Rangers | |
| NPB: 1988, for the Hanshin Tigers | |
| NPB statistics | |
| Batting average | .337 |
| Home runs | 202 |
| Runs batted in | 486 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Randy William Bass (ランディ・バース) (born March 13, 1954 in Lawton, Oklahoma) is a former American baseball player and current politician. He is less notable for his career in Major League Baseball than for his success in Japan's Hanshin Tigers of Central League, where he had the most spectacular run of any American to ever play in Japan. Currently, Bass is a Democratic State Senator from Oklahoma, representing District 32 since 2004.
Baseball
Bass came up with the Minnesota Twins as a first baseman in 1977. In his six seasons in the Major Leagues (divided among five teams), he was never a day-to-day player, usually coming off the bench just to pinch hit. After his contract expired following the 1982 season, Bass signed with the Hanshin Tigers of the Central League, who made him their starting first-baseman. Bass is often credited as single-handedly turning the fortune of the Tigers which resulted in the team's run and eventual victory of the Japan Series in 1985.
Bass took advantage of the differences between Japanese and American styles of pitching, and immediately became the Tigers' star slugger. He won four consecutive league batting titles; in 1986, he nearly became the first player in Japan to bat .400, finishing the season with a .389 average, a record that still stands, despite Ichiro Suzuki's formidable challenges to it in 1994 and 2000. Bass won consecutive batting Triple Crowns (1985 and 1986), a feat no player has accomplished in the U.S. Major Leagues since the 1960s. In 1985, he was on a pace to break Sadaharu Oh's record of 55 home runs in a single season, but fell short by one, because in the last game of the season the pitcher from Oh's Yomiuri Giants threw only intentional walks (allegedly to prevent the Westerner from breaking Oh's record).[1] In Japan, his spectacular performance is a legend and among Tigers fans; he is nearly deified, being jokingly referred in conjunction with God and Buddha, "Kami-sama (God), Hotoke-sama (Buddha), Baasu-sama (Bass)" (sama is an honorary variation of "san" similar to Sir or His holiness).
Curse of the Colonel
Bass is also famous in Japan for the "Curse of the Colonel." Following the 1985 Series victory, revelers celebrated by calling off the names of team members one by one. At each name, a fan who looked like that player would jump into the filthy Dotonbori canal. For Bass, someone threw a life-sized model of Colonel Sanders, the mascot of Kentucky Fried Chicken and the only close-at-hand likeness of a bearded American, into the river. The statue disappeared and is said to have caused the subsequent decade-long dismal performance in the Central League.
In an attempt to remove the curse, fans made repeated attempts to find the model, making offerings to the statues of the Colonel for forgiveness. In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with one of the worst records in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from rabid Tigers fans. The newly replaced Colonel Sanders statue in the Dotonbori KFC branch was bolted down to prevent a repeat of the incident.
On March 10, 2009, the top half of the statue (minus hands and legs) originally thrown into the Dotonbori River was recovered during construction of a walkway. A diver said that he had thought he had found a large barrel, but was surprised when it turned out to be the upper body of the Colonel.[2] The statue's legs and right hand were recovered the following day. The statue is still missing its glasses and left hand. The statue of Colonel Sanders is currently in a KFC franchise across the street from Koshien Stadium.[3]
After baseball
After his 1988 retirement, Bass became active in community projects to promote baseball in his native state, while continuing to make trips to Japan as a cultural ambassador. Bass was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate as a Democrat in 2004. He was re-elected in 2006. In the Senate he serves as the Co-Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee Natural Resources and Regulatory Services. He also sits on the Appropriations, Retirement and Insurance, General Government and, Judiciary Committees.
Name spelling
Though the name Bass would conventionally be transcribed バス Basu in Japanese, Randy Bass is known as バース Bāsu (pronounced [baːsɯ̥]). The Hanshin Tigers requested the change because the owner of the team, Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., directly owned a bus operation in those days (currently owned by Hanshin Bus Co., Ltd.). Because "bus" is written exactly the same as Bass in Japanese ('basu'), the Tigers worried that Japanese media might create headlines such as "Bus unstoppable" (consecutive hits), "Bus explodes" (home run) or "Bus crash" (if he slumps), which would have a negative impact to the corporate image of Hanshin Bus.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Merron, J. "The Phoniest Records in Sports". (Feb 2003)., retrieved from ESPN.com on March 29, 2007
- ^ "Colonel stages a comeback in Osaka". The Japan Times. March 11, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
- ^ http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100320a6.html
External links
- 1954 births
- Living people
- Major League Baseball first basemen
- Baseball players from Oklahoma
- Minnesota Twins players
- Kansas City Royals players
- Montreal Expos players
- San Diego Padres players
- Texas Rangers players
- Hanshin Tigers players
- Melbourne Twins players
- Omaha Royals players
- Denver Bears players
- Tacoma Twins players
- Lynchburg Twins players
- Wisconsin Rapids Twins players
- American expatriate baseball players in Japan
- Oklahoma State Senators
- People from Lawton, Oklahoma
- American athlete-politicians
- Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners