Japanese star holds pitching clinic at Rizal

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Amateur Baseball Association and Philippine Tot Baseball join hands to bring Japan Major League Baseball pitching star Hiroki Nomura of the Yokohama Bay Stars for a weekend of Clinics at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium on March 9-10.

The lefty Nomura debuted in 1988 and immediately astonished the Japanese fans with a very rare “Perfect Game” in his very first time up the mound.  He went on win the Japan Baseball League best pitcher award in 1993, the MVP award in 1998 and was also a regular cast at the annual Japan Baseball League All-Star team.  He is now the pitching coach of the Yokohama Bay Stars and also works as a sports commentator for the J Sports and Fuji TV Baseball Special.

Tot Baseball president Boy Tingzon, meanwhile, thanked the groups that made this annual baseball outreach program possible, including the International Human Rights Society, Sports Nippon Newspaper, Japan Baseball Magazine, FM NACK5, Nagase Kenko Balls and Baseball Equipment Manufacturer SSK.

Hector Navasero, President of PABA said that he is thankful to Nomura for taking time-out from his busy schedule to share his knowledge to the approximately 200 children from different age groups this weekend.  He continued to say that we can learn a lot from Japanese coaches since they have proven to be successful in the sport by having won back-to-back titles at the World Baseball Classic.