Allen: Tuffy Rhodes and his Japanese baseball legacy
From Jim Allen at Jballallen.com on January 15, 2020:
On Tuesday, one of Japanese baseball’s all-time greats, Tuffy Rhodes, remained gathering dust in the middle of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame players division voting results, omitted by more than 70 percent of the voters.
I spoke with Rhodes a year ago after Craig Calcaterra wrote about Rhodes’ Hall of Fame slog, and Craig’s story sparked a small amount of outrage among Japanese fans. I expected to catch up with him in Phoenix last March and then write the interview but we never connected. Tuffy’s not a hermit, but he moves at his pace.
Here’s the first part of our interview — about how he got to Japan and what changed him. In 13 Japanese seasons, Rhodes’ 464 home runs are 13th most all time. He is 20th in career walks, 24th in runs.
Read the full article here: https://jballallen.com/tuffy-rhodes-the-beginning-part-1/
- Related link: April 4, 1994: Cubs’ Tuffy Rhodes goes deep three times on Opening Day (SABR Games Project)
Originally published: January 16, 2020. Last Updated: January 16, 2020.