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AROUND THE TOWN IN THE IPA
Ginza Ninjas
Owner: OmniSea, Ltd.
GM: Crash Davis
Manager: Sogo Takagi
Ginza began as a little fishing village in southeastern Tycobbia, settled by seafaring Japanese immigrants, who came in the 1860s during the Meiji Dynasty, a period of westernization. Today Ginza is a prosperous town of 88,000 with about one-third of its citizens being Japanese. Both Japanese and English are spoken here.
The name Ginza comes from “silver mint”, which Japanese authorities built in 1612. The modern day Ginza is a fabulous shopping area in Tokyo. The Tycobbian Ginza emulates it namesake, but on a much smaller scale. It is a free trade port and has many importers and exporters at the International Bazaar. Great bargains are in abundance in Ginza. The town also has a thriving fishing fleet and seafood processing industry.
Baseball got a late start in Ginza. The town inhabitants began playing amateur baseball in the 1930s, but soon began to challenge other towns in the sport. OmniSea Marine Processors, the largest employer in town, began sponsoring leagues and invested heavily in the game's development. OmniSea eventually expanded to industrial leagues and now to the Islandian Pro Alliance. They own the Ginza Ninjas of the Tycobbian Union South Division.
Ginza plays at Ninja Stadium, a ballpark built in 1998. A game at Ninja Stadium is really special. Most of the fans are quite reserve and quiet, typical Japanese social demeanor. However, in the left field bleachers it is another world...a wild and noisy place. There, the Ninjas have an official cheering section called “oendan” (pronounced “oh-en-dan”), that plays songs, beats drums and gongs, blows trumpets and waves flags. They stand up the entire time the Ninjas are at bat and sit down, when the opposition is batting. Fans clap plastic megaphones along with the oendan and sing chants to each Ginza player. Many fans carry umbrellas to the ballgame. Whenever the Ninjas score a run, they also open up all of the umbrellas, their way of telling the opposing pitcher, he is headed for the showers.
In the Lucky Seventh, the traditional seventh-inning stretch, they sing the Ninja fight song and then release hundreds of rocket balloons (jetto fusen). Other unique things about Ninja baseball is the public address announcer is female, the only one in the Islands. You will also see the pitcher bow in reverence to fielders, who make good plays.
At the Ninja Stadium concessions you will find not only traditional baseball fare, but Japanese as well. Ginza fans can enjoy yakisoba (fried noodles), yaketori (BBQ chicken on skewers), takoyaki (fried octopus dumplings) and bento (cold lunch in a wooden box). For the sweet tooth, kakigori (snowballs with flavored syrup and condensed milk), green tea ice cream, sweet potato ice cream, anmitsu (cold fruit dessert) and anpan (sweet bun).
The GM of the Ginza Ninjas is all-time great catcher Crash Davis... inducted into the IPA Hall of Fame in 2038 after a standout 21-year career (2013-2033)... the team enjoyed its best years during his tenure. Davis was a 15-time All-Star and 4-time Gold Glover. He batted .308 with 403 roundtrippers and 1556 RBIs. Later Davis skippered the Ninjas for many years to only modest success. The current manager is another of their superstar players, Sogo Takagi, who took over the club in 2058. Takagi made the IPA Hall of Fame in '57. He put up a .298 career batting average with 538 roundtrippers, 1768 RBIs, 1915 runs and stole 225 bases. 10 times Takagi was an All-Star and a 3-time Golden Glover. He played his entire career with the Ninjas from 2034 to 2054.
Ninja Stadium (1998)
Capacity: 10,667
Dimensions:
LF Line 330
LF 355
LCF 377
CF 400
RCF 372
RF 360
RF Line 335
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