Oliver made Kralovec family history yesterday in snagging a foul ball at a professional baseball game. He attended the Hanshin Tigers vs Hiroshima Carp NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball). Unfortunately, the Tigers lost 2-6. They are still tied for first with the Yomiuri Giants in the Central League with 8 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie (yes, there are ties in Japanese baseball). It is nice also that Hanshin shares the nickname of Tigers with our beloved Detroit Tigers!
It was a foul ball off the bat of Tiger’s outfielder, Kosuke Fukudome, former MLB Chicago Cub All Star. He was so excited, but I think me more so. Since a family trip in 1977 to Minneapolis and a three-game series between the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers at the old Metropolitan Stadium, I always bring a glove to games just in case we get a chance for a foul ball. In all of the professional baseball games I have attended, including MLB, minor league games, the Venezuelan Winter Leagues and now NPB, a member of my family finally caught one! It only took 39 years! Way to go Ollie!!!!
Either Nadia or the shaking of two earthquakes woke me up Saturday night. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency’s webpage, you can see at 1:55 AM an earthquake of magnitude 3.5, struck near us. The earlier earthquake at relatively the same spot had a magnitude of 4.0. Earthquakes between 3.5 and 4.0 are minor or light according to the Richter scale and will result in shaking and rattling noises. I certainly felt it and it made me understand what a major earthquake must feel like. I can see why people leave their homes after the first big one in fear of aftershocks.
Finally, Ocean found a 5-leaf clover at the local Matsuide Park.
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