The Mums' moments & the bat

Sometime in the late ’70s, I browsed through Robert Whiting’s cult classic, The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, where the way the Japanese played baseball was described as being Samurai-style, meaning among other things that it was conducted with discipline, courage and a fine sense of honor.

Whiting noted: “The Japanese view of life, stressing group identity, cooperation, hard work, respect for age, seniority and ‘face’ has permeated almost every aspect of the sport. Americans who come to play in Japan quickly realize that Baseball Samurai Style is different.”

Not all critics and observers agreed with the author’s characterization of Japanese baseball in those terms. But it was argued back that many Japanese players and managers happened to describe themselves that way.

I was reminded of Whiting’s observations while chatting over dinner with baseball coach Pepe Muñoz a couple of weekends ago. Coach Pepe spearheaded the MLL or Muntinlupa Little League teams that participated in the 2012 Little League Philippines Series played from April 8 to 16 on Clark Freeport Zone’s Parade Grounds.

He enjoyed much support from parents of the kids that came mostly from De La Salle Zobel. Well, Pepe and Lisa Muñoz have exemplified this abiding support through the years. One of the star players in the Big League division of age bracket 16 to 18 was their own son Luis, a strong pitcher who also wields a mean bat.  

That night, the company was celebrating the Big Leaguers’ Friday victory over the Cebu North team, a 10-0 wipeout in three innings via the mercy rule. The team thus entered the semifinals, where they would face perennial rivals ILLAM (International Little League Association of Manila), the division’s defending champs composed mostly of boys from Ateneo.

The MLL Big Leaguers had suffered a one-point loss to traditional powerhouse Tanauan in the elimination round. If they managed to beat ILLAM that Saturday, they expected to face up anew against Tanauan on Sunday. That is, if Tanauan made short work of Antipolo in the other semis match.  

Coach Pepe agreed with Whiting’s observation that American pro players took some time to adjust to Japanese cultural traditions, principally the face-saving routine that was like a tacit mercy rule when a big lead was already being enjoyed.

In turn did I recall for Coach Pepe how I had seen the great Japanese homerun king Sadaharu Oh send one over the wall at the Rizal Memorial baseball field. This must have been in the late ’60s, when our own stalwarts were led by the beefy Filemon Codiñera. And how I had apprenticed with the legendary Ric Tierro in covering baseball games over ABS-CBN radio in the early 1970s.

Mr. Tierro of the gravelly voice taught me how to use a Mongol pencil to simulate the crack of the bat when it was a bunt, a blooper, a single or double, or when the gods smiled on the batter for a mighty homer.

I can’t forget those days, or even earlier when old buddy Cabby Abrera and I would take the long ride from UP Diliman to Taft Avenue and Vito Cruz to catch a baseball game. How we’d enjoy boiled peanuts and corn on the cob as we sprawled on the near-empty stands, unless it was the Philippine team hosting the regional rivals led by Oh.  

Another topic of conversation with Coach Pepe was that 1992 controversy when our Little Leaguers were found out to have been over-aged. Pepe recalled that even before that sorry snafu, the team had already been disqualified in the international championships played in the USA, for having fielded several players culled from Philippine club teams other than what had emerged as national champs.

Funny how a game looked upon by many as a slow one — generally a non-contact sport, for that matter — can be attended by rigorous facets of discipline and honor. But that is how the game is played, and enjoyed.

At an ideal setting such as the vast Parade Grounds in Clark, which used to be Fort Stotsenberg at the beginning of the last century, the game proved enjoyable indeed. Sitting on the grass in the occasional shade provided by old leafy acacias, one didn’t even mind the summer heat, the way our own little boys of summer played their hearts out.

Aeta kids would traipse through the small ranks of team supporters, vending their wares: bow and arrow sets, blowpipes with darts, bamboo bird tweeters and bamboo flutes. One could bargain and make a souvenir purchase when action stalled on the field, which was often.

Baseball moms sat on folding chairs under umbrellas, coolers beside them, and when a game was won, off came the lids of Tupperware vessels for the celebratory distribution of homemade chocolate chip cookies and turron. It was all in the family. That was pretty obvious, even before I learned of how these baseball parents had gone through these rites since their kids were still in grade school, having taken up the game since they were eight or nine or ten.

A decade had passed for some, and cheery spirit and good-natured cheering were still there. And on certain days, some baseball parents were rewarded. Such as on that weekend, when the MLL Big Leaguers beat ILLAM 13-3, while Antipolo pulled off an upset over Tanauan, 10-0.

Came the big day of the finals on Sunday, and at 9 a.m. a fire truck came to spray the field with water to keep the dust down. It all seemed so easy, right from the first inning, when MLL sent a total of 17 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs, helped along by the jittery Antipolo team’s successive fielding errors. 

Coached by Iking Jimenez, the MLL batters made it 15-0 in the second inning. Antipolo wound up conceding the game in the fourth after MLL added four more runs. The final score was 19-0, which someone said could be a record. Someone else pointed out that Carlos Muñoz had pitched a no-hitter. And that it could’ve been a larger margin had Quito “Keets” Castro not been robbed of a grand slam homer when a disciplined Antipolo centerfielder refused to give up on the ball and stretched his glove over the low fence for the out — albeit what turned out to be a sacrifice fly still produced two runs. 

MLL’s big hitters were catcher-skipper Dio Remollo (whose dad, former Dumaguete Mayor Ping Remollo, serves as team manager), Paco Tantuico, Luis Puno, Justin Mathay, Quito Castro, Carlos Muñoz, Ado Iñigo, Tommy Cuna and Migs de Guzman. 

Also contributing to the championship run were Miguel Salud, who had pitched an earlier no-hitter, Franco Hashimoto, and Johnny Altomonte, whom I was doubly happy to greet, since he’s my old buddy Charlie’s son.

The rest of the team can take a bow as well: assistant manager Pelos Remollo and assistant coaches Marco Suarez, Lito Pulgo and Marlon Caspillo.

Indeed, courage, determination, that sense of honor, and the spirit of family hovering over a slow game of inches and arcs and infinite permutations of play — all these were evident in that triumphant weekend for the MLL’s oldest team in the week-long series.

In June the Big League champs go to Guam for the Regional Little League Series. And if they prove plucky and lucky, why, they could represent our country all the way to Bangor, Maine, USA for the world championship on the last week of July.

For now, for the parents — among them Lisa and Pepe Muñoz, Tinting and Ping Remollo, Carlyn Trota Salud, Ditas Antenor, Dominique and Jimbo Iñigo, Sasa Araneta, Atong Manzano, and Chris Park, it was a day to relish. And as one wag quipped, especially for the Mums caring for their young batters, it was a MOMent to remember.