FG Tom O'Malley set to manage Livedoor club

[Captain Japan]

O'Malley is on the right.
Livedoor appoints O'Malley manager of pro-ball wanna-be team
Mainichi

Livedoor Co., an Internet powerhouse that has applied to Japanese pro baseball authorities to launch a team for the 2005 season, has appointed former American slugger Thomas O'Malley as the club's manager.

O'Malley, 43, told a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday that he had dreamt of becoming a pro baseball club manager in Japan. He added that he would aim to form a well-balanced club.

O'Malley joined the Hanshin Tigers as an infielder in 1991 and won the Central League batting average title in 1993. He then played a major role as a slugger for the Yakult Swallows.

For more on O'Malley check here:
Japanese Baseball's Search for Line Drives

[canman]

I met a guy yesterday who works for a sports supplier in Sendai, and he said that Rakuten has already sown up the bid for the new team. It seems like a little money has passed under the table to ensure that Rakuten would win. Not like it surprises me, but its funny to see everybody going through the motions, when it may have already been decided.

[Taro Toporific]

Livedoor appoints O'Malley manager of pro-ball wanna-be team
Mainichi....O'Malley joined the Hanshin Tigers as an infielder in 1991 and won the Central League batting average title in 1993...

O'Malley also speaks worse Japanese than pack of drunk Coatimundi or me. He played ball here in Japan more than THREE YEARS and he could not even say "Ganbare!" correctly at the press conference. Sheesh.

[Captain Japan]

Sendai a battlefield for baseball business
Asahi Shimbun

SENDAI-Amid expectations that this city will have a professional baseball team next season, the pitches are already flying-the business pitches that is.

But Miyagi Baseball Park is 54 years old with a run-down look that does not befit the image of a high-tech, fast-moving Internet company.

Osaka-based general contractor Takenaka Corp. sent a 40-page proposal to Rakuten to turn Miyagi Baseball Park into a modern all-weather dome.

Takenaka foresees a high-tech facility within three years that can hold 40,000. It provided a ballpark figure of 23.5 billion yen for costs.

Takenaka in its proposal stressed its vast experience in building domed stadiums in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo.

Idiots. NPB doesn't need another dome.

[Steve Bildermann]

Not like it surprises me, but its funny to see everybody going through the motions, when it may have already been decided

Well as you know in Japan it's very difficult to conduct proper negotiations if the result is not known in advance.

[Mulboyne]

Livedoor president grilled over Web site
Livedoor president Takafumi Horie faced a battery of questions from Japanese baseball officials regarding the adult content of his company's Web site. Livedoor is one of two Internet services companies bidding to form a new professional baseball team for the 2005 season. The other company, Rakuten, also has links to adult content, but gaining access is more difficult and requires users to be over the age of 18.
In Thursday's meetings, Horie was asked by several members of the panel about the adult content on the Livedoor Web site and whether he thought it was appropriate for a company wanting to enter Japanese professional baseball.