Ice Dancing. Ice. F–ing. Dancing.
(Note: The following ’sports’ included in the winter and summer olympics while baseball, aka world’s fourth most popular sport, is not: luge, snowboarding, an experimental variant of rugby known as sevens, synchronized swimming, BMX, canoe slalom, and beach volleyball.)

[Read more →]

Gearing up for the upcoming season, I thought I’d bring our readers’ attention to an excellent site.  Japan Baseball News–a collaborative effort from long-time Japanese baseball guru Bob Bavasi and site author Brandon Siefken–is an effective and well-done site covering professional and amateur baseball in Japan.
The site features free content containing scouting reports, draft analysis [...]

[Read more →]

Like a hair metal band after a long hiatus, Aaron and I realized that we missed rocking out on EWC. So we’re getting it rolling again. We were putting our zany yet informative posts about baseball and things Asia-related on Facebook, but it just wasn’t the same. Aaron started a solo project [...]

[Read more →]

EWC extends heartfelt congratulations to Oakland A’s International Scout Adam Hislop, whose wife Nicole gave birth to their first son, Lenny Zen Hislop on Wednesday.  Lenny is the the Hislop’s second child, but since Adam and his wife are both of the Mormon faith we can only assume that a starting lineup of Hislops will be [...]

[Read more →]

The Pirates signed their third Taiwanese high school player this week, this time inking Shiyuan HS staff ace Hung Sheng-Chin to minor league contract. Hung is an 18 year old 5′11, 158 pound RHP that touches 90 but sits in the mid to high 80’s. He works in a mid-70’s curve and change-up [...]

[Read more →]

Probably old dope for those of you in the states, and it’s hoops, not baseball, but this story hits home since a. it’s my hometown team and b. it involves the fine line of blogging vs. secrecy/insider sports information that I walk every day as both a journalist and MLB scout.  The always excellent TAN [...]

[Read more →]

Patrick over at NPB tracker reports that the Texas Rangers are about to release pitcher Fukumori Kazuo.  The talented but injury-prone 32 year old signed with the Rangers last year, but managed only a brief stint with the big club where he managed to enter just four games and, well, got pounded mercilessly.
Japanese baseball news [...]

[Read more →]

I came to this via one of those Facebook “friends” who I honestly am not sure how I know or knew. But I’m glad I did because this is a good cause and something I think people reading EWC might be able to help with. 
A 28-year-old man named Nick Glasgow in Pleasanton, California is in desperate need [...]

[Read more →]

Our reader De Profundis–who authors the interesting and surprisingly profanity-filled Fat Cow 7, described as “one of the most irresponsible blogs in the Jewish world”–apparently has a sixth sense for irresponsibility and kindly pointed out that I had my Jose Bautistas mixed up in my last post.
I incorrectly reported that Jose Bautista the Toronto Blue [...]

[Read more →]

Yeah, the teabagging jokes are getting old.  If such a thing is possible.  But this photo pretty much says it all.  (Swiped it off my buddy Jim’s facebook page).

[Read more →]

With Passover concluding, it seems as good a time as any to sing the praises of Jose Bautista, the Toronto Blue Jays’ part-time infielder.  Being a member of the tribe myself, I was delighted to learn that the Dominican-born Bautista is an observant orthodox jew of sephardic descent who doesn’t bat on shabbos (whenever possible).
Batista [...]

[Read more →]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_peSCECc4I

Since we’re on the gangster theme today, seems like a good time to call time out and dust off Christopher’s drug intervention scene in the Soprano’s.  I can’t help but think this is the best scene in the history of TV. (Warning: In no way safe for work)
Oh, for those of you who haven’t [...]

[Read more →]

Despite recent statements that he would like to visit Taiwan, the Dalai Lama has been told to stay home by Taiwan’s Mongolian and Tibetan affairs minister Kao Su-po, affirming Ma Ying-jeou’s stance that a visit from the Tibetan spiritual leader would be bad for business.
From Taiwan Headlines:
“The Dalai Lama’s visit is a highly sensitive issue, [...]

[Read more →]

Just another new year’s eve for us over here at EWC. Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2009.

[Read more →]

People always ask me “how do they celebrate Christmas in Korea?” You’ll hear a lot of different figures as to how many Christians live in South Korea — I’ve heard 80% of the population and I’ve heard 40%. The truth is — well, it lies nowhere, because a lot of that number depends on who [...]

[Read more →]

Note: This article first appeared in the Taipei Times November 2nd, 2008.
After falling behind 3-2 in the series after a contentious Game 5 marked by controversy and theatrics, the Brother Elephants evened up the CPBL Taiwan Series at three games apiece yesterday, defeating the Uni-President Lions 5-0 and forcing a deciding Game 7 tonight in [...]

[Read more →]

It’s a cliche, but true–you really can’t understand how much you worry and care about every little thing about your child until you become a parent. As a new parent, I get sick when I see stories like this one: 59 kids across China have been diagnosed with kidney stones, yielding one fatality. [...]

[Read more →]

We’re a year old and I feel I ought to say something profound. Not because anyone particularly cares and needs to know that we’ve been doing this for a year, but mostly because it occupies a decent portion  of my life on certain days through certain hours.
East Windup Chronicle was hatched on July 27, 2007 [...]

[Read more →]

Not sure if you noticed, but the site was down for about 18 hours from early Saturday morning to Sunday. It was apparently a server problem, but it’s been solved and there shouldn’t be any more problems until the next time it happens. If you’ve ever worked on a blog you know how scary that [...]

[Read more →]

Update: SK just announced the signing of Kenny Ray, who in 2007 was a Omaha Royal, and this year was playing in Mexico.
In 2006 Ray threw 67 2/3 innings with the Atlanta Braves. His ERA was 4.52 and he saved five games.
Looks like a good adition to the Wyvrens bullpen. He’s also from Georgia, so [...]

[Read more →]