The Japanese Baseball National Team needs a new manager for the upcoming World Baseball Classic next March. The 61-year-old Senichi Hoshino informed the commissioner of the Japanese Baseball Federation about his decision not to manage the team at the high profiled event. According to Reuters he said on his website that he is disappointed about the criticism after another frustrating Olympics in Beijing this August. “I’ve already been engulfed in flames once — why should I have to drag someone’s chestnuts out of the fire again? I don’t want to put my family through that again.”
Japanese Baseball was surprised by the development and has not found a replacement yet. They hope to announce a new skipper for the defending WBC champion in about a month. Sadaharu Oh, who managed the team in 2006, is not available due the health reasons. Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who already confirmed his intentions to participate, made clear that the federation needs to speed up its activities.
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October 29, 2008 | 1:10 pm
[...] Japanese Baseball Federation has found a replacement for Senichi Hoshino as manager of the national team at the World Baseball Classic 2009. The skipper of the Yomiuri [...]