A few weeks ago I got an email from Clayton Hamilton who asked if I was still in the business of selling NPB baseball cards.  His name sounded familiar but I was not sure why.  I replied that it wasn't much of a "business" but I do sell or trade NPB cards and asked him what he was looking for.  He said he had played for the Baystars in 2011 and 2012 and was trying to learn what cards he had in Japan.

Oh, THAT'S why the name sounded familiar.

I apologized for not recognizing him and pointed him to the list of his cards at the Trading Card Database.  He and I have been corresponding fairly regularly over the last month.  He first contacted me just two days after I had interviewed George Arias so I went from pretty much never having talked to a former player to talking to two within a couple days.  Our email exchange pretty much evolved into an interview although I was kind of slow-walking it so that I could get the interview with Arias done first.

The information for this post came from our email exchange and his Baseball Reference page as well as an interview he did on Baseball Prospectus' podcast back in 2011.  Any direct quote came from the emails although to be completely honest some of the text will very closely resemble quotes from the podcast.  I just think it's kind of unethical to use quotes from an interview that I didn't do.

Clayton Hamilton was first drafted during his junior year at Penn State by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 21st round of the 2003 draft but he decided to finish his degree.  He was drafted again in the following year in the 17th round by the San Diego Padres.  He played with three different teams in the Padres organization that year - their Arizona League team at their spring training complex in Peoria, Arizona, their Short Season Class A Northwest League team in Eugene, Oregon and their Double-A Southern League team in Mobile, Alabama.  He split 2005 between the Low-A Fort Wayne Wizards of the Midwest League and the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League before being traded to the Pirates that winter for Bobby Hill.

He spent the next two years on the roster of the High-A Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League but he missed a significant amount of time with injuries.  He was selected by the Texas Rangers in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft after the 2007 season.  After having been a starter for most of his career, Texas moved him into the bullpen.  He split 2008 between the Bakersfield Blaze of the High-A California League and the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League and 2009 between Frisco and Triple-A Oklahoma City RedHawks of the Pacific Coast League.  He again missed some time in 2009 with an injury.

He was released by Texas at the end of spring training in 2010.  At that point in the season, most teams already have their rosters set so while he and his agent made some calls to try to find a position with another team, they were unsuccessful.  He considered his options, did some real estate work and then was sponsored by a couple friends to participate in the "World Series Of Poker" in Las Vegas.  He played in a couple of the lower tournaments.  He was doing pretty well there when he got a call from a close friend, Josh Boyd.  Boyd was the scout who signed him to his first contract when he was drafted by the Padres and at the time was working with Texas doing, among other things, some scouting in Japan.  Boyd told him that officials with the Yokohama Baystars were in Fresno, California and would be interested in giving him a tryout.

After discussing it with his fiancee, Clayton decided that Fresno was close to Las Vegas so he should try it.  His fiancee overnighted him his equipment and he flew to Fresno.  The tryout seemed a bit impromptu.  "They literally had a high school catcher catching me - I was worried at first he might get hurt but the kid did a pretty good job."  He had a decent tryout, somewhat surprising himself since he had not played in a few months.  The team was definitely interested in signing him for the 2011 season but they wanted him to have playing time in 2010 and then travel to Japan in the fall for a full tryout.

He still wasn't getting any nibbles from any MLB teams so he and his agent started looking at independent league teams.  He drew some interest from the Atlantic League but he wasn't interested in playing for a team that wasn't near his home in Western Pennsylvania.  He had a tryout with the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League but his age and experience level was too advanced for the league.  He ended up joining a Pittsburgh area men's recreational league team called the St Johns Saints for a few weeks.  As expected, he dominated the team's opponents.  He estimated that he threw 15 innings in their regular season, giving up one hit and striking out about 40 batters.  He helped them win their league championship.  The team went on to play in a tournament in Youngstown, Ohio, and Clayton pitched in one of the their games.  He beat the Cleveland Black Wolves 2-1, giving up four hits and striking out 11.

As the tournament ended, the Rangers again came calling.  In July, Texas made a number of trades, bolstering their roster for the stretch drive that would culminate in their first ever World Series appearance and they needed to restock the roster at Double-A Frisco.  He rejoined the RoughRiders and made four starts before being released at the end of the season to pursue his opportunity in Japan.

He flew to Japan in October for his week-long tryout with the Baystars.  The team was also looking at three other foreign pitchers that week - Joey Newby, Jeff Ridgway and Brandon Mann.  The four pitcher spent most of their week working out at the Baystars' farm team facility in Yokosuke but spent at least one day at Yokohama Stadium throwing batting practice to ichi-gun team members.  "I don't remember exactly who I threw against in bp, but I do remember the following day was bad weather and we all threw side-by-side off the mounds in the indoor facility in Yokosuka. We were all trying to throw every pitch as hard as we possibly could as the sound effects in that tight indoor space made the velocity seem higher than it really was.  They had some hitters stand in the box during the session, mostly ni-gun guys, just to give it as real of a feel as possible.  I knew I had thrown really well in that session, but none of us really knew what the coaching and front office staff was thinking at that time."  

He found out soon afterwards.  "After the tryout I was offered a one-year contract with a club option for a second year and accepted."  Brandon Mann was the only other player of the group who was signed by the team.

He married his fiancee that winter didn't get to spend much time with his new wife as he flew to Japan in late January to be ready for training camp in Okinawa by February 1st.  After a month in Okinawa the team returned to Yokohama to continue playing exhibition games in preparation for the regular season.  

He quickly learned about the differences between pitching in Japan and pitching in the US.  "Japanese pitchers have a much higher practice throwing volume than we do in America - their throwing sessions and bullpens are probably double or triple than what I was used to.  Obviously you try to fit in when you first arrive, but after a couple weeks of spring training your arm starts letting you know you aren't used to that much throwing.  Eventually you work it out so the coaches feel you are putting enough work in and so you feel like you can comb your hair without discomfort in the mornings.

"Additionally, Japanese hitters approach their AB's differently than what we're used to as well.  The top and bottom of the order are predicated on putting the ball in play - small ball such as bunting, stealing, etc are staples in their system.  Playing on turf was often times frustrating for me as a groundball pitcher because I'd make a good pitch but it would get chopped down into the turf creating a high bounce - which the runner would consistently beat out.  Nothing drives a pitcher crazy quite like an infield single!

"I found it was difficult to rack up strikeouts in the NPB as well because most hitters there are very meticulous in their 2-strike approach.  They would much prefer to hit a groundout to the right side than strikeout swinging - a stark difference to what you see currently in today's MLB game.

"The single biggest adjustment, one which I ended up struggling with, was life in the NPB bullpen.  When you are pitching well, you get used early and often.  In the states there are similar thought patterns across most teams.  Back to back days for a reliever is fine, followed by a day off.  If you throw three straight days, you most times get two days off if possible. In the Baystars bullpen those were out the window.  I think part of that was due to the team struggling for so long to win that each win was a very big deal.  It can be like that when you're used to losing ballgames, you really need a win that night to keep wind in the sails."

On March 11th the Baystars were in the middle of playing a game when the Tohoku earthquake hit.  The players and eventually the fans in attendance were evacuated onto the field for safety in case the ballpark or surrounding buildings collapsed.  In the aftermath of the disaster the Baystars allowed their foreign players to go home briefly so Clayton was able to fly home for less than a week before returning.  (One of his teammates - Brent Leach - refused to return to Japan initially and became the first ever player placed on the NPB's restricted list.  Leach eventually returned to the team in July.  Brian Bannister of the Yomiuri Giants was also placed on the restricted list for the same reason - he retired as a player rather than returning to Japan.)

Clayton made his NPB debut on April 13th, entering the game in relief at home against the Chunichi Dragons.  His first several appearances with Yokohama were relief ones but the team moved him into the starting rotation in May.  "I started in the pen, and eventually made a couple spot starts.  I think they really wanted me to be a starter but that transition doesn't happen overnight and I couldn't seem to consistently get past the 5th inning in those starts. Obviously as a starter your goal is to go deep into the game, but I kept running out of gas pretty quickly.  I still had a bullpen mindset in a starter's body!"

He earned his first (and only) victory in Japan on May 23rd, throwing six shutout innings against the Fighters in Yokohama.

His season got interrupted due to an injury that occurred while running the bases in a start against the Giants:  "I had thrown 4 great innings and had handled Rami-chan twice and got an AB against [Hirokazu] Sawamura.  He was throwing bullets that day and I somehow managed to get a bunt down - which he promptly fielded and threw the runner out at second.  I literally hadn't stood on first base in a real game since my Senior year of High school and here I am standing on first in the Tokyo Dome with 50,000 fans in attendance.  Nervous would probably be an understatement - pitching is one thing as it's second nature at that point but running the bases?  Not so much.  Of course Rocketboy ([Takahiro] Ishikawa) hits a grounder to second giving them an opportunity at a double play and I don't recall even thinking about what to do - I just went in with a solid slide trying to break it up a bit if possible.  When I was on the bases 12 years before that it would have been the right play, but in this instance I should have just peeled off.  I sprained my wrist on the slide and within seconds it was significantly swollen.

"I of course was not going to admit that just happened so I did my best to go back out for the 5th inning.  I couldn't bend it very well and had a rough inning.  It also didn't help that we misplayed two hits that inning either but when it rains it pours!  They yanked me that inning and we ended up losing the game.  I got a cortisone injection in my wrist the day after the game, and spent a few weeks at ni-gun letting it heal.  

"The bad news was for some reason even once my wrist felt better and good enough to pitch, I couldn't throw my sinker anymore.  No matter what I tried I could not get the ball to sink - and that was my bread-and-butter that got me there in the first place.  I joke with my wife that getting that AB was the beginning of the end of our time in Japan, and she'll remind me that it's embarrassing hurting yourself sliding."

Some changes were in store for the Baystars over the 2011-12 off season.  The biggest change was the team's owners, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) sold the team to the software company DeNA, resulting in the team being renamed the "Yokohama DeNA Baystars".  The other change was that manager Takao Obana was replaced by Kiyoshi Nakahata.  Clayton said that the ownership change really had no effect on him but he preferred playing for Nakahata:  "He was more of an energetic player's manager while Obana was more of a stoic figurehead."

He was back in the bullpen for the 2012 season and seeing a lot of playing time early in the season. "My second season started as well as it could have.  I rattled off like 7-8 scoreless appearances to start the year and led the league in appearances through 5-6 weeks.  Problem was I had never tossed that many innings that early in a season before (typically relievers have lighter workloads in April than they do in August) and it began to take a toll.  The wheels finally fell off in a game against Hanshin in which I tore my rotator cuff and tried to push through it."

He made some appearances with the farm team after his injury however he still wasn't healthy.   His 2012 numbers with the ichi-gun team were 9 appearances with a 7.43 ERA in 13 1/3 innings while his ni-gun numbers were 6 appearances with a 8.10 ERA in 6 2/3 innings.  The team released him in June.  "I did extensive physical therapy and PRP injections before a comeback attempt in the Puerto Rico winter league [with Ponce], but wasn't the same and decided to retire."

Clayton favorite teammate during his time in Japan was Daisuke Miura and his favorite memory was "riding in Miura's Mercedes and trying to comb my hair like his".  His favorite ballpark was Koshien ("the fans were unbelievably passionate and I liked the balloon release ritual they had going on every game.  It also was a decently long way from the indoor bullpen to the mound, so it gave you a little extra time to soak in the excitement.") while his least favorite was Fukuoka Dome ("I swear to this day that mound is not the right height!").  He says that the batter who gave him the most trouble was Michihiro Ogasawara while his favorite opposing pitcher to watch was Sawamura.  "Playing in the NPB was truly a great experience and a great way to end my playing career."

As I mentioned, Clayton had contacted me to try to find out what Japanese baseball cards existed for him.  He said that his son had recently gotten into collecting cards and "wants to build a collection of all my cards so we're trying to find them all which is not an easy task when you are common card!"

Between Trading Card DB's list, what Clayton already owns and what I've been able to find on-line, it looks like he had ten cards altogether, including parallels and autographed cards.  Here's the list:

Clayton sent me photos of the cards he owns:

2011 BBM 1st Version #305

2011 BBM Baystars #YB20 normal and foil parallel

2011 BBM Baystars Autograph

2011 BBM Baystars Autograph Back

2011 Bandai Owners League 02 #144

2011 Konami Baseball Heroes Opening Version White #135

I found images of a couple of the other cards online:

2011 Bandai Owners League ?

2011 BBM Baystars #YB20 Facsimile Autograph Parallel

2012 BBM Baystars #DB21

I don't know for sure which 2011 Owners League set that first card is from.  It's either 01 or 03 because I have the checklist for 04 from the box I opened and he's not on it.  

2002 BBM 2nd Version #612

For a while now I've been wanting to talk to a former NPB player about their experiences playing in Japan and what they knew about their Japanese baseball cards but I've never been able to pull it off.  I kind of chickened out when I had the opportunity to talk with Masanori Murakami and while I'm grateful to Warren Cromartie for taking the time to answer the questions that John E. Gibson forwarded to him on my behalf, I was unable to ask any follow up questions.

Recently, however, Justin of Charm City Autographs presented me with an opportunity.  He had discovered that former Orix BlueWave, Hanshin Tiger and Yomiuri Giant George Arias was runs two baseball Academies in Tucson, Arizona - the Centerfield Baseball & Softball Academy (a for-profit one) and the Tucson Champs Academy (a non-profit one).  Justin had stopped by to get some cards autographed (one of which he sent me).  Justin mentioned that George would be willing to do an interview with me if I was interested.  I was definitely interested.  Justin gave me George's contact information and after a couple of cancelations and rescheduling due to both his job and my job, we finally were able to connect for an interview a few weeks ago.

George Arias was a seventh round pick of the then-California Angels in the June 1993 draft out of the University of Arizona in his hometown of Tucson.  He worked his way through the Angels organization quickly, playing with Cedar Rapids of the Class A Midwest League in 1993, Lake Elsinore of the High-A California League in 1994 and Midland of the Double-A Texas League in 1995.  He made his big league debut on Opening Day in 1996, playing third and batting seventh against the Milwaukee Brewers.  He singled off of Ricky Bones in his first at bat and ultimately went 2-3 in the game with an RBI before being lifted for a pinch hitter late in the game.  The guy who pinch hit for him was Jack Howell, who was playing in his first MLB game after spending the previous four seasons with the Swallows and Giants in Japan.  He's now an instructor at one of George's Academies.

The first suggestion to him that he consider playing in Japan came from an unlikely source - teammate Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who was in his first season with the Angels.  "He was telling me...'Arias, my team, Orix, wants you to go play...they really, really like you.  [Manager Akira] Ohgi-san like you.'"  He wasn't very receptive to Hasegawa's suggestion though.  "At that time I was 'Heck, no, I'm trying to play in the big leagues.'"

After splitting 1996 between Anaheim and Triple-A Vancouver, George spent most of the first few months of the 1997 season back at Triple-A.  On August 19th, he was sent to the San Diego Padres as the "player to be named later" to complete a deal the teams had made a week earlier that saw future Hall Of Famer Rickey Henderson join the Angels.  He had a great season with Triple-A Las Vegas in 1998, hitting .308 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs but he was only able to play in 20 games with San Diego (although he did get an at bat in the NLDS that year against Houston).  1999 was more of the same, playing 55 games with San Diego and 26 with Las Vegas.  The shuttle between the levels was starting to get old.  "Being a 4-A player, going up and going back down to Triple-A...it's kind of troubling, it gets frustrating to do that."

The Padres released him following the 1999 season.  "My agent said 'Hey, Japan's calling...It's really good money, it's more than you're making here, it's guaranteed...let's give it a shot!'  I said 'Alright!'"

He joined the Orix BlueWave on a two year contract.  Like every other American going to Japan, he made adjustments.  "At first it's tough because you're trying to adjust to the mentality.  You're trying to adjust to their culture and their style.  And it's very difficult if you sit there as an American and don't adjust to everything.  What you're going to learn real fast when you go to Japan, they're going to say 'This is Japanese style' and what they're referring to is 'This is how it is and we're not going to change because you're American' so you have to change your knowledge and all the information that you have, you're going to have to change it to adapt to theirs.  And sure enough, the guys that struggle in Japan are the guys that are stubborn and don't want to change.  They don't like that style."

George learned that the pitching styles were different in Japan.  "It's two different types of mentality when you're facing pitchers in Japan or coming to the States.  In Japan...these are technicians, they're going to get you out with forkballs and on any count, they'll throw it 0-0, 1-0.  You come to the States, they're pounding...When you're in the hitter's count, they're going to come at you with fastballs, they're going to challenge you.  In Japan in the hitter's count, they're going to throw a forkball, change up or curveball or a slider."  He also discovered that his opportunities to discuss the opposing pitching during games was limited - "There's only four foreigners per team so sometimes [I'm] the only hitter with three pitchers...there's not much conversation going on in the dugout."

2000 BBM #90

He adjusted pretty well that first season, hitting .250 with 26 home runs and 61 RBIs in 116 games.  "I could have been more disciplined at the plate and hit for more average.  But I think the fans wanted to see home runs and me drive in runs."

George's first year with Orix coincided with Ichiro's last year with the team.  I asked him what it was like having Ichiro as a teammate:  "It was fun.  He had the best hand-eye coordination I've ever seen....He just made it look so easy which was kind of frustrating on my end.  He made hitting look so easy with his style...Such great timing...You could see he was going to be phenomenal...You have great players and then you have really, really great players...It was definitely a blessing to watch him play every day...They'd throw a ball [that would] bounce in the dirt and he'd hit it, kept it fair, for a double."

2001 Upper Deck #104

His numbers improved in his second season in Japan in 2001, hitting .262 with 38 home runs and 97 RBIs but he was unable to reach a deal with Orix when his contract was up at the end of the year.  He got a recommendation from Greg Hansell, a former teammate who was with the Hanshin Tigers.  "We had the same agent, we're having dinner, he goes 'Hey, why don't you come play for us?'"  He ended up signing a two year contract with the Tigers.

Playing for the Tigers was quite a different experience than playing for the BlueWave.  "I don't want to downplay Orix because I'm grateful for the opportunity but when you play in front of 55 thousand fans every single game with Hanshin...they're the number one fans in the country and they're loyal to you...they'll follow you.  Sometime we had more fans than a opposing team did at their home stadium."

Besides the difference in the fans, George also had to adjust to a difference in managers.  Senichi Hoshino, his new manager with the Tigers, had a different temperament than Akira Ohgi, his manager at Orix.  "Two different style of managers.  Ohgi-san more calm and collected.  Very highly respectable, very, very nice guy...Hoshino-san, he'll kick you in your head!  We used to call him a field goal kicker, me and my teammate Derrick White, because he'd be sitting in the second row and when something goes wrong, he'd kick the chair in front of him.  Very intelligent manager, very well respected, got you to play the game.  And did a great job."

2003 BBM All Stars #A65

George started his time with the Tigers in 2002 on a high note, homering on Opening Day against the Giants in Tokyo.  It was the prelude to another fine season as he hit .258 with 32 home runs and 82 RBIs.  He made the All Star team for the first time and went 2-4 with a solo home run in the first All Star game which won him MVP honors in the Central League's 4-1 victory.  

2003 BBM 2nd Version #548

2003 ended up being a special year for a number of reasons.  He had his best season at the plate in Japan that year, hitting .265 with 38 home runs and 107 RBIs.  Even more importantly the Tigers were winning.  They won the Central League pennant for the first time since 1985 and faced the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Nippon Series.  They lost in seven games however George took home some hardware after the season was over as he won both the Best 9 and Golden Glove awards for his play at first base.  "Winning makes things fun.  I don't care who you are, it's just that simple.  It's just memorable because when you're winning, you got a bunch of guys on the team having fun...it becomes that much more memorable.  When you're losing, losing sucks obviously.  Fingers are always pointed.  But that year, 2003, was very memorable."

2003 BBM Nippon Series #46

2004 BBM 1st Version #GG13

He signed another contract with Hanshin for the 2004 season but it wasn't as much fun as the previous year.  While he still put up good numbers, hitting .272 with 25 home runs and 84 RBIs and making the All Star team for the third straight year despite missing some time with a back injury, the team finished the year in fourth place.  After the season, he and the team parted ways.

2004 BBM 1st Version #206

George returned to the US and signed a minor league deal with the Nationals but was cut at the end of spring training.  He spent the 2005 season with the Tijuana Colts of the Mexican League, hitting .303 with 23 home runs and 81 RBIs in 89 games.  He was back in Tijuana for 2006, hitting .272 with 19 home runs and 71 RBIs after 80 games when the Yomiuri Giants came calling.  He returned to Japan to play for the Giants but there was a catch - they wanted him be a left fielder.  He had never played the outfield before having mostly been a corner infielder.  He spent his time "Begging hitters not to hit me the ball."  He only played in 17 games with the ichi-gun team (15 of which were at third, filling in for the injured Hiroki Kokubo), hitting just 167 with 2 home runs.  He finished the season with the farm team and decided to retire as a player.

He has fond feelings towards Japan.  "I went over there...like most people probably for the money but what I didn't realize is that I fell in love with the culture and the way it was...I loved staying there...I loved playing there."

I asked him about whether he had known he had cards issued for him in Japan when he played there.  He said he hadn't.  "You know how I found out [I had Japanese cards]?  Through fans who would...some would make me a collage of all my baseball cards and put them together, they'd give to me as a gift if I signed their cards.  So I'd be 'Huh, I've never seen this card before' or 'Whoa, where'd this come from?'.  Which was pretty neat so that's why I really enjoyed some of the fans because they'd give these little gifts and those were kind of surprising to me."

2009 BBM Orix 20th Anniversary #31

2013 BBM "Greatest Games 9-26-2001 Buffaloes vs BlueWave" #28

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners #63

2013 BBM Deep Impact #57

2014 BBM Orix 25th Anniversary