Japan’s Pro Baseball Rallies Support for Quake-Hit Venezuela

Osaka, July 16 (Jiji Press)–An increasing number of Japanese professional baseball teams and players are launching fundraising campaigns to support people affected by last month’s major earthquakes in Venezuela. The Orix Buffaloes, whose roster includes Venezuelan pitchers Anderson Espinoza and Andres Machado, promptly launched a fundraising campaign. Before games, Espinoza and Machado themselves stood at the stadium concourse to seek donations from fans. Just days after the devastating twin quakes struck the South American country on June 24, Espinoza took the mound on June 27 while worrying about his homeland. The Buffaloes began collecting donations at their home games starting the same day. Earlier, Espinoza had sent relief supplies to the affected areas through an acquaintance. Recalling the extensive damage caused by the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake that struck Kobe, where the team was formerly based, and other western Japan areas in 1995, Espinoza said he believed he was feeling the same emotions as the victims of the 1995 disaster. Many players from Venezuela, the winner of this spring’s World Baseball Classic, are active in Japanese professional baseball. They are anguished by the disaster in their homeland. Jose Castillo of the Chiba Lotte Marines confessed to reporters that one of his acquaintances died in the catastrophe. Together with Darwinzon Hernandez of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Castillo collected donations at the Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka. In response to the support from Japanese baseball fans, Castillo said he was deeply grateful for the support from Japanese baseball fans. The Saitama Seibu Lions and their players association jointly made donations. The Lions once had Venezuelan slugger Alex Cabrera, who hit a total of 357 home runs in Japanese professional baseball. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]