A great article on Tuffy Rhodes and how the baseball community in Japan views his accomnplishments. Including how he was denied a chance at Japan's single season home run record held by the great Sadaharu Oh.

So it was in 2001 that Rhodes, the hired help, needed one more home run to surpass Oh, with four games left in the 130-game season. The first three of those games were on the road against the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks—whose manager was Oh.

Rhodes hardly saw a pitch in the strike zone through the last game against the Seibu Lions.

Oh denied he had anything to do with a fix, but Oh's pitching coach, Yoshiaki Wakana, acknowledged feeling he "just didn't want a foreign player to break Oh's record."

I didn't realize that happened to Rhodes, I knew he had became a pretty good power hitter in Japan but that was about it. That is a shame he was denied a legit chance to break the record.

On a side note, speaking of records, I have Barry Bonds on my fantasy team and he currently has 131 walks in 76 games.

In 2001 Bonds walked 177 times. In 2002 he shattered his own mark by 21 and walked 198 times. 2003 saw a little decline in his walks as he walked 148 times in 130 games. If he maintains his current pace in 2004 he should finish somewhere around 244 walks this season. He will be the 1st player ever to gather over 200 walks in one single season and break his old mark by an astounding 46 base on balls. That is a half a season of walks for most guys. For Bonds that will just be how much he adds to the record.