Randy Bass

Infobox Senator | name=Randy Bass
nationality=American-

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jr/sr and state=State Senator, Oklahoma
party=Democratic
term=November 2004–Present
preceded=
succeeded= Incumbent
date of birth=Birth date and age|1954|3|13|mf=y
place of birth=Lawton, Oklahoma
height=185 cm
spouse=Kelley Bass
religion=Lutheran

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=gold
bgcolor2=#8B4513
textcolor1=#8B4513
textcolor2=gold
name=Randy Bass


position=First Baseman
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1954|3|13
debutdate=September 3
debutyear=1977
debutteam=Minnesota Twins
finaldate=June 7
finalyear=1982
finalteam=Texas Rangers
stat1label=AVG
stat1value=.212
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=69
stat3label=Home runs
stat3value=9
teams=
*Minnesota Twins (by|1977)
*Kansas City Royals (by|1978)
*Montreal Expos (by|1979)
*San Diego Padres (by|1980-by|1982)
*Texas Rangers (by|1982)
*Hanshin Tigers (by|1983-by|1988)
highlights=
*Japanese Triple Crown: by|1985, by|1986
*1985 Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize

nihongo|Randy William Bass|ランディ・バース (born March 13, 1954 in Lawton, Oklahoma) is a former American baseball player and current politician. He is less notable for his career in Major League Baseball than for his success in Japan's Hanshin Tigers of Central League, where he had the most spectacular run of any American to ever play in Japan. Currently, Bass is a Democratic State Senator from Oklahoma, representing District 32.

Baseball

Bass came up with the Minnesota Twins as a first baseman in by|1977. In his six seasons in the Major Leagues (divided among five teams), he was never a day-to-day player, usually coming off the bench just to pinch hit. After his contract expired following the by|1982 season, Bass signed with the Hanshin Tigers of the Central League, who made him their starting first-baseman. Bass is often credited as single-handedly turning the fortune of the Tigers which resulted in the team's run and eventual victory of the Japan Series in by|1985.

Bass took advantage of the differences between Japanese and American styles of pitching, and immediately became the Tigers' star slugger. He won four consecutive league batting titles; in by|1986, he nearly became the first player in Japan to bat .400, finishing the season with a .389 average, a record that still stands, despite Ichiro Suzuki's formidable challenges to it in by|1994 and by|2000. Bass won consecutive batting Triple Crowns (1985 and 1986), a feat no player has accomplished in the U.S. Major Leagues. In 1985, he was on a pace to break Sadaharu Oh's record of 55 home runs in a single season, but fell short by one, because in the last game of the season the pitcher from Oh's Yomiuri Giants threw only intentional walks (allegedly to prevent the Westerner from breaking Oh's record though Oh himself is not a Japanese national). [Merron, J. "The Phoniest Records in Sports". (Feb 2003)., retrieved from [http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?page=phonyrecords-030225 ESPN.com] on March 29, 2007] In Japan, his spectacular performance is a legend and among Tigers fans, he is nearly deified, being referred in conjunction with God and Buddha, "Kami-sama (God), Hotoke-sama (Buddha), Baasu-sama (Bass)" (sama is an honorary variation of "san" similar to Sir or His holiness).

He is also famous in Japan for the "Curse of the Colonel." Following the 1985 Series victory, revelers celebrated by calling off the names of team members one by one. At each name, a fan who looked like that player would jump into the filthy Dotonbori canal. For Bass, someone threw a life-sized model of Colonel Sanders, the mascot of Kentucky Fried Chicken and the only close-at-hand likeness of a bearded American, into the river. The statue disappeared and is said to have caused the subsequent decade-long dismal performance in the Central League. In an attempt to remove the curse, fans have made repeated attempts to find the model, but so far the attempts have failed. Instead, the fans have been making offerings to the statues of the Colonel for forgiveness. In by|2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with one of the worst records in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from rabid Tigers fans. The newly replaced Colonel Sanders statue in the Dotonbori KFC branch is bolted down to prevent a repeat of the incident. The Tigers failed to win the series, so the curse is presumably intact.

After baseball

After his by|1988 retirement, Bass became active in community projects to promote baseball in his native state, while continuing to make trips to Japan as a cultural ambassador. Bass was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate as a Democrat in 2004. He was re-elected in 2006. In the Senate he serves as the Co-Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee Natural Resources and Regulatory Services. He also sits on the Appropriations, Retirement and Insurance, General Government and, Judiciary Committees.

Name spelling

Though the name Bass would conventionally be transcribed as バス (Basu) in Japanese, Randy Bass is known as バース (Bāsu) (pronounced /baːs(ɯ)/ when read phonetically). The Hanshin Tigers requested the change because the owner of the team, Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., directly owns a bus operation. Because "bus" is written exactly the same as Bass in Japanese ('basu'), the Tigers worried that Japanese media might create headlines such as "Bus unstoppable" (consecutive hits), "Bus explodes" (home run) or "Bus crash" (if he slumps), which would have a negative impact to the corporate image of Hanshin Electric Railway Bus.Fact|date=October 2007

References

External links

* [http://www.oksenate.gov/Senators/biographies/bass_bio.html Oklahoma State Senate page]
* [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=749091 The Curse of Bass]
* [http://www.lawtonpolitics.com Lawton Politics]
* [http://www.oksenate.gov/senators/biographies/bass_bio.html Sen. Bass official Bio]
* [http://www.cityof.lawton.ok.us City of Lawton official Webpage]