A CALL TO ARMS - - - AGAIN. We are still looking for a satisfactory answer to the question: Why are the only Asians playing in the American big leagues pitchers? The closest we have come is the explanation given by Fibber Hirayama, who played in the Japanese bigs in the '50s and '60s. A product of American baseball (He was a standout collegian at Fresno State), Fibber still scouts for his old team, the Hiroshima Carp. He has been credited by Sports Illustrated for having convinced his native Japanese teammates that it is not so much how you LOOK when you make the plays as it is the RESULT. . As to why the only Asian exports to the U.S. are pitchers, he says that the best athletes in Japan end up on the mound. "The position players over there do not have the foot speed or the arm strength to make it in American ball," Hirayama says. And they do not hit as well.

ARM STRENGTH? I bought my old college buddy's reasoning except for the arm strength thing. Excuse me, Fibber, but doesn't it take a strong arm to get it up to the plate at 90 MPH plus? Turning it around, could not Hideki Irabu or the Korean Chan Ho Park, playing right field, make a base runner think twice before trying to stretch a double into a triple?

DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH. I asked Fib if he knows of any position players from Asia who will be ready for The Show in the foreseeable future. He said he knew of none. Meanwhile, this column apologizes to Shigetoshi (I'm not Irish) Hasegawa, Japan's gift to Anaheim. He has not been mentioned in any of our discussions on this subject in the last issue or this one. The Asian Angel is, of course, a pitcher.

EUREKA! (ALMOST). A few days after consulting Hirayama I took in a Class A game between the San Bernardino Stampede and the Modesto A's of the California League. I settled into my seat and scanned the rosters. Modesto had no Asians. San Bernardino listed their pitchers first. The third man on the list was Rocky Chung. Another Asian pitcher. Confirmation for Fibber's theory, frustration for me in my search of a position player from the other side of the Pacific Rim. Rocky, incidentally, is from Seoul, Korea. But wait a minute! Among the infielders were Ken Morimoto and Rich Saitta. OK, so they are Americans, Ken being from Madera, CA and Rich being a native of Hilo, HI. But if either makes it to the big leagues, Fibber is going to hear from me.

Editor’s Note - It does seem like we are seeing more and more Asians and Asian Americans in both the majors and the minors. When I saw the San Jose Giants last June they debuted Kiyono, yet another pitcher from Japan. Recently I saw Peoria of the Midwest League. They had a David Kim on their roster. There was a David Kim in the Korean Baseball Organization who was supposed to play this year but wasn’t on any roster. Could this be Bob’s elusive position player? No. It turns out that this this was a different David Kim. This one is from Cherry Hills New Jersey. The search goes on... DLM