Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2013

This is not a baseball story, per se. It does deal with baseball players, baseball games, baseball statistics and baseball history, but it is not a baseball story—and that’s a terrific shame.

Wladimir Balentien, an outfielder for Tokyo’s Yakult Swallows, is standing on the threshold of history. In an awesome display of power, patience and consistency, Balentien is on the verge of breaking Nippon Professional Baseball’s single-season home run record of 55-. The Curaçao native has been nothing short of spectacular this season, hammering ball after ball into the farthest depths of Meiji Jingu Stadium. He leads the Central League in batting average, and despite having missed 12 games due to a leg injury, hit home runs 49, 50, 51 and 52 during a four-day stretch in the last week of August. With 53 homers (at press time) and a dozen games still remaining in the season, besting the 55 mark seems inevitable.

[Balentien tied the record on September 11 versus the Hiroshima carp. —Eds.]

Yet despite what the math suggests, it remains far from a sure thing that Balentien will become the new record-holder. “Coco,” as his fans call him, is not the first player to stand on the brink of this record. In fact, three other players have been in the same position, but none succeeded. Actually, none of them were permitted to break the record. All three players were foreigners. And this is where things get ugly.

Sadaharu Oh set the current benchmark of 55 single-season home runs in 1964. Perhaps the most legendary and revered figure in Japanese baseball history, many of Oh’s career accomplishments remain not only unmatched, but also largely unchallenged. Though he carried a Taiwanese passport and had mixed Japanese-Taiwanese parentage, his Japanese bloodline and upbringing separate him from the foreign players who would threaten his record.

The first player to approach Oh’s mark was American Randy Bass. While playing for the Hanshin Tigers in 1985, Bass had tallied 54 home runs—-one shy of the record—entering the final game of the season. But that night’s opponent, the Yomiuri Giants, never gave him a chance. All four times Bass came up to bat, the Yomiuri pitching staff intentionally walked him (which gives a player a free pass to first base without giving him a chance to hit the ball). It was later revealed that Yomiuri’s upper management and coaching staff directed the decision, threatening chuckers with heavy fines for every hittable pitch thrown to the American. Bass stood at home plate, holding his bat upside down in protest. Oh’s record remained intact.

In 2001, it happened again. Tuffy Rhodes, another American, playing for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, tied Oh’s mark of 55 home runs, only to be intentionally walked again and again during his team’s season-ending series against the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. After the game, a member of the Hawks’ coaching staff reportedly commented that, “He just didn’t want a foreign player to break Oh’s record.”

Just a year later, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera also made it to 55 for the Saitama Seibu Lions. Like Bass and Rhodes, Cabrera was given no more hittable pitches at the end of the season, and was even struck by a pitch. The opposing coaching staff denied ordering the walks.

Now it’s Balentien’s turn, and the walks are already piling up. Opposing pitchers throw junk to him: pitches much too high, too low, too far to the outside, unhittable and almost always resulting in a walk. Balentien has shown good patience so far, but occasionally his frustration shows through, as he takes a big swing at a ball thrown far outside the strike zone. You can see it in his body language as he takes his free first base, a backhanded reward if there ever was one.

Balentien’s suppression comes during a summer when Tokyo is making its case to welcome thousands of international athletes for the 2020 Summer Olympics. It comes just weeks after Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who plays in the US, was showered with affection and ovations by the Major League players, fans and media upon his reaching an important statistical milestone: 4,000 career hits. Around the world, sports transcend nationality and race.

Yet as we watch Wladimir Balentien step up to the plate during the home stretch of this 2013 season, we find ourselves thinking about things other than his technique, his timing or his focus. The shame is that this  is not a baseball story. It should be.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows home games at Meiji Jingu Stadium until Sep 26. See sports listings for details.