Edited by Will Lingo
September 17, 2002

TOKYO–Last year it was American slugger Tuffy Rhodes of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes who tied the Japanese single-season home run record with 55, matching the total set by Sadaharu Oh of the Tokyo Giants in 1964.

Now another foreign fence-buster threatens to break the mark shared by Oh and Rhodes. He’s Venezuelan slugger Alex Cabrera, a first baseman known in Japan as "Superman" who is leading the Seibu Lions to an easy Pacific League pennant win.

Cabrera had 50 home runs through 117 games of the 140-game Japanese schedule, putting him well within striking distance of the record. He was the league’s August player of the month as the Lions tied a Japanese baseball record with 21 wins for the month, including a 10-game winning streak. Seibu built up a lead of more than 15 games over the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and defending champion Kintetsu.

Cabrera has followed a long and winding road in his baseball career. Signed out of Venezuela by the Cubs in 1991, he spent five years in the organization before getting released. He played in the Mexican League in 1997 and ’98, then spent the 1999 season in Taiwan.

The Diamondbacks signed him before the 2000 season, and he hit 39 home runs in 74 minor league games to earn a callup to Arizona. He got 80 at-bats and hit .263-5-14, and the Diamondbacks sold his contract to Seibu after the season.

Cabrera has been a reliable run producer for the Lions since. He hit .282-49-124 last year, providing a preview of his exploits this season. His trademark blast in Japan is a 130-meter (425 feet) shot into a beer concession stand beyond the left-field bleachers at the Seibu Dome, a target he’s hit numerous times.

He lost one sure homer this year when he hit a ball headed for the back wall of the Tokyo Dome, beyond the left-field bleachers and above the lights mounted at the top of the wall, struck the roof and fell to the field for a single.

The 30-year-old Cabrera hadn’t limited his statistical dominance to home runs this year. He was also tied with Rhodes for the league lead in RBIs with 105 and was third in batting at .333, just seven points out of the lead. Cabrera also led the league in on-base (.465) and slugging (.791) percentage and walks (84).

Speaking of triple crowns, cleanup hitter Hideki Matsui of the Giants continued to lead the Central League with a .354 average, 42 home runs and 91 RBIs. Speculation has heated up that he will take his free agency to the Yankees or another big league club this winter, now that it’s certain there will be a 2003 major league season.

The Mexico City Red Devils came back from the brink of elimination to win the Mexican League championship in seven games over the Mexico Tigers.

The teams met in the championship series for the fourth straight year, with the Tigers winning the previous two meetings.

The Tigers, who moved this season from Mexico City to Puebla, looked like they were on their way to a third straight title after taking a 3-1 lead with a dramatic 11-10 win in Game Four.

But the Reds surged back, with Ray Martinez hitting a three-run home run in Game Six to lead Mexico City to an 8-6 win and force a seventh game.

Martinez provided another home run, his third of the series, as the Reds won 9-5. He also had nine RBIs in the seven games. Veteran Ed Vosberg pitched two innings of relief and gave up three runs but emerged as the winner of Game Seven, with Alfredo Garcia getting the save.

To go with Martinez’ power, Mexico City’s Felix Jose was the leading hitter in the championship series, going 14-for-31 (.452). The Tigers were led by Sergio Gastelum and Jorge Alberto Vasquez, who both had three homers, and Roberto Vizcarra and Guillermo Garcia, who both hit .400.

The Reds, who had the league’s best record at 74-36, won the 13th league title in franchise history after pulling off a similar escape in the semifinals. Down 3-2 in the series to the Two Laredos, they won the last two games in Mexico City to advance. The Tigers went to seven games in all three of their playoff series.

There won’t be any Serie A/1 baseball in Sicily next year. Paterno, the island’s first club to play in Italy’s top division, was relegated with two weeks left in the regular season.

Promoted from Serie A/2 after the 2000 campaign, Paterno raised eyebrows by avoiding "the drop" last summer. Relegation is a concept more familiar to soccer fans, in which the bottom teams from one league are sent down to compete in a lower classification.

The club was unable to duplicate its feat this year. Frontrunners Nettuno ensured Paterno’s demotion by sweeping a three-game series.

Paterno was consigned to A/2 despite the performance of Dominican import Carlos Casimiro, who led the league with a .409 average after the Nettuno series. Casimiro, 25, spent parts of eight seasons in the Orioles system and hit .125-0-3 in two games with Baltimore in 2000.

Apart from Casimiro and fellow infielder Jesus Ametler, Paterno was hitting just .199 as a team. The club’s 7.52 ERA was more than two runs higher than second-worst Florence.

Warriors Field in Paterno offers what is arguably the most spectacular backdrop in A/1 history. Mount Etna, an active volcano, is visible beyond the left-field fence.

• The Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Japan’s Pacific League released DH Nigel Wilson, 32. The former Marlins, Reds and Indians player was a two-time PL home run leader with the Nippon Ham Fighters, hitting 37 in 1997 and 33 in 1998. He joined the Buffaloes after five years with the Fighters but was sent to the Kintetsu farm team in May after an early slump he never recovered from.

• Lefthander Dan Serafini almost duplicated his 1996 major league debut with the Twins in his Taiwan debut with the China Trust Whales. Serafini’s line for the Whales was 22Ž3 innings, seven hits, two walks, one strikeout, five runs (three earned), 10.13 ERA. For the Twins: 41Ž3 innings, seven hits, two walks, one strikeout, five earned runs, 10.38 ERA. He lost both games. Serafani’s performance for the Whales might get him the same treatment as the pitcher he replaced. Rafael Morel was released by the Whales after only one appearance. Four hits, four walks, and four earned runs in five innings were enough to earn him a quick ticket back home. The Whales said he was not "stable" enough.