以下文章由"若鷹軍團"精華區轉載
http://home.cityfamily.com.tw/prfun...no=F01AFT000012
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worth the wait
>>by Jeff Bradley
等待是值得的，by傑夫、布萊德雷



>>The Man. Every American player I asked, "Who here could play in the big leagues?" had the same answer: "Akiyama."

如果我對每一個美國選手訪問，「誰可以在大聯盟的舞台上精彩演出」，他們一定會回答：「秋山」
>> 1993, the New York Daily News sent me to Tokyo to write a series of stories on baseball in Japan. Of course, I did the obligatory "American in a strange land" story, through the eyes of ex-Yankee Mel Hall. I also did an overview of the game in Japan: how it looks, sounds and smells compared to American baseball. But the piece I remember most was about the center fielder for the Seibu Lions.
>>
時值1993年，我被紐約時報派駐至日本東京，撰寫一系列日本野球的故事。當然，在我這個洋基客的眼中，我必須寫下了「一個美國人在異地」的故事。我對日本的野球比賽作了巡禮：「跟美國棒球比賽比起來，他們看起來、聽起來、以及味道有什麼特色」。令我回想起來印相最深刻的一幕，莫過於那位在西武獅隊的中外野手。
>>His name was Koji Akiyama and the reason I was writing about him was because, at the time, he was The Man. Every American player I asked, "Who here could play in the big leagues?" had the same answer: "Akiyama."
>>
他的名字是秋山幸二，我之所以要在我的文章的介紹他的原因，在於我相信如果我對每一個美國選手訪問，「誰可以在大聯盟的舞台上精彩演出」，他們一定會回答：「秋山」
>>He could run and throw and hit for power and, more than anything, he was a showman. And get this -- whenever he hit a walk-off (they call it a sayonara) home run, he would touch home plate after doing a cartwheel and a back handspring as he ran down the third base line. I wanted to see him do that in the major leagues, if only to see what kind of beanball war it might have ignited.
>>
他有過人的腳程、傳球、打擊power，最重要的是，他是個天生的明星。最令人印象深刻的是，當他打出了逆轉再見全壘打（他們說那是塞喲那啦），他可以在踏上本壘版時，沿著三壘邊線來一段後空翻。我想要看到他在大聯盟秀出同樣的本事，看到他如何去點燃棒球比賽的火花的。