But where it counted most, the switch-hitting left fielder delivered. Leading both leagues with a .594 slugging percentage, Hosey earned the Central League home run crown with 38 roundtrippers.

Not bad for an outfielder whom Yakult manager Katsuya Nomura wanted to release before the season began and whom Nippon Ham all-star Hiromitsu Ochiai called the "worst foreign player" he had ever seen.

Though only 170 cm (five-foot-ten), the former minor league all-star used a compact swing to power the ball over the outfield wall. An extremely aggressive player, Hosey seldom eased up when he felt he could take an extra base. Though called out on one controversial play in Nagoya for not touching first base, the speedy left fielder compiled 32 doubles (second in the league) and three triples while collecting 20 stolen bases. His 100 RBIs ranked third in the league, and his 296 total bases second.

Until he slumped in late September, which he attributed to opposing pitchers feeding him junk-balls as a way of denying him the home run and RBI crowns, Hosey was the leading candidate for the Central League MVP. Though his mid-year average hovered around .330, the frustrated outfielder finished the season batting .289 with a .371 on base percentage.

In addition to the slump, Hosey had been receiving a heavy dose of negative publicity toward the end of the season. One tabloid ran an otherwise benign picture of him sitting at a restaurant table with several other people. Next to the photo ran a fabricated a story that Hosey was having an affair. "That's ignorance," replied the man whose wife was seven months pregnant.

And then there was the criticism about Hosey's fielding. Though never what one might call a graceful left fielder, Hosey got the job done while only committing five errors in 137 games. Roughly average with a glove, he still made some really good plays.

Still, manager Nomura often uses a late inning defensive replacement in left field because, as aggressive as he may be chasing down the ball, Hosey does not posses the most accurate throwing arm. He's fine with the relay, but throwing the ball straight home is not his strength.

That criticism intensified during the Japan Series. After the Swallows loss in game two, Hosey became the scapegoat. Though several errors were committed on both sides, Hosey had trouble with a few shallow pop flies. In his own defense, the maligned outfielder claimed he was able to get to many balls that slower fielders would never be able to reach.

Whether it was that, frayed nerves, miscommunication with the third baseman and shortstop or just a simple screw up, Hosey received the blame for the loss in the next day's sports tabloids. Though marginally more reputable than the other papers, the Nikkan Sports ran a headline crying for Hosey's dismissal. Not surprisingly, the slandered outfielder refused to talk to the Japanese press for the remainder of the series.

Though only hitting .200 in twenty post-season at-bats, Hosey certainly earned the most memorable RBI in Japan Series history. With the bases loaded in game two, Hosey eased away from the inside pitch, but the ball bounced off the knob of his bat and rolled about three meters into fair territory. Everyone stopped and stared, apparently not knowing if the ball had simply hit the batter's hand. Then Hosey broke into a sprint toward first base and the runner on third came home with no one protecting the plate.

Still his bitterness had evidently dissipated by game five. After the Swallows wrapped up the series, the left fielder joined the rest of the team in celebration. Leaving for home in Los Angeles shortly afterward, Hosey returned to his wife who a few weeks later gave birth to their first child, a son.

Though teammates Terry Bross and Jim Tatum were both released, the Swallows ignored the tabloids' advice and offered 30-year-old Hosey and extension on his contract.