Aokis in Wisconsin

Remember Tomo Aoki? He was a ballplayer from Japan who was a member of the 2003 Timber Rattlers.

There is another member of the Aoki clan currently in the Dairy State.

Eau Claire Cavaliers manager Mark McHorney drove to the airport late one May night, assuming he was ready to pick up his two newest players.

Soon after Soya Aoki and Yoshinori Machida stepped off the airplane that had carried them halfway around the world and dropped them in the middle of Wisconsin to play baseball, McHorney realized a few things had been lost in translation.

"That first night they came, when I picked them up at the airport, it was about 11," McHorney said Sunday, light-heartedly recalling his first encounter with his Japanese players. "Then I realized, I said, 'You guys probably don't have sheets with you, do you?' Nope. I forgot to tell them to bring sheets. And food for the next day. We ended up going to Wal-Mart at like 1 in the morning."

How do two players from Japan wind up in Eau Claire?

The idea of having one or more Japanese players join the Cavaliers was pitched to McHorney by Miyoshi Takashi, a fellow Japanese player who was one of the team's leading hitters in 2004 before returning to Japan.

Contact was made through the Cavaliers' Web site. Originally, bringing over just Aoki was discussed, but McHorney already was heavy in the outfield. Then Machida's name was mentioned - he was a pitcher, which fit what the Cavaliers needed at the time. But when McHorney found out Machida didn't speak much English and Aoki did, he decided it might be easiest for everyone involved to bring over both players.

Pretty interesting stuff.

The Cavaliers are Royalist supporters who battled Cromwell in the English Civil War which took place...What? Oh, the Cavaliers are in the Wisconsin State Baseball League.