Mr. Baseball is a 1992 American and British sports comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Tom Selleck, Ken Takakura, Dennis Haysbert, and Aya Takanashi. It depicts a tumultuous season in the career of veteran New York Yankees first baseman Jack Elliot, who is traded to the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central League during Spring Training, and forced to contend with overwhelming expectations and cultural differences during the Dragons' run at the pennant. Although the film was a limited success, it remains accurate, as of the 2020s, in portraying the peculiarities of Japanese baseball. It is used as a training resource by foreign professional baseball players who join a Japanese team. Plot Jack Elliot is an aging American baseball player unsuspectingly put on the trading block during Spring Training in 1992 by the New York Yankees in favor of "rookie phenom" first baseman Ricky Davis, and there's only one taker: the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Upon arrival in Japan, Elliot clashes with the Japanese culture and the team's manager, and before long he alienates his new teammates. He believes the rules and management style of his new skipper, Uchiyama (Ken Takakura), are ludicrous, and continues to do things his way, which leads his already dwindling performance to suffer even more. His only ally on the team is another American ballplayer, Max "The Hammer" Dubois (Dennis Haysbert), with whom he commiserates about his frustrations. However, Max is a team player on the Dragons, and warns Elliot to be one too. At the same time, Elliot develops a relationship with the beautiful Hiroko (Aya Takanashi), who he later learns is Uchiyama's daughter. After one too many outbursts, including knocking out his interpreter during a brawl, Elliot is suspended from play. After meeting Hiroko's family, including Uchiyama, Uchiyama admits to Jack that he hired him over the objections of management and now his own career, not just Jack's, is in jeopardy. Dragons management wanted Pete Clifton from Boston, but Uchiyama pulled some strings with management to pick Jack because he was the right choice to turn this team around. After hearing this, Elliot swallows his pride and admits his deficiencies. Uchiyama becomes his mentor. In a rare show of humility, he apologizes to the team in Japanese, erroneously saying he wants to build a rather than a of friendship (the words are homophones but stressed differently) and the