Shortstop Hirokazu Ibata may sponsor a youth baseball tournament that could begin as early as this summer, according to Chunichi Sports. Ibata revealed that he started playing baseball as a kid as a way to make new friends. Monday, he conducted a baseball clinic for youngsters. The Japan Players Association has agreed to lend its support to the tournament. 

Hanshin Infielder Makoto Imaoka will qualifty for free agency after the regular schedule ends. When asked about whether he intends to use it, he offered no comment other than he just wants to concentrate on the season to come. 

Righthander Yuya Ando made a personal appearance at a charity auction and autograph session in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture Monday in front of 600 people and said that he would like to ring up at least five complete games this season and go a minimum of seven innings every time out. He thinks that the more innings he throwns, the closer he will be to being called an ace pitcher. He will leave Tuesday to train in Arizona with closer Tomoyuki Kubota and reliever Kentaro Hashimoto. 

On the auction block, one of Kyuji Fujikawa's old uniforms went for 270,000 yen (over $2000), one of Ando's visitor's uniforms fetched 200,000 yen (about $170,000) while a bat and batting glove combo from catcher Akihiro Yano was snatched up for a whopping 485,000 yen (over $4,000). In all, 2.76 million yen was raised (about $22,000), the most in the history of this event. 

Reliever Atsushi Nomi's wife has been working overtime to get her husband's weight up. Nomi has been eating four meals a day and has gained almost seven pounds to put him at 160. He also said that he will focus on sharpening his control this spring. 

Hiroshima Rightfielder Shigenobu Shima said Monday that his goals are to have his runs scored and RBIs add up to 200. 

Yakult With manager Atsuya Furuta in attendance, team officials held a promotional meeting to discuss how to market the Swallows, especially on what kind of events to hold at the team's games. One proposal involves days dedicated to one player, with one idea that they would hold one for Furuta and anyone wearing glasses, as Furuta does, would get a discount on tickets that day, imagining how it would look if everyone on the first base side (where the home team's fan's usually hang out) sporting specs. That would be pretty funny. 

Kazuhisa Ishii will meet Tuesday with Yakult officials as part of a negotiating session. He told Sankei Sports that he has no special affection for his old team and that he will wait to see all offers before making a decision on who to go with. 

Rookie first baseman Shinichi Takeuchi reported to the team's dormitory Monday and also brought his outfielder's glove in hopes of increasing his chances of sticking with the big club. Takeuchi was part of Japane's collegiate all star team and was Waaseda University's cleanup hitter. He will be competing with Adam Riggs and Ken Suzuki at first and a whole raft of outfielders. 

Yokohama Rookie pitcher Shun Yamaguchi's dad Hisashi used to be a professional sumo wrestler. So what advice did he give his son, who just reported to his team Monday? "Do your thing and try not to feel like you are under pressure." 

More bad news Monday for Japan manager Sadaharu Oh, as outfielder Hitoshi Tamura is mulling pulling out of the country's WBC roster. Tamura, who cranked 31 homers last season despite missing time after being involved in an auto accident, apparently would rather concentrate on putting up the kind of numbers he expected to in 2005 rather than play in an international tournament. 

Yomiuri With the encouragement of Shigeo Nagashima, Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui sent some advice to young lefty Takanobu Tsujiuchi as Tsujiuchi was moving into his team dorm room Monday. "Don't lose yourself," the message began. "Uae your time wisely," and "be natural with the media." Nagashima believes that Tsujiuchi could be the next Suguru Egawa and urged the rookie to "become the team's new shining star." 

The Giants apparently intend to draft Komadai Tomakomai pitcher Masahiro Tanaka as their first round choice in the 2006 draft later this year. A Giants scout went to the school to introduce himself, one of those little formalities in Japanese society. Tanaka is a righthander who thrown in the 93mph range and has a slider that has been clocked at around 80mph. The Mets are also expressing interest, Tanaka has pitched on two Koshien Tournament winners and scouts like his makeup. His 230 strikeouts beat Daisuke Matsuzaka's old high school mark of 208. 

Pitcher Shigeki Noguchi and Lotte moundsman Shingo Ono trained together at a boxing gym in Tokyo Monday. "You can't get this kind of workout on the baseball field," Noguchi said. 

Miscellaneous Approximately 500 mourners paid tribute to former Chunichi and Taiyo manager Sadao Kondo Monday in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. Kondo died of respiratory arrest on January 2nd. Among those paying their last respects was Japan's "father of the forkball," Shigeru Sugishita, who allowed, "I have so many memories of him that it's almost painful. He came over to Chunichi from the Giants the year before I joined the team. He was the same age as me when he died. We both came this far together. He was cool."