On Wednesday night in Japan, former major-league outfielder and current Yakult Swallow Wladimir Balentien tied the longstanding Japanese record of 55 homers in a season, and he did it with more than three weeks of games left to go in the NPB season. All of this despite missing the first 12 games of the season due to injury, too -- it’s been quite the year for Balentien, even as his team languishes at the bottom of the league.
All 55 of Wladimir Balentien’s record-tying homers
The Curacao native has been tearing up Japan, and you can watch all of it here in one video.
Sadaharu Oh's record, which has stood since 1964 and is also held by imports Alex Cabrera and Tuffy Rhodes, is very likely to fall to the bat of Balentien, which, in many ways, would signify a significant cultural shift in Japanese baseball's attitudes towards outsiders. Until that important moment in baseball history, though, enjoy the 55 he's hit to this point, as well as the resounding crack of the bat on each, all in one video.
