The All-Star Game usually occurs in early to mid-July and marks the symbolic halfway point in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season (though not the mathematical halfway point; in most seasons, that takes place one week earlier).
For many years, mimicking the gaijin waku rule of the NPB,[1] each All-Star team was limited to two foreign players.
It was the third time in NPB players from the same team led the voting in all positions.
[5] The controversy was garnered as some of the positions, such as catcher, which in question was Ryutaro Umeno, were voted in for the sole purpose of being voted in by fans, as he did not produce numbers good enough to be considered an All Star Game appearance, compared to that of a player like Takumi Ohshiro.
Others, like Teruaki Sato at 3rd base, were good, but there had been players who were much more deserving to start, like Toshiro Miyazaki and Kazuma Okamoto.