Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 644 - 9: Bronx Impressions

"The Nippon Professional Baseball fans closely following Lin Guanglai's posting saga can finally see it come to a close. At 5:30 PM local time in New York, Lin Guanglai arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, on a private jet accompanied by his management team and family... Through the lens, we can see that Lin is in a pretty good mood, laughing and talking with his sister..."

"Although many media outlets from Japan and locally in New York were present, Lin Guanglai did not give any interviews at the airport. He exited through the VIP passage, and outside the airport, a considerable number of fans had already gathered, mostly Asian faces whom we speculate are students in the United States... Of course, among them are also some local Yankees fans, with some even already donning Lin Guanglai's New York Yankees jersey—the player team and Yankees official have confirmed Lin's jersey number in the Yankees. He will take over the legendary number 13 jersey from Alex Rodriguez, who just announced his retirement at the end of last season..."

"... Coming out of the terminal, Lin Guanglai simply waved to acknowledge the enthusiastic fans before getting into a business vehicle surrounded by his management team, and then drove out of the reporters' sight..."

"Reportedly, due to the reluctance of the New York Yankees to release him, Lin Guanglai will not be appearing in this year's World Baseball Classic. When interviewed previously, the young player also expressed his regret... This means that if we want to see his performance on the field, we'll probably have to wait until spring training starts in a month..."

"Ugh—it's freezing, it's freezing. I thought I had dressed warmly enough, but I still couldn't quite handle the New York winter..." Rushing into the warmth of the business vehicle, Lin Guanglai kept blowing into his palms, trying to warm up until he felt the heat from the air conditioner.

January in New York is still very cold. Although it didn't snow today, the temperature was still around minus 10 degrees Celsius—this is a completely new experience for Lin Guanglai, who has lived in Fukuoka for years and has rarely experienced subzero temperatures.

Sitting in the car, Lin Guanglai gazed at the city skyline stretching in the twilight through the car window, from where he could vaguely see the towering silhouette of the Empire State Building and the iconic Statue of Liberty.

This isn't his first time in the United States. Previously, as part of a Japan-U.S. exchange game, he had visited California located in the western United States; but this is indeed Lin Guanglai's first time in New York—compared to the sun-drenched and mild-weathered western U.S., the eastern U.S.-based New York presents a completely different spectrum.

As the most modern city in the world and the core metropolitan area of the East United States, the bustling Big Apple City is entirely covered with towering skyscrapers, all in sight is steel and concrete; especially now as night falls, the iconic neon lights are gradually lighting up—a scene that indeed resembles what Lin Guanglai has seen in films depicting New York City.

This city is going to be the place he lives next, a city completely different from Japan and Fukuoka where the food, weather, culture, and even baseball style are vastly different from those in Japan—longer and more intense schedules, stronger opponents, higher game intensity... He will face numerous challenges here, but Lin Guanglai feels no anxiety or fear about the future in his heart.

The individual honors and team championships he won in Japan over the past four years have long cultivated a winner's mindset in him. If he still had some awe towards Major League Baseball right after graduating from high school, after four years of baptism in Nippon Professional Baseball, now Lin Guanglai has only one thought in mind—

He is not here to join Major League Baseball, but to conquer it!

He has full confidence and determination in this.

The business vehicle gradually headed towards Manhattan, where Lin Guanglai and his group will rest for a day or two in a star-rated hotel. After adjusting to the time difference and New York's weather and environment, he will undergo a physical check arranged by the Yankees officials, and then formally make an appearance in front of the home fans and media.

The New York Yankees' home ground is located in the Bronx District of New York City, a place with huge community differences, featuring slums as well as middle-class and affluent communities while primarily inhabited by residents of African and Latin American descent. It is known as a poor area in New York, with a crime rate ranking among the top in the United States—the classic gangster film 'A Bronx Tale,' directed and acted by Robert De Niro, is set here.

The stadium now used by the Yankees is the new Yankee Stadium, officially opened in 2009, with a total of 51,000 seats and a maximum capacity of nearly 58,000 people—as a composite baseball entertainment park, the new Yankee Stadium's overall construction cost amounts to 2.3 billion US dollars, making it the most expensive stadium ever built in American history, ranking only second to Wembley Stadium in London globally.