Danny Knobler had always wanted to visit Japan, and after covering pitcher Masao Kida’s rookie year with the Detroit Tigers in 1999, the sportswriter booked a trip the following January to explore the country and catch up with Japanese reporters he‘d befriended.
Since he would be in the neighborhood and could extend his vacation, Knobler checked a map to see where else in Asia his frequent-flyer miles could take him.
“I saw Bangkok, and you didn’t need a visa to go there, it was warm, and I knew I liked Thai food,” said Knobler, the Tigers beat writer for Michigan-based Booth Newspapers at the time. “So, I thought, ‘Why not?’ I booked an extra week in Thailand and … 20 years later, here I am.”
That impulse addition to his itinerary was life-changing for Knobler, a Los Angeles native and UCLA graduate who in 2018 gave up a 35-year career as a baseball writer to open…
