Do you know a pitcher called Kojiro Nitta?
As the ace of the Sea of Japan High School Baseball Championship in 1981, he lost to the University of Tokyo Ichiko 0-1 in the final of the summer Koshien and won the runner-up. It is the fastest 160km South Po, which received the first bid from all 12 teams at the draft meeting that year.
As a result of the lottery, it was Musashi Orioles, a weak team of the Wild League based in Koganei Stadium, who acquired the right to negotiate with Kojiro. However, Kojiro refuses to join the group, saying that it is unpleasant to decide the workplace where he bets his life with a lottery drawn by others, and decides to go on the path of a ronin.
Then the following year, a miracle happened. When the commissioner, Hidenori Mikage, was appointed to All Japan Professional Baseball, the new commissioner suddenly decided to abolish the draft system. The commissioner’s words in the play, which said that the life of a young man who aspires to be a professional should not be decided by a lottery and that he can not choose the team he wants to go to, have nothing to do with the background of the time when Suguru Egawa was disturbed in the draft at that time. May not have been. Wasn’t it just a message from the “author”?
The “author” is, yes, Shinji Mizushima, a master of baseball manga.
Shinji Mizushima, who influenced many professional baseball players (left photo)
View photos related to this article
[Mizushima Manga that was ahead of the times]
“Kojiro Hikari”, whose main character is Kojiro Nitta, has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine (Kodansha) for about three and a half years since 1981. Among Mizushima’s works such as “Dokaben,” “Daikoshien,” “Baseball Mad Poem,” “Abu-san,” “Otoko Doaho Koshien,” “Ikkyu-san,” and “Kudo-kun,” I couldn’t say that it was a major work, and maybe I read it. Some may not like baseball. However, I think this work is a masterpiece full of Mrs. Mizushima’s feelings for the professional baseball world.
All 12 fictitious teams will appear. Although it is based on the actual interleague and interleague leagues, not only the manager and players, but also the home base, uniforms, pet marks, the company name of the parent company, and the type of business are all set concretely.
The name of the team is a place name plus the name of an existing MLB team, and Sapporo Brewers, whose parent company is Hokuto Beer, is located in Hokkaido, where there was no team at that time. Was there. Kochi Royals, whose parent company is Imperial Tourism, was set up in Shikoku, and Hakata Pirates, whose parent company is Peace Shipping, was set up in Fukuoka, where the Lions were lost and there was no team. This was a professional baseball game that Mrs. Mizushima drew as an ideal 40 years ago, with a focus on community-based baseball.
