This is the memory of a veteran reporter.
In October 1985, coach Toshiharu Ueda looked up at the stands after a pre-match practice at Nishinomiya Stadium, home of the Hankyu Braves, and muttered.
“There aren’t many customers today… how many are there?”
Then the veteran reporter counts the spectators on the first base bench and tells them that there are 25 people.
“What, 25 people… if it’s 25 people, isn’t that the number of people on the bench! Put it on the bench, put it on!!”
With a self-deprecating smile, Ueda is said to have disappeared behind the bench.
Professional baseball in the Showa era, which was said to be “Popular Center, Skilled Team”. One symbol of that was Hankyu at the time. With unique players such as outfielder Yutaka Fukumoto and pitcher Hisashi Yamada, they won the league championship seven times in 15 years from 1971 to 1985, and won the Japan Series three times in a row from 1975. After 1981, when Ueda returned as manager, the team won the league in 1984.
