PL Gakuen, Chiben Wakayama, Yokohama, Chukyo University Chukyo… The moment you step into that space, you are overwhelmed by the high school baseball uniforms that fill the walls. There are approximately 80 uniforms on display. It is surprising that they also have over 200 other uniforms in their collection. The sight of the familiar uniforms of the powerful schools lined up at Koshien is a sight to behold.
A baseball school surrounded by high school baseball uniforms and balls/Courtesy of Mr. Yamakawa
However, this is not a high school baseball museum. It’s a high school baseball bar called “Kyujien,” located about a 5-minute walk from JR Kanda Station. It is always crowded with former high school baseball players and people who love high school baseball.
Exhibits that Koshien fans and baseball players will fall in love with
“Ikeda High School’s uniform is from the summer of 1982 and 1983 when they won consecutive summer and spring championships in Senbatsu.Tomoki Inoue, who was on a battery with Yuji Mizuno (former Giants pitcher), was a regular player. I rented the one from back then.”
This is what Kenji Yamakawa, the owner of the baseball school, says. The number of high school baseball uniforms on display has increased steadily in this way since the store opened in March 2019. The exhibits are regularly themed (for example, schools that played famous games at Koshien are placed next to each other), and the uniforms that decorate the store are changed each time.
Sendai Ikuei (Miyagi) and Keio (Kanagawa) competed in the 2023 Koshien finals/Modern Business
The uniforms on display are particular about what you can only find at a baseball school. If you look closely, you can see that there is a hat symbol on the neck of the uniform.
“This is a coaster made with iron beads with each school’s mark as a motif.My wife and mother make it by hand.It takes about 15 minutes to make each one, so it is difficult to make them in large numbers, but currently there are 400. It’s nearby.It’s popular with our customers, and we lend them to them when they visit our store, and if they come back within a month, they’ll receive a free coaster from the school of their choice.”
The neck of the uniform is decorated with a hat-shaped coaster/Modern Business
Even so, high school baseball uniforms evoke a sense of nostalgia among people of all generations, perhaps because the designs of many schools have not changed over the years. Just looking at the uniform brings back the passionate feelings of each of us.
Surrounded by such uniforms, he shares drinks with people he feels comfortable with and sparks baseball discussions. For former high school baseball players and high school baseball fans, there is no such blissful time.
The store is also filled with autographed balls from people who played at Koshien as members.
2024-01-23 01:30:20
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