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Weekend part 1, Sunday - Old baseball players
I probably should have done something with my afternoons this weekend, but I didn't. Oh well. I slept until a bit after noon both days. It felt good. I need sleep.
Sunday, I went down to the Tokyo Dome in the evening to watch a game of the Masters Professional League. This featured guys playing baseball who are anywhere from 37 to 63 years of age. I was all excited to watch former Fighters heartthrob Yukihiro Nishizaki (he's 43 now, but still quite good-looking) as the starting pitcher, but he came out after an inning. I was also amused by how very large Norihiro Komada has become, but the real highlight of the evening was getting to see hall of famer Choji Murata pitch. He was the first guy in Japan to have Tommy John surgery done, in the early 80's, and went on to become Japan's second four-decade player as well (1968-1990). The other thing he was well known for was a bizarre high-kicking windup.
Anyway, Murata is FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD. After a couple of semi-normal pitches -- which were still going across the plate at 130 km/h (which is 80 mph to the metrically challenged), he paused and stood in his trademark stance for a minute. Then he kicked up his leg, reared back, and let the baseball fly.
The crowd went, "Oooooh."
The ball went, "Whooooosh."
The catcher went, "Oh crap," as the ball flew way the hell over the plate.
The 50-year-old runner on first base went, "Oh, my aching back!" as he ran to second base on the wild pitch.
For the rest of it, anyway, Murata faced 5 batters total. He walked one, struck out three, got a groundout from another, and his pitches all averaged 130 km/h (I think 135 was the highest I saw). Seriously, maybe I'm easily impressed, but there are guys half his age who can't throw that fast, y'know? Either way, it was pretty awesome that I got to see him pitch for real.
Anyway, after the game I came home and did laundry and all. I watched part of the Hoshino Japan game as they narrowly beat Korea. Also, I tried the McDonald's "Gurakoro" cheese potatocake sandwich that they've been advertising. It's actually pretty good, though I've been informed it's a seasonal thing and will probably disappear in a few weeks.
Sunday, I went down to the Tokyo Dome in the evening to watch a game of the Masters Professional League. This featured guys playing baseball who are anywhere from 37 to 63 years of age. I was all excited to watch former Fighters heartthrob Yukihiro Nishizaki (he's 43 now, but still quite good-looking) as the starting pitcher, but he came out after an inning. I was also amused by how very large Norihiro Komada has become, but the real highlight of the evening was getting to see hall of famer Choji Murata pitch. He was the first guy in Japan to have Tommy John surgery done, in the early 80's, and went on to become Japan's second four-decade player as well (1968-1990). The other thing he was well known for was a bizarre high-kicking windup.
Anyway, Murata is FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD. After a couple of semi-normal pitches -- which were still going across the plate at 130 km/h (which is 80 mph to the metrically challenged), he paused and stood in his trademark stance for a minute. Then he kicked up his leg, reared back, and let the baseball fly.
The crowd went, "Oooooh."
The ball went, "Whooooosh."
The catcher went, "Oh crap," as the ball flew way the hell over the plate.
The 50-year-old runner on first base went, "Oh, my aching back!" as he ran to second base on the wild pitch.
For the rest of it, anyway, Murata faced 5 batters total. He walked one, struck out three, got a groundout from another, and his pitches all averaged 130 km/h (I think 135 was the highest I saw). Seriously, maybe I'm easily impressed, but there are guys half his age who can't throw that fast, y'know? Either way, it was pretty awesome that I got to see him pitch for real.
Anyway, after the game I came home and did laundry and all. I watched part of the Hoshino Japan game as they narrowly beat Korea. Also, I tried the McDonald's "Gurakoro" cheese potatocake sandwich that they've been advertising. It's actually pretty good, though I've been informed it's a seasonal thing and will probably disappear in a few weeks.