Despite suffering a significant and painful defeat at the hands of the Giants... We take a fresh look at the reasons why Hanshin manager Okada is so intent on achieving the team's first-ever consecutive championship: Chunichi Sports, Tokyo Chunichi Sports (chunichi.co.jp)
September 24, 2024
Column "Ryūichi Tadokoro's 'This and That' about Manager Okada
It was a big, big, and painful loss. After losing the decisive game against the Giants on September 23, the gap between the top-ranked Giants and the Tigers again widened to '2 games'. It was an important game... At that moment, I suddenly remembered the words of manager Toshiharu Ueda that I had heard when I was a reporter covering the HanKyu Braves.
"Every game is important. If you win the games, you can win, but the important games at this time of year don't become important."
So far, Hanshin has won 70 games, lost 60 games, and drawn six games.
There may have been many games they could have won among those 60 losses.
On this day, manager Okada did not speak to the press after the game and left the clubhouse frustratedly.
He probably did not want to complain that the team's chances of winning the championship for two years in a row had receded.
I also wondered again.
Why did manager Okada set the goal of 'back-to-back championships'?
If you say it's evident because they won the championship the year before, then that's true, but there is more to it.
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Manager Okada has many supporters, including Kazuo Sumi, the chairman of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.
In the world of professional baseball, he has received words of encouragement from the late Minoru Murayama, who gave him his motto; Yoshio Yoshida, who revived him as a second baseman; the late Akira Oggi, who pulled him into the coaching profession with the words "Keep wearing the uniform," and the player he admired, Yutaka Enatsu.
On July 17, 1971, Enatsu, who started the first All-Star game (at Nishinomiya Stadium), achieved an unprecedented nine consecutive strikeouts.
At the time, Okada was 13 years old.
"I heard Enatsu hadn't had a very good first half of the year. But he still wanted to make the fans who voted for him happy. So he asked a reporter he was close to, 'What kind of record has no one ever set at the All-Star Game?
'Manager Okada likes this episode.
Here's the legend.
At the time, Enatsu's record before the All-Star game was six wins and nine losses, with a 3.12 ERA.
However, he was voted the number-one fan favorite.
An older reporter close to him said to him.
"If you're so grateful, why don't you do something to make the fans who voted for you happy?"
"Well, I can only get strikeouts."
"If that's the case, then just get the strikeouts."
"Is there a strikeout record that no one has ever broken in the All-Star game?"
"It's nine consecutive strikeouts. The longest in the Major Leagues is two, so six consecutive is the best. But no one has ever done it."
"No one has done nine consecutive strikeouts? Okay, I'll do it!"
And so, Enatsu took the mound for the first game.
1st inning: 1) Michiyo Arito (Lotte) 2) Mitsuo Motoi (Nishitetsu) 3) Tokuji Nagaike (Hankyu)
2nd inning: 4) Shinichi Eto (Lotte) 5) Masahiro Doi (Kintetsu) 6) Masayoshi Higashida (Nishitetsu)
[3rd inning] ⑦Toshizo Sakamoto (Hankyu) ⑧Koji Okamura (Hankyu) ⑨Shuji Kato (Hankyu)
In the third inning, Kato, the ninth batter, hit a foul ball toward the first base bench with the ball count at 1-1.
The story is well known that Enatsu shouted, "Don't chase it!" to the catcher Koichi Tabuchi, who was trying to chase the ball from the mound.
He then struck out Kato with a fastball.
He achieved his ninth consecutive strikeout.
Incidentally, Enatsu had also struck out eight batters, including five consecutive, in the previous year's All-Star game, making it 14 straight strikeouts.
In fact, this wasn't the only drama of the day.
Before batting as the ninth batter, Kato appealed to manager Wataru Nonin (Lotte) on the bench, saying, "I definitely can't hit. So please send in a pinch hitter! There are still lots of great right-handed players out there."
It was Kato's first appearance in the All-Star Game.
Other good right-handed hitters like Katsuya Nomura, Takeshi Ohshita, and Iwao Ikebe were on the bench.
"You hit well in our (Lotte) games, so go and hit against Enatsu and lose your form," said manager Nonin, and he let Kato bat.
"It's a true story. You can't believe it," Kato recalled in later years.
In the second inning, Enatsu hit a three-run homer off Tetsuya Yoneda (Hankyu), the starting pitcher for the All-Pacific team.
The All-Central team, which took over from Enatsu, had a total of 16 strikeouts from Hidetake Watanabe (Giants) - Kazumi Takahashi (Giants) - Toshinobu Mizutani (Chunichi) - Masakatsu Kotani (Taiyo) and achieved the first no-hit, no-run game in the history of the All-Star Game.
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Winning two consecutive championships is a first in the history of the Hanshin Tigers.
It's a record that no one has ever achieved before.
That's why manager Okada is so determined.
There are still five games left.
If they win all of them, anything could happen.
Let's believe that there will be a "miraculous drama"!
2024/9/5 in Onomichi, Hiroshima
