After nearly 30 years of history, it is truly a great feeling to finally be able to release even official merchandise.
- Well, three months have passed since the excitement of the WBC (World Baseball Classic) and it is mid-June. Professional baseball is also in full swing, and with the summer Koshien (the National High School Baseball Championships) starting in August, the most exciting time of the year for baseball is just around the corner. Are you three enjoying baseball?
Pierre:First of all, I would like to say that "high school baseball fan" and "baseball fan" are actually slightly different.
Miyao:In the former case, it's like a grandmother who doesn't know the rules but is cheering for the young kids because they are doing well.
Pierre:Professional baseball's "fun as a club team" and high school baseball's "fun as a game" with the drama of the players are in a slightly different category. Therefore, I am not really friends with people who go to high school baseball games (laughs).
All:(Laughter)
Pierre:We were a prefectural school in Shizuoka, so we weren't very strong, but even so, there were old men who had watched the team for generations who frequently came to watch us practice. I wasn't good at that kind of thing.
Miyao:With that said, Major League Baseball fans are also a bit different from Japanese professional baseball fans.
Iguchi:That's right. Japan won the WBC this time, but Major League Baseball fans were not very happy. They said, "The majors haven't shown their true colors yet" (laughs).
Pierre:Haha (laughs). Like a music fan who only listens to Western music.
- . I see that baseball fans are all very different from each other. By the way, Mr. Taki was a fifth baseman in high school and even took a test to join the Hanshin Tigers. Mr. Iguchi played infielder in college.
Pierre:It's extraordinary that you continued to do so through college (laughs).
Iguchi:No, that's really true (laughs). When I think about it now, I wonder how I was able to keep doing it.
Miyao:But you feel like you could have gone higher if you wanted to, right?
Iguchi:No, no, no, I was at the level of "if I were to go into the workforce, I could just barely make it to the local businessmen's clubs.
Pierre:Then you must be pretty good at it! Speaking only of the sport of baseball, I think you can keep going if you have the passion, but starting again as a freshman in college is a very high bar for me.
- The days of my freshman year of high school, when I was mistreated by the older students, are back....
Pierre:It's really like "Game of Thrones". It's like you want to say, "You can't go beyond the Wall, you can't go beyond the Wall.
All:(Laughter)
Iguchi:. In our high school, it was somewhat normal to continue the game until college. Our generation made it to the finals of the East Tokyo Tournament, but we lost to Shutoku High School, where Naonari Takahashi (former major leaguer) is from, and we did not make it to the Koshien Tournament....
Pierre:Position.
Iguchi:I was the first second.
Miyao:He's a pretty good one, isn't he?
Iguchi:No, no, not at all (sweat).
Pierre:How can you not be a good first second at Kanto First High School?
- Are you an experienced baseball player, Mr. Miyao?
Miyao:I was also on the baseball team in high school, but it was not at the level of aiming for the Koshien National Championship, so we were very relaxed. I skipped games with impunity and was never disciplined, and I even had long hair. So I was on a totally different level from the two of you.
Pierre:Miyao, why did you start playing baseball in high school?
Miyao:I was on the tennis club until junior high school, but before entering high school, I saw "Captain" in an anime... .
Pierre:Ah~.
Iguchi:I see.
Miyao:. I realized that, after all, youth is a team sport. I am glad I did it. . It was because I played baseball that this kind of collaboration was possible.
- The core of this collaboration is the "Pierre Gakuen" baseball team, of which Mr. Taki himself is the owner, manager, and player. There are currently six teams in the TOKYO Big League, and the average age of the players is in their 40s to 50s. What is the TOKYO Big League?
Pierre:Pierre Academy was founded around 1994, so I guess I'm in my mid-20s. After more than a decade of continuous activity, it had become fun, but it had lost its sense of urgency. So, I decided that I wanted to have games with a little more tension, and I became the founder of the "Tokyo Big League. There are some serious grass baseball games where you have to sign and bunt, but I thought it would be nice to have a more relaxed atmosphere, like the games we used to play in the playground when I was a kid. That's the beauty of grass baseball. On the other hand, we have all the players bat, and sometimes the batting order goes all the way up to No. 21 (laughs).
Iguchi:No. 21! (Laughs) .
Pierre:Moreover, not only offense, but also defense is done by taking turns so that everyone can be on the field as much as possible!
Miyao:That's very exciting , and ANI (Schadaraparr) is a teammate of yours.
Pierre:Yes, that's right. In terms of history, this is a prestigious team that has been in existence longer than Rakuten (Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles). . There have been many changes in the number of members, and the total number of members has been about 100. However, there is a shortage of pitchers. The ace of the team, who has been pitching for a long time, is now over 60 years old. He was in Shinji Mizushima's "Dokaben," and he pitches in important games.
Iguchi:Oh , that's great. I'm also a member of two apparel teams, but both of them stopped doing it because of the Corona Disaster, so I've been blank for about 4 years now.
- Then there is the possibility of transferring to Pierre Academy....
Pierre:That's good! If you are a player who protected the second position at Kanto First High School and made it to the finals of the Tokyo tournament, , you are a good enough candidate to be a pitcher.
- A big newcomer to be acquired? (Laughs) . Mr. Miyao, have you been doing this recently?
Miyao:I used to play on a grass baseball team with my high school teammates, but I haven't played for about 15 years now. I think you can do it if you want to, no matter how old you are. That's the great thing about baseball.
Pierre:Didn't I invite you to come over once before?
Miyao:. There was. I was not able to participate at that time, but for this look shoot, I was allowed to use the stadium where Mr. Taki and the other members of the TOKYO Big League often play games.
