1998 August 16th. The famous Koshien tournament. The Koshien tournament is Japan's highschool baseball tournament, in which one school becomes champion from a field of 4000+. Getting there in the first place is tough. Winning a game is a memory you pass down to your grandchildren. Winning the whole thing is a highschool athlete's dream come true.
Championship game. The finals. Bottom of the 15th. 2-2 Tie game. Toyota Outani High is batting. Bases full, no outs. The count is 2 strikes, 1 ball.
The pitcher is Fujita Shuhei, of ace of Ube Industrial Highschool. He has pitched all 15 innings. He enters his set position.
The catcher notices the second base runner stealing the pitching sign, so he sends another signal to Fujita. Fujita hesitates for one second.
The home plate ump's arms go up - it's a balk. the call is correct and undisputable. The 3rd base runner comes home. It's a walk-off balk in the bottom of the 15th innning of the final game of the biggest high school baseball tournament in the world.
After three hours, 52 minutes and 15 innings, after 210 pitches, Fujita finally shows tears.
Without a single sign of dissent, Fujita, only 17 years of age, jogs to home plate to line up for the end-game ritual.
The opponent's ace has a few words of condolence for Fujita. Ube Industrial High players start collecting the dirt of the Koshien mound, as tradition, because they will never get here again.
Fujita Shuhei would go on to play for Fukuoka University. As a Junior, he injures his arm, ending his career. He retires from baseball with a 2-1 college win-loss record.
In an interview later, Fujita said that he would simply introduce himself to people as "the guy who balked" and they would know who he was.
On August 22 2006 09:03 the living legend wrote: i thought a highschool athlete's dream was just like, 3 cheerleaders at once, or somethin. koreans sure are different. or japanese. whatever they are.
i know you were making a joke, but i don't think you realize just how much these high school athletes want a championship in a tournament like this... i'm sure the vast majority of the top high school atheletes would rather win that sort of tournament than have sex with 3 cheerleaders at once, i mean they usually get enough ass anyway
On August 22 2006 09:13 rpf289 wrote: wtf is a balk
A balk is an illegal pitching motion.
Basically a pitcher is supposed to be honest with the batter and not fake a pitch or do anything to disrupt the timing of the batter. There are a lot of strict rules about what is a balk and what is not a balk.
The penalty of a balk is that all runners advance one base.
On August 22 2006 09:03 the living legend wrote: i thought a highschool athlete's dream was just like, 3 cheerleaders at once, or somethin. koreans sure are different. or japanese. whatever they are.
i know you were making a joke, but i don't think you realize just how much these high school athletes want a championship in a tournament like this... i'm sure the vast majority of the top high school atheletes would rather win that sort of tournament than have sex with 3 cheerleaders at once, i mean they usually get enough ass anyway
This is hands down the most important amateur sporting event in all of japan. I honestly think people care more about this than even the olympics.
Their skill level is nowhere near pro level, but the grind that they show is unparalleled. Japanese probaseball is dogshit compared to this.
On August 22 2006 09:12 Mynock wrote: In the same year there was a bigger star rising tho, was there not? In form of Matsuzaka Daisuke...
hmm, yea, wikipedia says that matsuzaka's senior year was in 1998, when he threw 250 pitches in a 17 inning game, then followed it up with a no-hitter in the finals... hm, conflicting results. I wonder if the above video is from the Senbatsu tournament? (there's one in the spring as well)
By the way I have to make the point that these pitches throwing excess of 200 pitches, while great drama, is absolutely idiotic. There's a reason why the MLB teams are so careful with thier pitchers' arms. The japanese have traditionally had this mentality of "spirit over body", (commonly phrased as Kiai, or Koujyou, etc) and the coaches push this onto the players as well. Case in point: the pitcher in the above video blows out his arms and ends his career a few years later.
I have a friend who played in the farm system for a pro baseball team in japan 5 or so years ago. They pitched him way too much, way too often, way too long. As a result he tore a ligament in his shoulder, and his dreams were dashed away. This kind of "heroics" that the japanese love, has caused so many career ending injuries, it is absurd.
Great drama, at the price of players' careers It's understandable why they do this. They want to win this thing so badly, they'll really do whatever it takes to pull it off. I'm sure many of these players don't give a damn about their future career or whatnot as long as they can win this. But this die hard sentiment should not, and cannot be held by managers, coaches, and staff members. They need to be the ones putting the throttle on their players, not worsening the situation.
On August 22 2006 09:50 Illuvatar wrote: so what? he lost, well he won't die of it, seriously sometimes i really wonder if there aren't more important things in live...
Have you ever in your life wanted to accomplish something so badly, that you were willing to suffer through whatever it took to get to that point? Wouldnt you feel this kind of deep anguish, if you had come so far, so close, yet couldnt make the final step? Or have you half-assedly and nonchalantly gone through everything in your life thus far.
I guess you just dont get it. Apathy is bliss. No true joy but no true pain either.
Have you ever in your life wanted to accomplish something so badly, that you were willing to suffer through whatever it took to get to that point? Wouldnt you feel this kind of deep anguish, if you had come so far, so close, yet couldnt make the final step? Or have you half-assedly and nonchalantly gone through everything in your life thus far.
I guess you just dont get it. Apathy is bliss. No true joy but no true pain either.
What, can you actually imagine to how many people on the world this happens, that they can't take the final step. He doesn't deserve special empathy and no it's not very sad, very sad is when someone dies of hunger although he struggles all his life for food and he suffers through whatever it took to get food, but still he couldn't get any.
Yes, 200 pitches is insane, but the amount of damage to a pitcher depends a lot on the way they pitch. In the old days people might get away with throwing 150+ pitches, but there is no way anyone can do that in the AL now and not blow out something. The mound is different, and the game is much more pressurized demanding accurate mechanics that some pitchers just do not have.
btw, this spirit over body thing is really annoying in animes. So one guy goes like "waah this is suicidal technique" and then does it 100 times with no problem. -_-;;
Have you ever in your life wanted to accomplish something so badly, that you were willing to suffer through whatever it took to get to that point? Wouldnt you feel this kind of deep anguish, if you had come so far, so close, yet couldnt make the final step? Or have you half-assedly and nonchalantly gone through everything in your life thus far.
I guess you just dont get it. Apathy is bliss. No true joy but no true pain either.
What, can you actually imagine to how many people on the world this happens, that they can't take the final step. He doesn't deserve special empathy and no it's not very sad, very sad is when someone dies of hunger although he struggles all his life for food and he suffers through whatever it took to get food, but still he couldn't get any.
That's not sad. It's pathetic. But essentially u are refering the same thing as haji, both men wanted some thing so bad but couldn't get it, they just after 2 thing on completely different scale. One is neccesity, another is his own fufillment of self worth. There is no reason to discredit the baseballer , he doesn't need to struggle for food, he struggles for something greater. You can do nothing but applaude for his effort because he tries to do something in his life. I guess you can't understand that notion, thats fine. Some people prefer to enjoy their life, some find enjoyment in persuing a goal.
Have you ever in your life wanted to accomplish something so badly, that you were willing to suffer through whatever it took to get to that point? Wouldnt you feel this kind of deep anguish, if you had come so far, so close, yet couldnt make the final step? Or have you half-assedly and nonchalantly gone through everything in your life thus far.
I guess you just dont get it. Apathy is bliss. No true joy but no true pain either.
What, can you actually imagine to how many people on the world this happens, that they can't take the final step. He doesn't deserve special empathy and no it's not very sad, very sad is when someone dies of hunger although he struggles all his life for food and he suffers through whatever it took to get food, but still he couldn't get any.
eh, the guy worked so hard for it, and didn't get it. that is sad. hunger is sad too, but this is also sad.
EPT
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