Starting ball relay @ Koshien
At the 100th National High School Baseball Tournament Memorial Convention (Asahi Shimbun, hosted by the Japan High School Baseball Federation), which began at the Hanshin Koshien stadium on May 5, the nine balls throughout the country in the commemorative event "100 Beginning Beginning Relay" It was demonstrated. It was connected to the pitch of Mr. Hideki Matsui (Ishikawa, Hoshiro OB) of the former major league · Yankees who got on the "Koshien Legend starting ball formula" of this day, "100 times relay" is completed.
Starting ball type relay started on 9th, including Nairn Takano 's president Eiji Hatta and throwing nine balls distributed nine blocks nationwide at Toyonaka City's Osaka Prefecture Toyonaka City' s "Toyonaka City Memorial Park." Children of juvenile baseball, high school students, former professional baseball players, etc. started the ball ceremony at 56 local competitions throughout the country and relayed a total of 99 times so far. Just before the opening ceremony on this day, a video introducing the ball's trajectory and the photos of the people who participated in the start ball ceremony was aired on the large-scale vision of the Koshien stadium.
In the opening ceremony, the ball was lined up on the third base side with the deep red major winner. Masataka Watanabe, president of the Asahi Shimbun, said at the convention chairman's greetings, "With nine balls, high school baseball managers and boys from all over the world joined us with 99 start ball relays, Mr. Matsui in the 100th round. We will pass the era, cross the area, inherit the pleasure of baseball in peace, I will tell the next generation. " Matsui who served as the start ball ceremony in the first match right after wrote in the memorial colored paper that "forever longing for the Koshien !!"
The colored paper and balls written by those who connected the start ball type relays, in accordance with the "High School Baseball 100th Memorial Exhibition - History of the" Battle of the Battle Reflecting with the Items of the Panel and Yukari "being held in Tokyo from 6th, It is displayed at Takashimaya until April 13. (Hisashi Fujimoto)