It was a long journey. The oldest 40-year-old Hanshin team, Itoi, achieved a total of 300 stolen bases, the 31st in history, in the match against Hiroshima on the 11th (Mazda Stadium). It was the first stolen base in 436 days since the check was made in the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya Dome) on July 2nd last year. Itoi near the second base raised a commemorative board with a smile. The excitement of the bench was also unusual.

A commemorative board that has become quite familiar in professional baseball. As you can guess, this board is on standby behind the bench in preparation for “then” when it’s about to reach a record. However, no one knows when that moment will come. Due to the nature of stealing bases, this record was prepared long before the check was made, and he traveled all over the country with the team staff.

Tokyo, Yokohama, Hokkaido, Sendai … Sometimes I missed the team bus heading to the stadium, but the team staff returned to the dormitory and was in time for the start of the match.

Itoi was pleased with the smiles of the people around him, saying, “Everyone was pleased and that was the most memorable and happy thing.” Teammates and fans, as well as the people involved in making the board and the staff who carried the board. It was Hiroshima, the final destination where everyone smiled.[Hanshin Tigers = Satoshi Masui]