《Mizushima Manga Baseball Prophecy》 Koshien’s five-seat consecutive avoidance was experienced by Akinori and Taro Yamada 15 years before Hoshiryo and Hideki Matsui, and was even better! –Professional Baseball –Number Web

In 1992, when the lucky zone was removed from Koshien Stadium. The monster that swept the high school ball world is Hideki Matsui, No. 4 of Ishikawa / Hoshiryo High School called “Godzilla”. In Spring Senbatsu, he achieved the tournament record at that time, such as 7 RBIs per game, 2 at-bats in a row and 2 games in a row. The removal of the lucky zone was expected to reduce the number of home runs, so the power and batting sense of the super high school class became even more prominent.

The incident that happened at Koshien in the summer because of such a rampage in Senbatsu … That is the “five-seat consecutive avoidance” in the Meitoku Gijuku match.

A particular problem was the attack on the star ridge, which chased 2 to 3 and 1 point in the 5th at-bat in the last 9th inning. The batting order came to No. 4 Matsui in the scene where 2 deaths and 3rd base, single hits and errors, wild pitches, and even a passed ball were tied. If Matsui goes to base, he will be a runner in the reverse direction … Even in the difficult situation, Meitoku Gijuku avoids the game with Matsui and chooses a walk. After Matsui walked to the first base, a megaphone and garbage were thrown from the cheering seat to the ground due to dissatisfaction and protest with Meitoku Gijuku, and the game was temporarily suspended.

After resuming the game, the next 5th batter collapsed and the game set. However, the hustle and bustle transcended the boundaries of the stadium and developed into a social problem that caused controversy throughout Japan. The strategy of director Mabuchi Shiro of Meitoku Gijuku who won the game avoiding the game with Matsui called for pros and cons, “Is high school baseball a victory supreme principle?”, And Hideki Matsui who lost without swinging the bat is a legend. It became an existence.

I thought it was an unprecedented big incident, but it wasn’t. In the history of the “Koshien Tournament”, Matsui is actually the second time to “avoid 5 consecutive seats”. Fifteen years ago, Taro Yamada, a monster batter at Meiku High School, also experienced “five at-bats in a row”. It can be said that it is a very convincing prophecy that only Taro Yamada, the strongest hitter in Japan’s history, who was accepted in the major leagues, experienced this incident.