Rikuo Nemoto Gaiden-The unknown truth of the “revolutionary child of the baseball world” spelled out in testimony
Series #35
Witness: Ryoichi Fukushima (1)
Rikuo Nemoto is said to be the first GM (general manager) in the Japanese professional baseball world. However, he rarely reveals his method and way of thinking in his duties. While he has been interviewed for articles and non-fiction works during his time as director, he joined the Seibu and Daiei (currently Softbank) baseball teams and rarely appeared in the mass media after becoming a de facto GM.
Among them, it can be said that it is a valuable exception. In 1991, the magazine “Esquire” (UPU) interviewed Nemoto when he was the manager of the Seibu baseball team. The magazine was first published in the United States in 1933, and its Japanese version was published in 1987. Baseball was one of the contents from the beginning, including a long interview with Hiromitsu Ochiai (former Lotte etc.) in the first issue.
Nemoto appeared in the September 1991 issue. A special feature titled “Baseball Evolution Theory” was organized, and the table of contents read as follows.
When I opened the page, the foreword read: ──The most important position in the major league team organization is said to be GM, who is responsible for work that directly affects the strength of the team, such as drafts, trades, and player contracts. On the other hand, the Japanese team has an almighty manager, and there is no one who should be called a GM. You can call Nemoto, who is the only one who has contributed to Seibu’s shadow, “Mr. General Manager”── The interviewer is Ryoichi Fukushima, a major league critic. From the standpoint of being familiar with the GM of the American baseball world, I’m going to ask more and more questions to the root. For example, if Hanshin becomes the GM in the slump, where will they start? What is the relationship between the owner, GM, and manager in Seibu? He elicits the know-how for building a strong team and his unique way of thinking. Even so, why was it possible for a media not specialized in baseball to cover the roots by a person other than a reporter or a critic of Nippon Professional Baseball? While reproducing the content of his remarks, we will ask Fukushima about the circumstances of the time and his impressions at the time of the meeting.
