“4 Army-kun (provisional)” Comic Volume 1 Release Commemorative SPECIAL!
Let’s enjoy college baseball 10 times more!Special Feature – Part 6 Mr. Atsunori Inaba, alumnus of Hosei University
In commemoration of the release of the first volume of the 4th Army-kun (provisional) comics serialized in Young Jump, a special feature titled “Let’s enjoy college baseball 10 times more!” has started. Six alumni of the Tokyo Big Six University baseball club appeared and talked passionately about their alma mater. In the 6th and final round, Mr. Atsunori Inaba, who played an active role as a mainstay of Hosei University and achieved 2,000 hits in total even after becoming a professional, carved his name as “one of the best hitters in the baseball world”.
Atsunori Inaba, GM of Nippon Ham
See photos related to this article
[Passed in a long throw of 60 meters]
── In the summer of your third year at Chukyo (now Chukyo University Chukyo) High School, you lost in the finals of the Aichi Tournament to Aikodai Meiden, who had Ichiro Suzuki (Ichiro), who was in your second year at the time, and finished high school baseball. . What kind of future did he imagine at that time?
InabaI had a dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but I couldn’t even go to Koshien.
── Huh, are you quitting baseball?
InabaThat’s why I told my parents that I wanted to quit baseball by high school.
── Why did you decide to go to Hosei University, one of the top six universities in Tokyo?
InabaAt that time, the director of Chukyo High School (Shoji) Nishiwaki told me, “For the time being, there is a Hosei selection, so take it.” But I was going to quit baseball, so I didn’t practice at all. I went to the selection in such a state.
── High school student Inaba, what kind of image did you have of Hosei University?
InabaI was born and raised in Aichi Prefecture, so I didn’t know much about the Tokyo Six Universities, let alone Hosei. Speaking of Jingu Stadium, there was only an image of Yakult Swallows. When I was in my third year of high school (1991), Yakult was headed by Director Katsuya Nomura, with Katsumi Hirosawa, Takahiro Ikeyama, and Atsuya Furuta. We were in the middle of progressing (3rd place that season, consecutive league titles from the following year, and No. 1 in Japan in 1993). I was competing with Chunichi for the win, and for me, Jingu was Yakult’s home base, so I didn’t have any image of Hosei.
