Itaru Kobayashi talks about what is necessary for the development of professional baseball “The establishment of the Japanese version of MLB.com is urgent!” | Professional baseball | Shueisha’s general sports magazine Sportiva official website web Sportiva

Interview with Itaru Kobayashi (Part 2)

Part 1: Click here for Itaru Kobayashi’s turbulent life>>

　Itaru Kobayashi, who attracted attention as a professional baseball player from the University of Tokyo, retired after just two years. was in charge of the practical work of He is, so to speak, a leading figure in research on the “professional baseball business.” He asked me about my ideas for further development of the Japanese professional baseball world.

After retiring from active duty, Mr. Itaru Kobayashi obtained an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and teaches as a university professor.
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[Professor, researcher, university professor with experience in baseball team management]

── So you returned to Edogawa University in 2015 and transferred to J. F. Oberlin University in 2021? His lecture subjects include “Sports Management,” “Sports Industry,” “Sports Management,” “Sports Organization,” and “Sports Marketing.” Why did he return to teaching?

KobayashiI served as the team front for 10 years. Even though I was working concurrently, Edogawa University kept me registered as a faculty member. Due to fate, luck and timing, it is not easy to become a full-time university professor. As a researcher with three perspectives: “professional baseball player,” “researcher,” and “team management,” I thought that I could contribute to the baseball world in a different way.

── Baseball is Kobayashi’s backbone, isn’t it? In 2020, we will restore the “student baseball qualification”. Mr. Kobayashi has been watching the “techniques of athletes who can play an active role” and “guidance of coaches” at the forefront. I think he’s well-qualified as an on-site baseball coach…

Kobayashithank you. J. F. Oberlin Gakuen is a prestigious high school (won the national championship in the summer of 1976), and the university has produced the number one draft player (Chihaya Sasaki joined the lotte number one in the 2016 draft). J. F. Oberlin has a tradition of being coached by an alumnus of the same school.