<figure id="attachment_338719" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-338719" style="width: 2284px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="58b0b9fe"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/80180b84af67d87419fc904e869355cc.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-338719" class="wp-caption-text">Ono, who played for Akita Keiho University, made consecutive appearances at the Koshien in spring and summer as an ace in his second year (Image: Katsuro Okazawa/Afro)</figcaption></figure>
 Ono said, &#8220;When I was alone, my weakness would come out. My way of thinking was childish.
 The man who said this in court had no dignity as a former professional baseball player.
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 On October 19, the Yokohama District Court sentenced Hitoshi Ono, 47, an unemployed man accused of theft, to two years in prison for &#8220;habitual&#8221; theft. Ono is a former pitcher for the Giants. In May of this year, he allegedly stole seven bottles of whiskey (worth approximately 35,000 yen) from a supermarket in Yokohama.
 This is the third time Ono has been arrested and charged. In May 2010, he was convicted by the local Akita District Court of stealing whiskey and champagne and sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years with probation. This time, he committed the crime while on probation.
 Ono made a shocking statement in court. He sold the stolen alcohol on Mercari and other online retailers. When asked by the prosecutor about the money he earned from the theft, he said the following. I used it for living expenses and gambling. When I have money, I gamble.
 As for why he did not get a regular job, he claimed, &#8220;I was handicapped because my name was mentioned (in media reports that I had been convicted). He also said that he was not active in part-time work, even though he was looking for a job: &#8220;I wanted an environment where I could work five to six days a week. Part-time work has a strong sense of being a stopgap measure. I thought it was a full-time employee who would be recognized.
 In an article distributed on July 3 of this year, &#8220;FRIDAY Digital&#8221; reported in detail on the incident in which Ono was arrested for the second time. We would like to recount the whole story of Ono&#8217;s rough life and his appalling theft of hundreds of bottles of sake (some parts have been corrected).
<h2> 400 bottles of unopened liquor from his home</h2>
 When investigators entered the apartment, they gasped.
 In the cramped one-bedroom apartment, there were liquor, liquor, and liquor &#8230;&#8230; randomly placed, unpacked, on the floor. They were all high-class whiskeys, including &#8220;Yoichi,&#8221; &#8220;Chita,&#8221; and &#8220;Seabass Regal. The number of bottles amounted to 400.
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 On February 7, 2010, Akita Chuo Police re-arrested Ono for stealing whiskey from a mass merchandiser in Chiba City. Ono had just been arrested and charged in January 2010 for stealing 11 bottles of champagne (worth approximately 82,000 yen) in Akita City in November 2009. This time, he is suspected of stealing eight bottles of whiskey (worth approximately 54,000 yen) that were on display.
 When investigators searched Ono&#8217;s apartment, they found a large quantity of unopened bottles of liquor. Moreover, they were high-class liquors such as champagne. Usually when we raid the house of a defendant who has stolen liquor, the smell of alcohol fills the air and empty bottles are found lying around. However, all 400 bottles stolen this time were unopened.
 Upon investigation, the defendant Ono admitted to the crime, saying of the 400 bottles of fine sake, &#8216;There is no doubt that I stole them. It is believed that he had been stealing outside of Akita and Chiba as well. The police are further investigating.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" In desperation, he divorced his wife and ......"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_338715" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-338715" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6eee98b1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/4348519f671e5e2d6adb43601b010fa5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-338715" class="wp-caption-text">About 400 bottles of high-grade sake seized from Ono&#8217;s home (Image: Kyodo News)</figcaption></figure>
 Ono is an elite baseball player. In his sophomore year at Akita Keio University High School, he participated in the Koshien National High School Baseball Championships in consecutive spring and summer seasons as the ace of the team. In 1994, he became the first high school student to represent Japan in the World Championships. After graduating from high school, he joined Nippon Oil Corporation, where he won the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In the same year, he was drafted by the Giants with the second overall pick.
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 With a straight line of nearly 150 km/h from his left arm, he posted a 5-1 record and a 1.88 earned-run average in his first year with the second team. In May of his second year, he struck out 20 batters in a game against Lotte and won the titles of Most Wins and Best Defensive Ratio twice.
 However, he has not been good at all in the first team. The reason for his poor performance is the yips. Once I give up a for-ball, I can&#8217;t stop.&#8217; In 2002, he moved to the Kintetsu baseball team, and the following year he was removed from the lineup. He was called the &#8220;King of the Second Army&#8221; by fans.
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 After his dismissal, he continued to play minor league baseball in the U.S. He tried out for the American League in November 2005, but no team was interested in him. When the road to a return to the pros was closed, he became desperate, and his relationship with his wife became strained and they divorced. After that, he moved from one job to another, including carrying fish at a market in Yokohama, delivering bread, and serving customers at a yakitori restaurant. He also worked as a waiter at a yakitori restaurant and once worked in a cabaret club as a blackclothes waitress.
 In the fall of &#8221; In the fall of 2006, he quit a health equipment manufacturer he had joined through an acquaintance, a former professional baseball player, and became unemployed. It is believed that around that time, he began to engage in theft of high-grade liquor. He is believed to have begun to engage in high-end liquor theft around that time.
 He attracted attention as an amateur, but after joining the pro ranks, he was not successful, and he was dropped from the lineup&#8230;&#8230;. His third indictment is scheduled to be handed down on November 1.
<figure id="attachment_229380" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-229380" style="width: 884px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1a20f317"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/1996112100057.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-229380" class="wp-caption-text"> Second-round draft pick by the Giants (right). On the left is Tsuyoshi Kawamura, also a member of the Nippon Oil Corporation, who was drafted first by Yokohama (Image: Kyodo News)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_229381" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-229381" style="width: 679px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dd950d82"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/2001022000110.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-229381" class="wp-caption-text"> Ono as a member of the Giants, who failed to produce any results in the first team (Image: Kyodo News)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_339172" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-339172" style="width: 1386px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="57e64dc7"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/e562f1d3dc6e43f8f9dbd68d38acce2a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-339172" class="wp-caption-text"> He also participated in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.</figcaption></figure>

 Katsuro Okazawa/Afro

 Former Giant pitcher and silver medalist Hitoshi Ono was sentenced to two years in prison. In his apartment in Yokohama, there were 400 bottles of high-grade sake believed to have been stolen from his home. Why did the baseball elite fall from grace? We would like to introduce his life after his retirement.

Gambling when you have money&#8221;&#8230;Former Giants 2nd draft pitcher &#8220;400 bottles of liquor stolen from his home&#8221;, a disgusting statement in court.

Gambling when you have money”…Former Giants 2nd draft pitcher “400 bottles of liquor stolen from his home”, a disgusting statement in court.

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