Playback ’04] “Come back, you guys! to his student-athletes in the majors.

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, or 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will look back at the article “Ichiro, Nomo, Taguchi, Kida, and other pupils gather in large numbers,” which appeared in the December 24, 2004 issue 20 years ago! A live report of the “reunion” of the Major League Baseball team and its manager, Ohgi.

On December 7, 2004, a party was held at a hotel in Osaka City to celebrate the induction of Akira Ohgi, then 69, manager of the Orix Buffaloes, into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Descriptions in parentheses are taken from past articles.)

The distinguished lineup that gathered for Ohgi’s induction

When this reporter went to the venue of Ohgi’s “Baseball Hall of Fame induction party,” which was “planned to be held privately” (according to an official), the place was already filled with people, people, people. When this reporter went to the venue of Ohgi’s “Baseball Hall of Fame induction party,” the place was already filled with people, people, people.

In front of the venue, a huge flower from Kazuhiro Kiyohara of the Giants, which was said by a hotel employee to be “definitely worth several hundred thousand yen,” was placed in front of the venue. The hotel even paid lip service to the event through Yoshiaki Kanamura, a Kintetsu alumnus and baseball critic, by saying, “If you keep your door open, we may be able to play at the Osaka Dome in two years.

Inside the venue, big-name baseball alumni such as Kazuhisa Inao, the “Iron Man,” and Futoshi Nakanishi, the “Monster Boy,” exchanged glasses with each other. The crowd included Ralph Bryant and other Kintetsu regulars from 1988, when the team drew the second game of the legendary doubleheader and lost the championship, the Orix mainstays from 1996, when the team overcame the Great Hanshin Earthquake to win the Japan championship, Senichi Hoshino, Hanshin SD, and many others. Senichi Hoshino, Hanshin SD, and many others.

However, the person who was flashed the most that day was Ichiro, who had returned to Japan only to attend the party. Ichiro, once famous for his “misanthropy,” was smiling as he was photographed and shook hands throughout the event.