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.

Suddenly, the “magic” burst forth.

Director Ohgi was also red-faced and happy. He said to Sakura Yokomine , “I had a drink with your father the other day. I had a drink with my father the other day. In the midst of this atmosphere, Director Ohgi burst out with a tremendous “magic” trick.

He said, “I don’t care if it’s tampering or whatever. Come back, you guys!”

As soon as the old and new Major League teams, including Ichiro (Mariners), So Taguchi (Cardinals), Hideo Nomo (Dodgers), Masato Yoshii (Orix), and Masao Kida (Mariners), took the stage, Akira Ohgi, manager of the Orix Buffaloes, began to make passionate overtures to them.

If it weren’t for Mr. Ohgi, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t mind having the manager put the number 51 on my back.

I would like to finish my career under him. I want to finish my career under him.

When his “disciples” responded with social pleasantries, the manager went even more berserk.

When the “disciples” responded with social pleasantries, the commander went even more off the rails: “Is Koizumi (Takashi Koizumi, president of the baseball team) around? Is he around when it’s inconvenient? （I’ll pay (Yoshii’s) salary out of my own pocket, so how about the rest as an incentive?

This puzzled the president of the baseball team.

I think of this as my burial before my death.

Akira Ohgi served as manager of the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix Blue Wave, and his ever-changing leadership style was known as the “Ohgi Magic. In addition to discovering Ichiro, he is also known for having trained many Japanese Major Leaguers, including Hideo Nomo, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and So Taguchi. The fact that so many people were present at the party on that day was probably due to his personal virtues.

The 2004 off-season was also the time when Kintetsu and Orix merged to form the Orix Buffaloes. And Mr. Ohgi had returned to the manager’s position after a three-year absence when he was asked to take over as manager. Perhaps that was the reason he gave such an enthusiastic love call to his former disciples who had gone to the majors.

At the party, Ohgi said, “I think of this as a funeral before my death. In fact, he had been fighting lung cancer, but only some of the people involved knew about it.

He managed to fight through the ’04 season with wounds all over his body, but the day after the final game of the season, he announced that he would step down as director. Two months later, on December 15, he passed away. Just before he died, he told his doctor , “I have a dinner appointment with Ichiro on the 20th. Let me live until then.