FRIDAY, go out of business! Kazuhiro Kiyohara, the “leader of the pack,” howls! Thoughts on the current baseball world and Shohei Otani

The efforts of my two sons give me the strength to live,” he told a FRIDAY reporter.

So says Kazuhiro Kiyohara, 57, to a FRIDAY reporter. In 1923, his second son Katsuji (19), a member of the Keio High School baseball team, participated in the Koshien National Championship, and in ’24, his eldest son Shogo (22) became a professional player of note as the No. 4 hitter at Keio University.

With the support of his family and friends, Kiyohara is steadily regaining a second life. In June 2013, Kiyohara’s student baseball eligibility will be restored, and he will be able to coach high school and college students.

In the second part of the long interview, he talks about his future as an instructor, his thoughts on the current baseball world, and Shohei Otani.

Kazuhiro Kiyohara, the “leader of the pack,” talks about the bond he has with his sons.

I still want to teach high school students.

I would like to start teaching while I am getting in shape. I know that being a professional instructor is a compliance issue, and it is not up to me to decide, so I can’t say for sure.

But I am very grateful that fans and former colleagues say, ‘We want you to come back to professional baseball as a coach.

When I am able to coach amateurs, I would still like to teach high school students. I hope to be able to teach in a way that will improve the skills of the students by identifying the school culture and the culture of its baseball team.

I am from the PL, so I have always put my spirit and guts first in my time (laughs), but I know that the kind of guts I experienced in the PL will not work with today’s high school students. I want to honestly convey what I feel in my own skin. My goal is to raise a hitter who surpasses me with my own hands. Well, I don’t think there will ever be another hitter like me.

My second son, Katsuji, plans to play baseball in college starting next year (’25), so I want to support him in that as well. I haven’t seen him play on the field recently, so I can’t tell you much about him, but I think he has the potential to play an active role.”

If he plays against Otani: ……

As he talks about his two sons, Kiyohara’s eyes show the love he has for them as a father and the pride he takes in being a baseball player. Now that his sons have become his life’s ambition, will Kiyohara’s main battlefield in the future be the amateur baseball world?

I sometimes watch professional baseball,” he said. But I think things have changed since the days when we were playing. There are fewer brawls (laughs). Protests by managers have decreased dramatically since the request system was introduced, and I don’t see managers and players going wild anymore, which makes me a little sad.

I think Okamoto (Kazuma, 28) and Murakami (Munetaka, 24) are outstanding hitters. They will probably go to the Majors, but I think it will be a loss for the Japanese baseball world.

With the presence of Shohei Otani (30), more and more players are crossing the ocean. I think it is a problem that Japanese professional baseball does not come first in any sports news. Well, it’s partly because Otani is just too amazing.

Otani, who is now the world’s number one player, is still a very special person in Kiyohara’s eyes. We asked Kiyohara if he and the pitcher Otani had played against each other when he was still active, and he replied, “No, I couldn’t hit.

He said, “No, he wouldn’t be able to hit (laughs). His fastball is fast and he has a variety of breaking pitches, so I don’t think he would be a match for a normal pitcher. But I don’t think he will be overpowered. If he throws a straight ball, I think he has a chance. If he throws a breaking ball, I will say, “Do you have balls? but in this day and age, I can’t say that anymore (laughs).

It may be some time before he puts on a professional baseball uniform again, but Kiyohara has returned to the baseball world as a commentator. His commentary on hitting, which draws on his 23 years of professional baseball experience with a total of 525 home runs, has been well received by fans.

When I was active, I hated it when commentators who came from a pitching background talked about the technical aspects of hitting, or when they had negative things to say about someone who had a worse record than I did. So when I commentate, I try to find the good things about the players and talk about them as much as I can. I believe that it is my destiny to be involved in baseball in any way I can.

Kiyohara’s Life in Baseball

Once again, what was baseball for Kiyohara? After receiving a piece of colored paper from a reporter, Kiyohara wrote “dream” on it, muttering, “I wonder if this character is correct …….

Baseball is a world of dreams. That dream continues to this day. If I had not played baseball, I would never have met my wife, and probably my sons would not have played baseball either. And if my sons had not played baseball, we would not have the good family relationship that we have today. I am truly glad that I have continued to pursue my dream of baseball, even though my body has been battered and bruised over the past 23 years.

At the end of the interview, when we asked him for a message for FRIDAY, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary, Kiyohara, who had finished his iced coffee, grinned, turned his mischievous eyes on us and said, “FRIDAY.

He turned the mischievous eyes that FRIDAY had captured so many times before and said, “Let FRIDAY be crushed! (laughter).

The rivalry between FRIDAY and Kiyohara will continue. The next time Kiyohara meets a reporter, he may not be in a well-tailored suit, but in a sweat-soaked uniform.

From the January 3, 10, and 17, 2025 issue of FRIDAY