Playback ’05] “We were in the mood to make up, but…” Kiyohara and Manager Horiuchi: The “cold war” witnessed by this magazine

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will introduce “Kazuhiro Kiyohara, the leader of the pack, vs. Horiuchi, the bearded manager, in a cold war on the bench,” which appeared in the March 11, 2005 issue 20 years ago.

Since he became manager of the Giants in the off-season of 2003, there were whispers of a feud between manager Tsuneo Horiuchi (57 at the time) and Kazuhiro Kiyohara (37 at the time). In the off-season of 2004, when manager Horiuchi decided that Kiyohara was “out of the lineup,” there was an uproar in which Kiyohara went directly to then team president Hidetoshi Kiyotake, and it was believed that the rift had become definite. Then came the spring training camp of 2005. Kiyohara had been running hard during his voluntary training and came to the camp in a condition not seen in previous years. Director Horiuchi also named Kiyohara as the player who stood out the most, and a “thawing mood” was in the air between the two. …… (Descriptions in parentheses are taken from past articles. (Descriptions in parentheses are from past articles; all ages are current at the time).

I didn’t call out to them, but looked away.

Within a month, the two men, who had been in a “thawing mood,” were once again in a tense relationship.

On February 21, in the early afternoon at San Marin Stadium Miyazaki, Kazuhiro Kiyohara was sitting alone on the bench after finishing his training. His eyes were on his teammates on the field. It was the first red-and-white game of the year. It had been a long time since last fall since he had practiced in the actual game format, so his enthusiasm was quite high.

Then, manager Tsuneo Horiuchi appeared on the field. The coach, who had been out on the field until then, went to the waiting room behind the bench.

However, although both managers must have recognized each other, they did not seem to react to each other’s appearance. Walking with his hands clasped behind his back, Horiuchi glanced at Bancho as he descended the stairs leading to the bench, but he did not speak to him and quickly averted his gaze. The manager was also aware of Director Horiuchi’s approach, and although he glanced at him immediately after the manager looked away, he did not make a move.

According to the sports newspaper reporters and others at the time, Kiyohara had been making a strong appeal to the manager to make him recognize his presence until the middle of the camp, but as his confidence that he could do it this year grew, he may have begun to feel that he had been suppressing his feelings of “I’ll make the manager look back at me”. He was saying, “When will Kiyohara’s hard work pay off?

On the other hand, Kiyohara’s fiasco on the night of the red-and-white game was reported, just as Director Horiuchi, who had been watching the situation, said obliquely, “I wonder how long Kiyohara’s hard work will last. Taking advantage of the fact that the following day was an off-day, Kiyohara, accompanied by Daisuke Motoki and others, was said to have been boisterously boisterous at an exclusive club in Miyazaki City until 1:30 am. He had broken his “no drinking and no smoking” policy, which he had declared during the off-season.

Kiyohara did a foolish thing at the very end of the camp. The trust he had built up over the years had been wiped out. The director is outwardly calm, but I am sure that deep down he is thinking, ‘I don’t know what I’m talking about. It has determined his distrust.

The two were showing signs of entering another “cold war,” but what happened next?