Minato Ward Groupies Expose The Hidden Nightlife Of Baseball Stars

“Look at my pitching the other day!”

Every year, the world of professional baseball—where new stars are born one after another—draws attention from across Japan. With the WBC and the nationwide popularity of Shohei Ohtani, there has reportedly been a recent rise in so-called “Minato Ward girls specializing in baseball players,” who devote all their private time to attending drinking parties with baseball players.

Against this backdrop, we conducted a roundtable discussion with “Minato Ward girls specializing in baseball players”: Rino (pseudonym, hereafter the same), who works at a financial institution in Tokyo; Maki, a nursery school teacher; and Maiko, a university student. They spoke candidly about the “nightlife” of professional baseball players that cannot be seen on the field.

—First, could you tell us how you each started attending drinking parties with baseball players?

Rino: The owner of a bar I often went to was related to a former manager of a certain professional baseball team, and through that connection I started getting invited to drinking parties with players from the Central League. They said, “Old guys alone aren’t glamorous, so come with us.” After attending once, I started getting directly invited by the players I met there, and the invitations kept coming one after another.

Maki: I originally used to go out drinking around Minato Ward with business owners and receive pocket money, and at one of those gatherings there was a pitcher from a Tokyo-based team. He took a liking to me, and after we became physically involved, I started repeatedly joining group dates with his teammates. He already has a girlfriend, so neither of us cares who the other sleeps with.

Maiko: I worked part-time at a stadium, and a player from a Pacific League team approached me in a staff-only corridor. I started going out drinking with younger players around my age. Since I’m a university student, I have a lot of free time, so I also go support them at away games. They pay for transportation, give me pocket money, and get me tickets. Depending on the team, there are usually about two reserved seats per player. I’ve even secretly stayed in players’ hotel rooms during away trips.

Rino: I get invited to away trips on weekends too. The other day I went to Hokkaido, and there was a cheerleader in another reserved seat… Apparently she’s dating a key infielder who provided her ticket, even though relationships between players and cheerleaders are officially prohibited. I thought, “Wow, they’re bold.” Learning about these relationship situations is one of the fun parts.

Maiko: I got close with a Central League rotation pitcher, A, and after a drinking party we went to a hotel. I was fully prepared after taking a shower and sitting on the bed, but he suddenly took an iPad out of his bag. When I asked, “What’s that?”, he said, “Look at my pitching the other day! See how I nailed the outer corner perfectly? My control was a bit shaky in the bullpen before the game, but from the third inning my fastball started coming out of my fingers better,” and started analyzing his pitching.

Since I also like baseball, I chimed in like, “When you’re in form, you can place the ball within about a ball’s width, right?” and he said, “You really get it! Alright, let’s do it then.” And I was like, “Wait, does this guy think his pitching footage is foreplay?” My emotions were all over the place (laughs).

Maki: What I remember most is being invited to a drinking party with a Central League superstar infielder I had long admired. It was at a private bar in Roppongi, with him in the center, four young players from his team, and five women including me. When I arrived, there were already two stunning women sitting on both sides of him.

I later heard they were veterans of his parties, and as someone invited by a younger player, I was basically sidelined. Even when I tried to approach him, the women next to him blocked me. Then the star player pointed at me and said, “Hey, why don’t you take this girl home?” In the end, I was more or less forced out of the place by a younger player.

Later, that player told me, “If B doesn’t like a girl who comes to the party, he makes us take her home. He only drinks with women he approves of, and in the end picks his favorite to take home. But you’re actually one of the better ones. If he’s not interested at all, he ignores them completely—and if they don’t leave, he’ll even shout, ‘Hey ugly, go home!’”

In the paid version of “FRIDAY GOLD,” the three of them talk in detail about the nighttime faces of the stars they witnessed.