When we booked this trip to Japan, we decided to use Air Canada as we could fly back via Kansai airport (KIX) with an overnight stop in Vancouver. At the time, I hadn't considered the possibilities in terms of sports, but a few days after booking, I saw that Hanshin's minor league team had a 12:30 afternoon game on the day we flew out. With the flight leaving at 7 p.m. and the airport less than two hours away from the ballpark, I added this game to my schedule. I then checked the Vancouver Canadians slate and found that they had a night game on the same day. With the flight scheduled to land at 12:25 p.m., it was relatively easy to see two minor league baseball games in two continents on the same day. All I needed was for the weather to work out and no travel issues. And happily, I got both.
The Tigers Western League club usually plays out of Hanshin Naruohama Stadium, which is a short bus ride from Koshien, or a short walk from Mukogawadanchi-mae station, a terminus of the four-station Hanshin Mukogawa line. I recommend this latter option as you pass by a Lawson on the walk and can get your food and drink here as none is sold at the stadium. Don't buy beer though, as alcohol is not allowed.
Capacity is just 570 and tickets are handed out to fans as they arrive, starting at 9 a.m., 3.5 hours before first pitch. In fact, I had been here once before about 20 years back when I was in town. Unaware of the low capacity and showing up at game time, I found there to be no tickets. This wasn't particularly disappointing as I was visiting for other reasons, but I could not risk that happening again. I checked previous games played in August and found that they had not sold out, and with school having started, did not expect this one to reach full capacity. I decided to show up at 10:30 and was handed a ticket, one of 488 that day. Even then, there were few seats available as fans had arrived early and reserved their spots before returning home or somewhere more comfortable. There are three seating sections here, each with six or seven rows of plastic seats with no chair backs.
I found a seat in the second row behind home plate and waited patiently for the game to start, watching both teams take batting and fielding practice.
A few minutes before first pitch and a light rain began to fall, but it was short lived and the game started two minutes early. That's the first pitch below.
In the last couple of innings, I moved to a standing spot, which allows for better pictures to be taken through the netting. As I have said many times, Japanese ballparks, especially those in the minors, are purely functional and this one is no different. Interestingly, they are leaving Naruohama next year for something called Zero Carbon Stadium in nearby Amagasaki, so I will have to see how that fares in comparison next time I visit.
At any rate, I am glad I finally got to see a game here and even better, it was part of my 2-continent doubleheader.
The Game
I really wanted to see this game from start to finish and needed it to be three hours or less. It didn't take long to realize that I was in trouble. Hanshin starter Hidetoshi Ibaragi struggled early, walking the first batter on 7 pitches, then took 6 pitches before giving up a single. This brought Shunsuke Tamura (below) to the plate and he drove the ball deep to right to make it 3-0 Carp. Oh-oh. As an aside, the Carp are using red lettering for names and numbers on red jerseys, reminiscent of the Harold Ballard years in Toronto.
Speaking of Toronto, former Blue Jay Thomas Hatch started for Hiroshima and he was much better than Ibaragi, though he still pitched too slowly for my liking. The Carp added a run in the second on a sac fly, while a Hatch wild pitch allowed a run to score for Hanshin in the bottom half. After that, things started to move quickly, with only another Hatch wild pitch letting a runner score from second to make it 4-2. The ten-minute infield cleanup was rather annoying, but that is part of the game here and it looked like the game would finish before 3:30.
Hatch was done after six good innings, and the 4-2 score continued to the ninth, which started just after 3. I needed six quick outs, but instead got a comedy of bad baseball. Ryo Itoh, a developmental squad player (above) started the ninth and got a grounder back to him, but threw it high to first. The next batter singled and then Itoh got one out before being replaced by another developmental player, Kai Matsubara. He struck out Moises Ramirez, one of the Carp's developmental squad, but then gave up two walks and a double to make it 7-2. At least extra innings weren't likely, but the clock was ticking.
The bottom of the ninth started around 3:20 and Atsumi Hidaka, who had replaced Hatch, continued on the mound. He got two quick outs and I relaxed, but so did he, walking the next batter and giving up a run-scoring double. Another single and he had to be replaced with the clock nearing 3:30. Ginji Hasebe came in to complete the alliterative pitching line for Hiroshima, and thankfully he struck out Nozomu Takatera on four pitches to end things. That's the final pitch above and the final score below.
The game ended at 3:33, which was as late as I could go. I snapped a quick shot of the Carp congratulations and headed out, where a bus soon arrived. Thus began the logistical portion of the trip.
It was a tense time for me, but in the end, everything worked out and I was on my way to the airport. The bus took me back to Koshien Station, from where I grabbed an express train to Osaka, where I had left my luggage in a locker. I then took a train directly to the airport (about 70 minutes), arriving exactly two hours after the game finished, meeting my wife and kid at the Air Canada counter. Security and immigration are quick in Japan and we reached our gate before boarding had even started. The flight departed on time, landing early just over 9 hours later, and I even had enough time to nap at my Vancouver hotel to beat the jet lag for the game that night, which I will write about in the next post.
Notes
This was my 28th ballpark at which to see an NPB game. There are still several minor league parks, plus those occasional use one where the big teams play once every year or two, so I don't think I will ever get to them all.
Best,
Sean
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