This event was attended by people who can be considered the core of the non-fiction books written by Motohiko Kimura, “The Men Who Created the Labor Union: The Professional Baseball Players Association.”
One of them was Hiroshi Takeuchi, a judge at the Tokyo High Court during the 2004 players’ association’s first strike in professional baseball.
Before President Atsuya Furuta went on strike, Mr. Takeuchi served as a judge and issued a ground-breaking decision stating that “the players’ association is a labor union,” and from there the tide suddenly changed. He has also written a book called “What is the conscience of a judge?” This is also recommended by Ryushokan Shoten.
Additionally, Takuya Yamazaki, who has served as a legal advisor to the Professional Baseball Players Association since 2000, joined us online from London and spoke in detail about the team’s stance at the time and the situation the players were in.
Guests included former Diet member Yuko Otsubaki, current legal advisor to the Professional Baseball Players Association, Yui Kayano, former MBS member Naoyo Saika, TBS member Fumie Matsubara, and many reporters from MBS, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, Chunichi Shimbun, and Tokyo Shimbun.
The opening day, January 24th, was a fateful day. Exactly 41 years ago, on January 24, 1985, was the day Yasushi Tao was suddenly traded from Chunichi to Seibu. In professional baseball, camp-in is on February 1st, so it’s outrageous that it’s just a week before that.
In the first part, Mr. Motohiko Kimura talked about what happened to Mr. Tao and listened to Mr. Tao’s feelings while listening to episodes from that time.
[When trading]
According to Tao, back then players were required to use the same parking lot as fans, so when they lost a game, they were sometimes beaten by fans. He requested that the garage be separated for other players as well. Apparently, he was making a request on behalf of the players because the facilities that we would now take for granted were not available, but the representatives probably didn’t find it interesting.
Before the players’ association became a labor union, players had no authority and could be released with a single unilateral resignation.
[About 5 consecutive at-bats and shy away]The game is “Taiyo vs. Chunichi”]
This game was the one that would decide whether the Giants or Chunichi would win the league. It was also a match that would determine the title of leading batter between Tao and Keiji Nagasaki (currently Keiichi).
In this big game, Tao, the leadoff batter, was unable to win and was turned away for five consecutive at-bats. The match ended without any real competition.
I watched a YouTube video about this event.
Maybe it’s because I don’t know the sport of baseball, but is this what professional players do? I was shocked. Why not compete head-on? Back then, players’ annual salaries were low, so Taiyo’s manager may have been fixated on having a leadoff hitter, but I couldn’t understand that.
[When I moved to Seibu]
He was impressed by Seibu’s front office’s way of thinking, which is different from that of Chunichi, and the words of Seibu’s representative, Mr. Sakai. Even when Mr. Sakai was lowering his annual salary, he mentioned each play, and it seems that he always had respect for the players, and was aware of how that would reach the hearts of the players. Mr. Sakai supported the strike during the reorganization of the baseball world.
Mr. Tao said, “Wow, those were words that had never been said to me before.It made me realize how important words are.”
Since his active career, when he moved to Chunichi, Seibu, and Hanshin, Mr. Tao has continued to speak the truth without making any reservations, without looking at anyone’s expressions. Even after he retired and became a commentator, he never held back and talked about the new team and the ideal manager.
Mr. Tao received an offer from Marty Keenert (a graduate of Stanford University’s political science department, a Japan expert and sports writer who has written extensively about the differences in Japanese sports culture for many years) to become the manager of the new team, the Rakuten Eagles.
Keenert, who was close to the weaker players and considered the public interest of professional baseball, probably believed that Tao, who always had an unwavering belief and did not pander to those in power, was the best person to be the new team’s manager.
Upon assuming his position, Mr. Tao expressed his gratitude to owner Mikitani for allowing him to enter the baseball world as a new player, but also told him, “Please don’t just think of the team as your property. A professional baseball team is an asset to the community.”
At Rakuten, they say they always try to create exciting scoring scenes, even if they lose. He also promised his players fair competition within the team.
“Until now, there were a lot of players who didn’t get opportunities for arbitrary reasons, such as not using them because they were veterans, or not playing because they had a bad attitude, but we talked about starting from the same starting line, and I told the players that even if they are in the second team, if they get results, they will definitely use them.”
I felt the same way of thinking about this as my synchro teacher, Masayo Imura.
From Sendai, Rakuten fan Junji Muramatsu, professor emeritus at Tohoku University, spoke with Marty Keenert and expressed his passion for Tao.
I was impressed when I heard Mr. Tao’s policy, “A manager’s job is not to make money. It’s a job that is meant to make the players and fans happy,” but when I actually heard the stories from that time, I gained even more respect for him.
Mr. Tao said happily, “I think this was a very good academic event.”
Mr. Motohiko Kimura’s facilitation and questions to Mr. Tao brought out Mr. Tao’s greatness. thank you very much.
I would like to share this with you because Mr. Tao himself has been speaking about it, but Mr. Tao was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, a disease for which there was no effective treatment until a few years ago and the five-year survival rate was 30%.
However, in 2019, an oral drug that is effective in halting the progression of the disease was approved. For this reason, it is now possible to suppress the symptoms to some extent with medication if detected early. He has also published a book called “Still, I’m Looking Forward: What Baseball Taught Me to Live a Stronger Life” in order to help as many people as possible to deepen their understanding of the disease cardiac amyloidosis, and to get tested as soon as possible if they feel even the slightest abnormality. Please contact us if you are interested.
Lastly, we have received feedback from people online, so we would like to introduce them here.
“I’ve been a Swallows fan since I was in junior high school, but when the professional baseball union was formed, I was shocked to see that only the Yakult Players Association didn’t participate.I was sad when the Swallows cheering team at the time called out, “Target Nakahata! Fujio!” I thought about quitting being a Swallows fan, but then Yakult joined the club, and when Furuta was chairman, they went on strike.I was moved by the strike that was supported by the fans and the general public. I also have a union at work. ”
When you learn about the history of these active players who worked hard to establish the Japan Professional Baseball Players Union, you realize that they deserve great respect.
We are now able to play baseball in a privileged environment because of the history that our predecessors in the baseball world have built, fighting for the rights of players both during the season and 10 and 20 years from now. I thought I had to think about that.
Second from the right, former judge Hiroshi Takeuchi
Thank you to Yasushi Tao, Motohiko Kimura, Hiroshi Takeuchi, former judges, Takuya Yamazaki, Professor Junji Muramatsu, Yuko Ohtsubaki, and Yui Kayano.
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