Yesterday was the final day of the Heisei Era here in Japan. From today, we are in the Reiwa Age. I was planning to steer clear of all the hype, but the Japan Era-Records Klerical Service (JERKS) informed me that all bloggers must have the words of the two ages in at least one post during this two-day period, or else face a suspension period of half a Reiwa. Can’t have that, now, can we?
So here we go… at Koshien Stadium last night, all fans received a certificate saying they were at the final baseball game of the Heisei Period, and at today’s game, all fans receive one saying they were in attendance at the first Reiwa game. Anyhow, fans got to vote for their all-Heisei Tigers team, and this is what they came up with. Click on names for profiles. Naturally, the H stands for Heisei, and the S is for Showa (that old era that feels like the dark ages). In case you didn’t know, yesterday represented the end of Heisei year 31. You do the math to figure out the years in regular numbers!
Starting Pitcher: #54 Randy Messenger (H22 – present)
Middle Reliever: #54 Jeff Williams (H15 – 21)
Closer: #22 (also 92, 30, 18) Kyuji Fujikawa (H11 – 24, 28 – present)
Catcher: #39 Akihiro Yano (H10 – 22)
First Baseman: #1 Tom O’Malley (H3 – 6)
Second Baseman: #6 Yutaka Wada (S60 – H13)
Third Baseman: #7 Makoto Imaoka (H9 – 21)
Shortstop: #1 Takashi Toritani (H16 – present)
Left Field: #6 Tomoaki Kanemoto (H14 – 24)
Center Field: #53 Norihiro Akahoshi (H13 – 21)
Right Field: #8 Kosuke Fukudome (H25 – present)
Pinch Hitter: #24 Shinjiro Hiyama (H4 – 25)
I don’t think you can have Heisei Tigers without Shinjo or Yagi…
Akahoshi and Shinjo is a toss-up in my opinion.
Hiyama vs. Yagi? Another close call. Hiyama’s career was definitely longer.
Fans tend to vote for more recent players, as the number of fans who remember the guys from early in the Heisei Era are fewer in number…