Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 375 - 24: Hero’s Podium

"Brian Falkenborg! Pitching!"

"This pitch is good! No problem! Close the game successfully!"

"Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a victory in the new season opener!"

"Lin Guanglai, a high school graduate starting pitcher, secures his first career victory! Truly amazing!"

The opening game between SoftBank and Rakuten has concluded, with a final score of 7 to 1—SoftBank Team, playing at their home in the Yahoo Dome, has kicked off the 2013 season with an opening victory.

In the stadium, the Rakuten Golden Eagles players who lost today’s game quickly packed up their belongings and left the field through the player tunnel, returning to their base in Fukuoka—judging by the dark expression on Manager Hoshino Senichi’s face seen in the footage, it seems the days ahead for the Rakuten players won’t be easy.

Meanwhile, the SoftBank players did not rush to leave the field; being the home team who secured the victory, it was only natural for them to interact with their fans in the stadium—after all, in a sense, the home fans are their bread and butter, it is because these fans are willing to spend on tickets and merchandise from the team that players can earn high salaries and achieve a good social status.

Under the leadership of Manager Akiyama, all the players of the SoftBank First Team made a round of the field, expressing their sincere gratitude to their home fans on all sides of the stands for their support.

After thanking the fans, just as Lin Guanglai returned to the players’ area and was about to pack up and leave, a staff member from the SoftBank Team approached him:

"Lin, don’t be in a hurry to leave—because you performed excellently today and made a great contribution to the team’s victory, we would like you to go to the Hero Interview stage and accept the interview as today’s hero."

Guided by the staff, Lin Guanglai arrived at the centrally-built stage of the field, standing beside the in-house MC of the SoftBank home stadium and his teammate, Honda Yuichi, who hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 6th inning of today’s game.

Next to them, the SoftBank Team mascot, the tall and sturdy Harry Hawk, was also interacting with the audience after the game.

(Harry Hawk is right in the middle of the back row.)

Over the years, as professional baseball has become more specialized and refined, mascots’ roles have grown increasingly important: besides being the team’s promotional cartoon image, they are also tasked with interacting with the audience and players during game days.

Sometimes, the mascot’s fame might even surpass most professional players—among them, Yakult Swallows’ "Tsubakurou" and the Philadelphia Phillies’ "Phanatic" are the most representative.

Beside the stage, Harry Hawk continuously flexed his muscles for the spectators in the stands, drawing laughter from many.

"Thank you for waiting, SoftBank fans, now it’s time for today’s Hero Interview!"

"Today’s hero is—"

Before the MC could finish speaking, the SoftBank fans burst into huge cheers and screams, and the entire Yahoo Dome returned to the vibrant state of the game, once again filled with enthusiasm.

"Today’s hero pitched six innings as a starter, with 11 strikeouts; reached base in both at-bats, including a go-ahead two-run home run by Lin Guanglai!"

"Lin, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, with one out and a runner on second base, facing the opportunity to equalize, what was your mindset heading to the batter’s box?"

Holding the microphone, Lin Guanglai didn’t rush to answer the MC’s question; he first raised his hand to wave to the home fans, once again stirring cheers from the crowd, then he slowly began:

"Ah, well, at the time, honestly, I wasn’t thinking much; it was just because I gave up one run in the second inning, and although the manager and seniors kept comforting me not to worry about it, I went to the plate thinking I had to do something, wanting to connect with the seniors after me. I believe the result was achieved through the joint efforts of the entire team and the fans supporting us at the scene."

The MC nodded and continued with this topic: "Maybe this kind of mindset brought about the go-ahead home run—the hit towards left-center field, how did you feel about it, Lin?"

"Before joining SoftBank, I always heard people say that the home run wall of this stadium is both tall and wide, and it’s one of the tougher places to hit a home run in all of Japan. Being able to hit a home run in my first professional game on my home field is truly joyous, even happier than hitting a home run at Koshien."

At this point, Lin Guanglai paused, suddenly smiled, and in the midst of puzzled looks from those around, began to speak:

"When I first joined the team, President Wang mentioned to me that the team had great expectations of me, hoping I could become a core member of the SoftBank batting lineup as a Dual Swordsmanship player—I’ve always kept that in mind; I also hope that one day, I can demonstrate my determination to him by breaking his single-season home run record here in the Yahoo Dome!"

"OHHHHHHHHHHH——!!!" Hearing these words, the atmosphere erupted once again, not only among the SoftBank fans but also among the reporters in the interview area, who widened their eyes in disbelief at what they had just heard.

Bear in mind, ever since Wang Zhenzhi set the single-season record of 55 home runs in 1964, it has been almost 50 years; apart from it being tied by Tuffy Rhodes of Kintetsu and Alex Cabrera of Seibu, the best a domestic player has done was Rokkai Hoshimura’s 52 home runs.

And just now, Lin Guanglai, in front of over 40,000 people in the Yahoo Dome, once again made a "boast": a high school graduate who just entered professional baseball and played only one good game claimed he would use breaking President Wang’s single-season home run record to pay tribute—which could only be met with the comment, the young truly are exuberant!

Fully aware of the potential storm his words might cause, Lin Guanglai still chose to say them, simply because that’s the kind of person he is.

In Lin Guanglai’s view, since any record is created by someone, why couldn’t that person be himself?—while some might feel that speaking about surpassing a senior’s record in public lacks respect, in Lin Guanglai’s mindset, the best way to pay tribute to a predecessor is to stand on the shoulders of giants and surpass them.

After concluding with the last sentence, "Please keep supporting me in future games," Lin Guanglai handed the microphone to Honda Yuichi beside him, finishing the final segment of his debut.