"Actually, I paid my salary." The natural enemy that rang "Three-strikeout GOAT" with Japan, memories of 50 years ago when the "current taxi driver" came to mind

*This content was translated by AI.

Yutaka Enatsu (78), a legendary Japanese pitcher. He won the Japanese Series six times, regardless of starting and bullpen, but he also had natural enemies. Surprisingly, the main character is an unknown player who is not a superstar but is hard to find a person who remembers.

Japan's Kyoto Shimbun reported on the 1st, "The batter who was a natural enemy of the legendary left-hander Enatsu, who is now a taxi driver... He published an article titled, "The true sword match of that day is the treasure of my heart."

Enatsu is one of the best pitchers in Japanese baseball history. He played 3,196 innings in 829 games, writing 206 wins, 158 losses, 192 saves, and 2.49 ERA. Only 13 strikeouts were not enough until the 3,000th strikeout.

He also acquired the two Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards given to Japan's best pitcher by giving the team six times in the Japanese series. After retirement, he is still active as a baseball commentator.

Even he had a tricky hitter. The Kyoto Shimbun reported, "The most demanding hitters he had were not Wang Chi (Oh Sadaharu) or Shigeo Nagashima. The main character had only 152 hits in his 11 years as a professional, but he hit home runs and timely hits several times against Enatsu in his heyday. Currently working as a private taxi driver in his hometown of Kyoto, he still vividly remembers the match he had with the "Legendary Left-hander" more than 50 years ago, he said.

He's Dai Kenzo Hayashi (82) of Wales (now DeNA, Yokohama). It is a very unfamiliar name even to Japanese baseball fans. During his 11-year professional career, he only left a poor performance with a career batting average of 0.209 152 hits and 23 home runs. It is a record that can be achieved in a single season by a batter with long hitting power.

Therefore, it is hard to believe that Enats is a natural enemy. He has scored as many as three of his 23 home runs against Enats. He caught Hanshin, who was competing for the championship, with a come-from-behind two-run home run that determined the game, and gave Enatsu a loss with the only timely hit in the game that was played by the ace's showdown.

After joining the professional team with a down payment of 5 million yen in high school, he got a proper opportunity only in 1966, his fourth year, stealing a three-run home run in the first game and another home run from 17-win pitcher Kenta Ogawa in the second game. In the third game, he also hit a walk-off gun against the opponent's finish in the bottom of the ninth inning.

He settled in the first team with a huge impact, and even though his batting average was in the early 20s, he grew his presence with a single stroke that made opposing aces tremble.

The following year, in 1967, Enatsu joined Hanshin as the No. 1 overall pick, and although he mainly threw fastballs, he won 12 games in his debut season, Hayashi showed such a natural enemy that he thought, "It's a good ball to hit." But the following year, Enatsu turned into a completely different pitcher, and Hayashi also recalled, "I've become a really great pitcher since the second year."

Nevertheless, he became small when he met Hayashi. Enatsu rose to the ranks of the top pitchers in 1968 to set a world record for strikeouts, and posted a monstrous world record of 401 strikeouts with 25 wins that year, and Hayashi hit Enatsu's ball at every critical moment.

In particular, Hayashi, who started on September 12 of that year, had a proper shot by Enatsu in the bottom of the eighth inning. The hit made by the powerful swing became a two-run home run that turned the game around, and Hanshin went downhill and ended the season in second place.

In the 1969 opening game, Hayashi hit a timely hit to the right from Enatsu in a fierce battle between the aces. Enatsu became a losing pitcher in a one-run game.

Enatsu is a Japanese baseball legend who made history. What was the secret of Hayashi's ability to target him, who was unknown throughout his career.

Hayashi said, "I don't know. "I hit it without thinking, so I guess I was lucky to hit it," he said with an embarrassing smile, according to the Kyoto Shimbun. Nevertheless, Enatsu mentioned Hayashi several times even after retirement as the most demanding hitter, and said, "In fact, Hayashi's salary is no different from what I gave him."

Hayashi played another year for Nitaku (now Nippon Ham) after being released by Daiyo in 1972, but eventually retired. Later, he returned to his hometown of Kyoto and took over his father's family business and became a taxi driver. He is still working as a taxi driver even after he is over 80.

There are no equipment or photos left at home from his professional days, but he has not let go of his bond with baseball as he is the manager of a baseball team composed of taxi drivers. Hayashi, who looked back on the match against Enatsu, said, "The ball was great, but above all, he was a very good pitcher with 'baseball intelligence,'" adding, "My biggest memory is that Nagashima, Wangjeonggi, and Enatsu were able to play a real game in the same game as the big stars. The memory of hitting a home run from the best pitcher remains a treasure in my heart forever," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.