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The story
On the eve of the “10/8 Showdown” — the October 8, 1994 clash between first-place rivals the Yomiuri Giants and the Chunichi Dragons — pitcher Masumi Kuwata reportedly asked manager Shigeo Nagashima, “About which inning should I start warming up?” and got a surprising answer, according to a special program on TV Tokyo. The thread buzzed about the Giants’ deft use of their “three aces” — Kuwata, Kiyoshi Hashimoto, and Hiroshi Ishige — to clinch the win, as well as a string of classic “Nagashima being Nagashima” anecdotes. Many also pointed out that Kuwata tends to be remembered more for his high-school Koshien legend than for his pro career.
Masumi Kuwata reveals manager Shigeo Nagashima’s shocking words on the eve of the “10/8 Showdown”: “When I asked, ‘About which inning should I start warming up?’…”
Former Giants player Masumi Kuwata appeared in a taped segment on the TV Tokyo program “Top Pros Witnessed It! Ranking Legendary Title-Deciding Moments in Baseball and Soccer — The Shocking Untold Story of the 10/8 Showdown” (aired on the 8th at 6:25 PM).
He looked back on the 1994 “10/8 Showdown,” the legendary pennant-deciding game between the first-place-tied Chunichi Dragons and Yomiuri Giants that remains etched in NPB history.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
turns out three guys you trust more than specialist relievers or closers.
It was still the era of starters pitching complete games, and that year the Giants' three aces alone racked up something like 40 wins.
Compared to the Giants going all-in on their three aces, Chunichi's bullpen management looked shaky, and that's what decided the game.
Well, that's because it's Hashimoto and Ishige.
Not that particular year, but in 1990 the Giants pulled off something crazy — they used only 10 pitchers the entire season.
Fuji TV used to be the one good at this kind of thing.
I do think only Nagashima could've made the call to pull starter [Hideaki] Makihara after just 2 innings.
so you can't just name an inning in advance.
I only started watching baseball recently, so I don't know much about the old-school players.
His high school records are even crazier than his pro stats —
he basically won the national high school tournament (Koshien) as a freshman, practically still a middle schooler.
Kuwata is a Koshien legend.
He definitely did well in the pros too, but players who shone spectacularly at Koshien tend to get talked about for their high school days even after turning pro.
Yeah, more of a Koshien legend.
He was short, so he never became a legend in the pros — stayed a star, not a legend.
If he'd had a faster fastball or sharper breaking pitches, he probably could've been a legend there too.
I really can't picture him surviving as a regular office worker.
'Americans really are amazing — they've all been speaking English since childhood!'
I remember cringe-laughing when I heard that one.
A reporter asked him what department he studied in [at university], and he answered, 'The baseball club.'
That one's surely a joke, but it's impressive how eager he was to entertain people lol
even if his sense of what counts as entertaining was a bit off.
Nishiyama, who was his battery mate [catcher] back in junior high, said Kuwata's peak was in ninth grade —
they even won the national title in the Boys League [youth baseball].
I love the story about how he entered the pros all excited, only to be stunned that none of the other pitchers even had the control he'd had back in junior high.
He called [Hideki] Matsui 'Gori' [slang for gorilla].
Background and Key Points of Discussion
The “10/8 Showdown” refers to the October 8, 1994 game between the Giants and Dragons, who entered the day tied for first place — a de facto pennant decider now remembered as one of the greatest games in NPB history. In that game, the Giants fully deployed their “three aces,” Masumi Kuwata, Kiyoshi Hashimoto, and Hiroshi Ishige, and manager Nagashima’s early hook of starter Hideaki Makihara also paid off. What divided opinion on the thread wasn’t so much the anecdote itself about Nagashima’s answer to “which inning should I start warming up?” but rather how to take Nagashima’s trademark “airhead” stories in general. Tales like the English anecdote have long been passed down as part of his beloved, eccentric public image, and Kuwata himself is a player whose high-school Koshien achievements tend to overshadow how he’s remembered for his pro career. Many also pointed out that since you can’t predict how a game will unfold, it’s only natural for a manager not to be able to name a specific inning in advance.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Baseball] Masumi Kuwata reveals manager Shigeo Nagashima’s shocking words on the eve of the 10/8 Showdown: “When I asked, ‘About which inning should I start warming up?’…”“
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