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The story
On November 5, Jiji Press announced that a male photography department staffer in his 20s had, this past February, taken home practice balls without permission while covering spring training camps of four pro baseball teams in Okinawa, and sold a total of 54 of them on a flea-market site for ¥50,940. The matter came to light after a tip-off in early October. The staffer reportedly said, “I knew it was wrong.” On the thread, opinions split between those condemning his abuse of the field access granted for reporting purposes, and those who shrugged off the damage as amounting to a mere ¥50,000 or so.
November 5, 2026, 5:32 PM
Jiji Press announced on the 5th that a male staffer in its photography department had sold balls he picked up while covering pro baseball spring training camps on a flea-market app, among other things.
According to Jiji Press, the staffer, in his 20s, gathered up practice balls without permission at the Okinawa spring training grounds of four pro baseball teams, including the Hanshin Tigers, this past February, and listed them on a flea-market site in nine separate batches of six balls each. In total, he sold 54 balls for ¥50,940. The matter reportedly came to light after a tip was received in early October. When questioned, the staffer reportedly said, “I knew it was wrong. I don’t know how I can make up for it.”
Source: asahi.com / Original article here
What people said
https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mnewsplus/1678095727/
What an idiot.
Can't fathom anyone who'd buy those.
Hardballs are expensive, so people probably buy them just to practice with.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/bd73d1451af0da130afc98b15c3b68817f6d2039
What's with this 'we'll deal with it strictly' nonsense.
Hand him over to the police.
How'd he even carry those home lol
and listed it on Mercari(?) with 'oops, forgot to return this~' lol
Baseball ('yakyuu,' again the mocking spelling) is safe — there's already precedent of teammates selling stuff like this.
'Ball-kicking' (a derisive nickname for soccer) doesn't even have anything worth selling, does it.
and then the punishment on top.
Just not worth it.
The soccer world is way worse — write a critical article or one they don't like and you get banned.
That's baseball too 🤭 (same mocking 'yakyuu' spelling)
[Ohtani Coverage] 'We Don't Want to Get Banned…' — Japanese Media Won't Criticize Ohtani, LA Times Points Out
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/b5f1d04bf829eb79b5c3298ba9e0d7944757abfc
It's nothing like golf balls.
Even ordinary people know you become a thief for keeping anything other than a home run ball — no way a press member wouldn't know that. This guy definitely stole on purpose and turned it into pocket change. A genuinely malicious thief.
And a pretty pathetic petty one at that lol
Background and Key Points of This Story
Practice balls are cheaper per unit than the certified balls used in official games, but they’re still consumable equipment managed under the team’s equipment budget, so taking them without permission and reselling them can amount to theft and could also run afoul of the Secondhand Goods Dealer Act. The 2023 case cited in the thread, involving NPB umpires taking home official balls, is a precedent showing that ballpark staff treating official balls as their own property had already been flagged as a problem — this time it turned out to extend to media members too. In the thread, opinions were split between those who dismissed the damage as “a mere ¥50,000” and those who weighed more heavily the fact that he abused the press credentials that had given him field access, with the disagreement centering on whether the size of the sum or the weight of his position was the real core of the issue. Note that Jiji Press has not disclosed the staffer’s name, and as of this writing it remains unclear whether any disciplinary action has been taken.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports Breaking+) thread “[Baseball] Practice Balls Picked Up at Pro Baseball Spring Camp Resold on Flea-Market App — Jiji Press Staffer Made ¥50,000 [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”
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