Chapter 15 referee

This was during my time as a host of a live TV show.Once, I was interviewing baseball umpire Luzaki-san on a program.Mr. Luzaki is famous for his variety of moves when refereeing.I always thought the umpire was supposed to stand behind the batter, and while the batter was hitting the ball, the umpire and the batter ran to first base together, and got to first base before the batter, shouting, "Safe! " So, during the interview, I first asked: "Mr. Luzaki, you must be running very fast, right?" Mr. Luzaki looked surprised and asked: "Why do I have to run fast?"

I thought to myself, "What a humble person," and said: "Because you run with the batter, and you always get to first base before the batter, don't you?" Mr. Luzaki replied: "I'm wearing such a heavy protective suit, I can't run." Turns out, I thought so because of issues with baseball telecasting.When the batter hits the ball, the TV camera follows the direction of the "ball" flying, and then someone catches the ball and throws it to first base.At that time, the referee was already standing at the first base, shouting: "Safe!" I admired it very much, and thought "Run really fast".

If instead of chasing the ball, the TV cameras kept filming the batter running to first base, I'd be able to see if the umpire was running with the batter, and I wouldn't be asking such stupid questions .I didn't know there was an umpire on every base.So, I have a suggestion to the producers of the NHK live broadcast of baseball games: "Can you put a camera right over the ballpark? That way you can shoot it from above, and someone like me who doesn't know baseball can see it clearly. If someone is trying to steal a base, you can also see that he is moving. , In addition, everyone will know whether the referee will run or not."

Serious Producer says: "Let me think about it." However, when I told the suggestion of shooting from directly above to Kume Hiroshi who co-hosted the "Top Ten" program with me, Kume-kun immediately said: "Isn't that like playing a video game?"