Chapter 16 mound

In the past, I thought baseball players stood on mounds.Sometimes I'll come across a commentary on a baseball game and hear things like "Standing on the mound" or "The ball went off the mound in a big parabola."So, I thought that just like the place where a boxer fights is called a "ring", the station in a baseball game is called a "mound".In the above-mentioned interview with Mr. Luzaki, after the interview with Mr. Luzaki, the following happened when the next person was interviewed.The show's producers and directors knew I didn't know baseball, so they said:

"Because you don't understand baseball, everyone expects you to ask interesting questions, so you can ask any questions you like. However, the names of baseball players must be introduced correctly." In order not to make mistakes, when introducing the next person, I wrote down his title and title on a small note. While looking at the note, I said to the camera: "Let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Daisuke Yamashita, the infielder of the Ocean baseball team." Mr. Yamashita, who looks kind and friendly, said: "Hello everyone." I thought, let's ask some insurance questions first, so I said:

"Mr. Yamashita joined the professional Taiyang baseball team from Keio University. How did you feel when you first stood on the professional team's mound?" I thought the other party would be able to answer right away, but I was a little surprised that there was no movement after a while.After a while, Mr. Yamashita whispered in embarrassment: "I'm not standing on a mound." Confused, I thought, are there any baseball players who aren't standing on the mound?This gentleman is indeed a baseball player, am I mistaken?However, what we are doing is a live broadcast. No matter what kind of problems arise, we have to get over the situation, so I asked carefully:

"Excuse me, but where are you standing?" Mr. Yamashita looked even more troubled than before, and said: "I'm standing on the batting box." "So, who's standing on the mound?" "The pitcher stands on the mound." To the photographers, our conversation was hilarious, and they laughed so hard that the camera shook.But I didn't know what happened, so I couldn't laugh. After introducing Mr. Yamashita, the next guest happened to be pitcher Mr. Hiroshi Matsuoka.I looked at the prompt on the paper and exclaimed: "This is Mr. Pitcher Matsuoka. Ah! That's you? You're standing on the mound!"

Mr. Matsuoka also said loudly: "Yes. It's me, it's me!" I was so happy that I couldn't help shaking hands with Mr. Matsuoka and said: "Great! Great!" Matsuoka-san also shook my hand and said, "That's great, that's great."Everyone around is also saying "great, great".What the hell is so good?When I think about it now, I really want to break out in a cold sweat, but that was the atmosphere at the scene.I heard later that after the show, Mr. Yamashita and Mr. Matsuoka drank together that night, and both got very drunk.Mr. Luzaki must be the same.I'm really sorry for these gentlemen.