Many of you are probably aware of the fact that the Hanshin Tigers have a long history of scandal and notoriety. During the weeks before the upcoming season, we will look at ten of the most interesting ones. We continue here with a pitcher’s season-long grudge ending with a stiff jab to his manager’s face.
← #8 ||| Back to Top Ten ||| #6 →
The year was 1973, and the Tigers boasted a pretty strong lineup. Unfortunately, they had also grown rather weary of their manager, Masayasu Kaneda. Favoritism was his modus operandi, and unfortunately he came down on some players a little too harshly.
Case in point – a couple of pitchers, Yutaka Enatsu and Masatoshi Gondoh, often stayed out late and frequented pachinko parlors. They also played a lot of mahjong on the road. For some reason, Kaneda picked on Gondoh, who, despite not being a born-and-bred Tiger, was a veteran in his 20th season of professional baseball.
By season’s end, Gondoh had had enough. With Enatsu’s cooperation, he arranged a meeting with Kaneda the morning of fan appreciation day. Gondoh requested that coaches leave the office, so he could have a man-to-man encounter with his boss. Screams from the office seconds later had coaches barreling back towards the door, but Enatsu would not let them through. Gondoh rushed out of the office, and coaches pushed their way in to see their skipper all bloodied up.
Incidentally, Gondoh was expected to receive an award for 20 seasons of service in NPB by the league federation, but he forsook the honor for the chance to lay a few haymakers on his bully manager. Instead of serving a league suspension, Gondoh went out swinging. His last act as a professional baseball player was knocking out his manager.