Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 402 - 51: Koshien’s Public Enemy

As the core person involved in this conflict, the state of Lin Guanglai captures everyone's attention:

After the pain subsided a little, he stood up slowly from the ground with the support of Yanagida Yuuki by his side, rubbing the area under his ribs where he was hit by the ball with one hand.

Only after confirming that Lin Guanglai seemed to be okay did Akiyama Koji feel a bit relieved, and the crowded people on the field gradually dispersed, each returning to their own player area.

However, after experiencing such an incident, Akiyama Koji was afraid of any more mishaps happening to Lin Guanglai, so he didn't dare to keep him on the field any longer—once the game returned to normal order, he signaled the chief umpire to replace him with a pinch runner, and let Lin Guanglai rest off the field.

"Laughing, you're still laughing—isn't getting hit by the opponents and suffering enough for you yet?"

After the game on the field resumed, Akiyama Koji finally had time to check on Lin Guanglai; as soon as he turned around, he saw him joking with other teammates, which made Akiyama Koji, as the supervisor, feel very annoyed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

After sternly scolding Lin Guanglai for his actions today, Akiyama Koji felt slightly relieved; Lin Guanglai, knowing that his supervisor's stern demeanor was due to concern about his potential injuries, accepted the criticism meekly.

Baseball is a sport with relatively complex rules, not only encompassing the obvious batting, fielding, and base running rules but also many unwritten rules intricately tied to so-called "etiquette and culture" of the field.

As the sport has developed, some unwritten rules have been lost to history, but some have remained—the most controversial being the main cause of today's bench-clearing conflict between the SoftBank Hawks and Hanshin Tigers.

Though not officially in the rulebook, it's generally accepted that batters shouldn't make exaggerated celebrations after hitting a home run.

Actions such as bat flipping, standing still to watch the ball go over the fence, spitting while running bases, glaring at fielders, or muttering while running the bases count as deliberately provoking the opponents and could result in retaliatory hits in the next at-bat.

In recent years, many batters have expressed opposition to this unwritten rule—they argue why pitchers can celebrate after striking out a batter, yet hitters can't make grand gestures after hitting a home run?

Like the young prodigy Bryce Harper from the Washington Nationals said last season: "If batters can't express themselves after hitting a home run, what's the fun in baseball?"

Nonetheless, until a new consensus is reached within the professional baseball community, such actions will still be considered disrespectful, particularly in Japan where "baseball etiquette" is highly valued—obviously, Messinger's beanball in this at-bat was a warning to Lin Guanglai, trying to keep him in line.

Choosing to throw at the area under Lin Guanglai's ribs showed a certain level of restraint on Messinger's part, as while painful, it generally doesn't cause career-threatening injuries;

If it were those hot-tempered, less courteous old school players, they might aim for the wrist, ankle, or even the head, possibly ending Lin Guanglai's season on the spot, or leaving career-impacting aftereffects.

This is why Akiyama Koji was so angry to see Lin Guanglai get hit by a deliberate pitch, even rushing onto the field to demand an explanation:

The Softbank Team's starting rotation has been struggling; their previous number two ace, Oonari Kenji, is sidelined with back pain, leaving only Shetsu Shou and Lin Guanglai as reliable starters. If they lose one more, SoftBank's season could effectively end in May.

Touching the area under the ribs hit by the pitch, even a gentle touch made Lin Guanglai grimace in pain.

After Lin Guanglai left the field, the other SoftBank teammates didn't waste this scoring opportunity—in the following bats, they took advantage of runners on first and second base and scored another run before the end of the inning, widening the lead to three runs.

It seemed for Lin Guanglai, it was another fulfilling day: alongside the win and home run, the boos from visiting fans, the intentional hit by pitch, and the season's first bench-clearing brawl, he experienced the whole package he joked about wanting before the game started.

Setting aside the direct conflict with Hanshin Tigers fans, Lin Guanglai was still quite moved by these Tigers fans in the stands, at least they truly love this team and stayed by their side with cheers and chants through thick and thin—even when SoftBank sealed the game at the bottom of the ninth with a 4-2 victory, the Koshien stands didn't quiet down.

Perhaps it is because of these passionate fans that the Hanshin Tigers can rival the Yomiuri Giants in popularity; after all, if we only talk about team history performance, the Hanshin Tigers, having been established for nearly 80 years but only winning Japan's Number One once, pale even in comparison to the Rakuten Golden Eagles, who only formed in 2006.

After the game, Lin Guanglai walked to the center of the field and received a baseball covered with Koshien's dirt from a staff member—after delivering 7 strikeouts in 5 innings, he had achieved his first career milestone, becoming the youngest in Nippon Professional Baseball history to reach 50 career strikeouts.

After collecting the commemorative ball, Akiyama Koji didn't even allow Lin Guanglai to attend the post-game hero interview but hurried him into the player tunnel, letting the team's staff take him to a nearby hospital for a thorough check-up.

On the way to the hospital, while glancing at the frequently updated professional baseball news on his phone, the team's staff member remarked to Lin Guanglai:

"Lin, after the battle with the Hanshin Tigers, you've made a real name for yourself in professional baseball—a lot of Hanshin fans have given you a nickname online!"

"What?"

"They're all calling you—the Enemy of Koshien!"