Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 471 - 86: The Grand Recruitment Drama (Part 3)

The 56-year-old Nomura Katsuhiko is the stepson of the great baseball veteran Nomura Katsuya and a very famous baseball agent in Japan:

Among active players, well-known figures such as Yu Darvish, Maeda Kenta, Fujikawa Kyuji, and Iwakuma Hisashi are under his management. His most renowned achievement, naturally, was personally orchestrating the "Nomo Hideo’s Journey to America" event in 1995, which had a revolutionary impact on baseball, not just at the time, but across all of Asia.

"Nike is offering a signing bonus of $500,000 per year for 5 years—at the current exchange rate, that’s about 50 million yen a year."

"The signing bonus might be a bit low, but Nike can offer something that domestic brands cannot—global exposure. Plus, I’ve secured a spot for you in their billboard advertisement next year, which will definitely be beneficial for your future journey to America, Guanglai."

"Moreover, Nike has also indicated that if you choose to go to America in the future and perform well, you can even become the main spokesperson for the Jordan product line..."

Looking at the offer Nomura Katsuhiko passed to him, Lin Guanglai glanced at it briefly and lost interest: it was clear that in Nike’s eyes, the current Lin Guanglai was merely a young player with some potential, not worth their high expenditure for a contract.

What’s the concept of a $500,000 sponsorship fee? Let’s put it this way, among the athletes signed with Nike, $500,000 is a figure that, if dropped, could hit a large number of people.

Compared to the amount of money, Lin Guanglai is more concerned about the sincerity of the brand: Nike’s contract length is too long, trying to lock in Lin Guanglai’s future for five years with just $500,000, which in his eyes, clearly lacks sincerity.

"Nomura-san, do you believe in me? Do you believe I will become a top baseball player in the future?" Lin Guanglai did not immediately dismiss Nike’s offer but asked his agent this question.

"Of course!" Nomura Katsuhiko nodded quickly, "Or rather, it’s because I value your ability that I chose to be your agent."

"In that case," Lin Guanglai smiled at him, "let’s not sign with Nike, their offer just lacks sincerity."

"As for exposure... I’ll not only become the best player in all of Japan in the future, but also the best in the world, possibly even the greatest in the history of baseball—that being the case, the so-called exposure won’t be a problem, right?"

Ever since starting as Eishaku Toyoda’s agent in 1984, Nomura Katsuhiko has been in this line of work for nearly 40 years now and has seen quite a few talented players, including super talents like Nomo Hideo and Yu Darvish.

Even so, he was astonished by what Lin Guanglai said—it’s hard to imagine that these words came from an 18-year-old who just entered the professional scene a year ago.

The powerful confidence emanating from Lin Guanglai was like the sun, making Nomura Katsuhiko feel as if, even if he got a little closer, he would be burned by the sun’s heat.

"Knock, knock."

Just as he was about to say something, there was a knock on the door. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Guided by the receptionist, Itabashi Kenji, holding the already prepared Mizuno offer, walked into the room confidently.

"Good morning, Lin, and Nomura, the agent. Let me introduce myself, I am Itabashi Kenji, the head of global marketing at Mizuno—regarding my intention, I think both of us are clear, so there’s no need to elaborate."

Having said that, Itabashi Kenji handed the document in his hand to Lin Guanglai and then said, "This is our offer from Mizuno, please have a look."

Nomura Katsuhiko took the offer sheet, and the next second, his eyes widened in shock.