On November 5th, a legendary baseball player retired. His name is Hiroki Kuroda.
As I posted an article the other day, Hiroshima Toyo Carp won the Central League title this year. The Amazing victory would not have happened without him. A lot of people believe so and this is why he is said to be a legendary player. There are SO MANY stories that make people say he is a legendary player, but I share some of them here today.
First, he was not so famous before he came to Carp. When he was playing baseball in a university, a person in charge of recruit of Carp kept going to see him even though the person was not allowed to talk to Kuroda directly as a rule back then. The person just kept close eye on Kuroda and Kuroda became aware of the person gradually. Kuroda began to be famous at the later stage of his career in his university and naturally, some of the recruit persons began to pay special attention to Kuroda. And then the time of executing a contract came and Kuroda could choose which team he wanted to play, and of course he chose Carp. He was very thankful for the recruit person from Carp because the person found Kuroda's talent earlier than anybody else. Other team offered higher salary but he didn't care about money.
Carp is known as a team which trains players so hard and Kuroda was not a exception in term of that. He went through very hard training and he became the best pitcher in Carp. Carp at that time was so far away from winning the league title but he played his hardest and Carp fans always cheered for him passionately. But he was a player so of course, he wanted to experience more "winning." In 2006, he had options of leaving Carp and playing in other teams including teams in the U.S. But fans wanted to Kuroda to stay because he was the absolute ace in Carp. In the last game Kuroda played in Hiroshima for the 2006 season, so many fans held signs of "15," which was Kuroda's uniform number, in order to show their hope to Kuroda. Kuroda was very touched by that event and he decided to stay in Carp for another year. He left a comment explaining reasons why he decided so, that is "I can be in this position all thanks to Carp. I could not imagine playing against Carp wearing other team's uniform."
In 2007, the time came again for Kuroda to choose his future team. This time he decided to leave Carp for the major league in the U.S. after playing in Carp in 11 years. He cried when he was asked to give messages to his fans. That showed how much he struggled to make that decision and fans respected his decision. One of the reasons why he chose a team in the U.S. is because if he chose a team in Japan, he had to play against Carp. He played in Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, and he played outstandingly in both of the teams for 6 years in total. On the other hand, Carp never assigned uniform number of 15 to any other players, believing in one hope for Kuroda.
In 2015, Kuroda came back to Carp. It was said that a team offered Kuroda with 2,000,000,000 yen but he chose Carp offered him with 400,000,000 yen. At that time, he was 40 years old. He knew that his career wouldn't last for long anymore, that is why he decided to end his amazing career in Hiroshima, in his favorite team, Carp. It was not money it was his love for Carp and his fans in Hiroshima. His body was not perfect any more but he kept trying his best for this team. The team result in 2015 was not so good but fans were happy to see Kuroda's pitching. And finally 2016 season began. Kuroda's rich experience and young players power were combined perfectly and Carp won the league. I don't know what kind of power was working over us but it happened to be a Kuroda's turn to pitch the game to wrap up the title.
We fans knew even during the season that Kuroda wouldn't play for the next season. And Kuroda announced this season would be the last season for him just before playing in the Japan Series which is the top title in Japan. Other players played very hard to let Kuroda experience winning the top title and fans cheered for him more passionately ever. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, he had to leave pitcher's mound due to injury, and it became his final pitching. Carp played well but after all, lost the title. It was so sad we lost but it was also sad that we cannot see Kuroda pitching any more.
The players paraded on a big street in Hiroshima city and Carp held a fan meeting in the Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium on November 5th.
When Kuroda announced his retirement, Carp also announced that 15 would be a retired number dedicated to him. It was the last time we could see Kuroda wearing the uniform of Carp with the number of 15.
Over 310,000 people gathered and watched the parade. I, my mom and my 2 sisters applied for 4 tickets respectively for the meeting and only I won the tickets. I could not watch the parade but I entered the stadium to attend the meeting. Kuroda made a wonderful speech and fans were screaming his name.
After other players left, Kuroda got down on his knees in front of the mound. There were about 30,000 people in the stadium but it became silent for the moment as if the time stopped for one second. He was wiping his tears with his hand and saying goodbye to the place where he belonged. Fans were also crying and saying "Thank you" to him. It was a very emotional moment. I can never ever forget that moment.
Kuroda loved Carp so much, and Carp and fans also loved Kuroda so much. He was loved by everyone. It is not just because he played baseball so great, it was because of how he made his decisions and how he acted. When Carp won the league title, other players threw him into the air but he was crying, but at this his retirement ceremony, there was a BIG smile on his face when he was threw into the air 15 times. I want to say to him again "otsukaresama" and "arigato."
My passion made me write this looooong post... Thank you for reading!!
To Kuroda-san,
Thank you very much for your loyalty and dedication. What a legend you are!! We love you!!!