1921 (Taisho 10) Thursday, September 8 The Chukyo Commercial High School baseball team (now Chukyo High School attached to Chukyo University) manager Taki Masao was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture. He also participated in Koshien five times as a player at the Chukyo Commercial Baseball Club, where he later became the manager. In the summer of 1937 (Showa 12) and the spring of 1938 (Showa 13), he won 2 championships as a catcher. The pitcher of Chukyo Commerce, which combined the battery, was Jiro Noguchi who was said to be an iron-arm pitcher. Especially in the 1937 summer tournament, he pitched to Kumamoto Kogyo, which had Tetsuji Kawakami in the final, and it became a big topic at that time.
After graduating from Chukyo Shogyo, he entered Nagoya Higher Commercial School (currently the Faculty of Economics, Nagoya University), but was drafted into the army of Malaysia in World War II. At the end of the war, he was taken prisoner there and demobilized in 1947 (Showa 22). He later suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis and lost six ribs. He became a high school baseball coach in 1949 (Showa 24), a manager of his alma mater’s baseball club in 1953 (Showa 28), and a manager the following year. In the same year, he won the Summer Koshien Tournament in 1954 (Showa 29) and the Spring Koshien Tournament in 1956 (Showa 31).
Masao Taki’s baseball coaching was a defensive baseball with a focus on batteries, in which he kept the opponents from scoring as much as possible and dominated the competition with low scores. His motto was mobility baseball, in which players use their feet to score even if they have few hits. As a coach, he trained many players including “Mr. Orions” Kazuhiro Yamauchi.
2012 (Heisei 24) Died from heart failure. He was 90 years old. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018 (Heisei 30).
By the way, Chukyo Commercial (now Chukyo High School attached to Chukyo University) has been one of Japan’s leading baseball schools since the prewar period. He has won 11 championships in spring and summer, the most in Japan. His 136 wins in the spring and summer season are also the best in Japan. He also became the only player in history to win three consecutive summers. The most recent winner was the 91 Summer Koshien in 2009 (Heisei 21). Nippon Bunri High School of Niigata, played against Chukyo University Chukyo in the final and it was a memorable match. In the top of the 9th inning, Nippon Bunri was leading by 6 points, 10 to 4, with 2 outs and no runners. He became the last batter. Normally, the game would end with 6 points difference, 2 outs in the final inning, and no runners, but from now on, 7 batters attacked in a row, 10 to 9, closing the gap to 1 point. Baseball starts with two outs, but it really is. However, Nippon Bunri lost and Chukyo University Chukyo won. It was a very memorable match.
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