Vol. 10: The Trajectory of the Keio University Athletic Association / Master Manager Hisashi Koshimoto / Baseball Club I

2022/06/08

Image: Hisashi Koshimoto (Collection of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies [formerly owned by Mr. Mitsuhiko Fujita])

The stockings of the Juku Baseball Club feature two white lines. These commemorate two undefeated championships in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, and were the idea of Hisashi Koshimoto (1894–1935), the manager who achieved the first undefeated championship in 1928. During his 10-year, 16-season tenure, Koshimoto built a golden age with seven championships, earning a reputation as a master manager. However, because he died suddenly at the age of 40 shortly after returning to the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun after his retirement, he is now a figure known only to those in the know. Yet in his own era, he boasted outstanding name recognition, being featured in Chuo Koron's "One Hundred Figures of Modern Japan" and Bungeishunju. According to Goichi Kobayashi, manager of the Imperial University Baseball Club, his fame was such that "he was sometimes treated on the same level as cabinet ministers and doctors." What kind of person was this unparalleled manager who shaped the history of the Juku Baseball Club?

Koshimoto was a Japanese-American raised in Hawaii, and his connection with the Juku began in 1908 during the Baseball Club's first Hawaii tour. Koshimoto's parents visited Yoshiji Washizawa, a former Baseball Club manager and tour leader, to ask him to look after their son, Hisashi, who had moved to Japan to attend a middle school in Sendai. After the Baseball Club returned to Japan, Hisashi visited Washizawa and enrolled in the Keio Futsubu School. Thus, Washizawa became a surrogate parent. While Koshimoto spent his playing days as a second baseman, he showed glimpses of his future as a master manager during his college years. In 1916, the Keio Futsubu School won the 2nd National Middle School Championship Baseball Tournament (the predecessor to the Summer Koshien), and it was Koshimoto, then a college player, who led the team as manager. Captain Noboru Yamaguchi cited the fact that the school had multiple pitchers as a factor in the victory, recalling, "One must not forget Manager Koshimoto's skillful leadership in utilizing them effectively."

After graduating from the college in 1919, Koshimoto moved to Beijing to work for the North China Standard, an English-language newspaper founded by Washizawa, before moving to the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun. While active as a journalist, he also served as captain of the Osaka Mainichi baseball team. It was during this period that the Waseda-Keio rivalry was revived. In the fall of 1925, the Juku suffered a crushing defeat in the first Waseda-Keio game in 19 years, and Koshimoto was chosen as the new manager. Upon assuming the managership, Koshimoto immediately won the championship in the spring league of 1926 and went on to accumulate a mountain of victories as mentioned above.

Words like "bold," "strong-willed," and "unyielding" frequently appear in assessments of Koshimoto. Reticent and rarely smiling, his somewhat stout, large frame gave an intimidating impression to those who saw him. He asserted what needed to be asserted even to umpires and critics. He was described as a "big boss type who is relied upon by allies but hateful to have as an enemy." Regarding his attitude toward players, the aforementioned Bungeishunju states, "His approach was not to force them into a single mold, but rather a philosophy of educating geniuses; toward their private lives, he was easygoing (?) and practiced liberalism." The poet and lyricist Hachiro Sato, an alumnus of the old-system Waseda Middle School known for his love of baseball, also praised him in a critique titled "The Formidable Koshimoto" in the same magazine, calling him a "master manager who doesn't force players into a mold" and "the nation's best bartender who creates a Keio cocktail by letting absinthe taste like absinthe and gin taste like gin." He also remarked, "If baseball becomes too scientific, the spectators won't be happy and it won't be interesting. On the other hand, it's not interesting if it becomes too sentimental. Koshimoto mixes both together well." In this regard, Koshimoto himself states in his book "My Baseball" that it is best to skillfully fuse the theorist and the practitioner. Sato further commented, "The players are relaxed. The fact that Keio has many players who feel like they are at one with the ball is undoubtedly because Koshimoto's mindset has permeated them before they knew it."

On the other hand, the players called the strict but deeply affectionate Koshimoto "Otott-san" (Papa) and adored him. During the Koshimoto era, the Baseball Club was based at the Nitta Ground, and the atmosphere of the training camp was said to be "more democratic and family-like compared to other schools, with a very harmonious camp life regardless of the distinction between upperclassmen and underclassmen" (1934 Captain Norikazu Mizutani). This shows the influence of the liberalist Koshimoto.

When it was pointed out in a magazine interview that Keio scored fewer runs compared to Waseda, Koshimoto replied, "Isn't it that our interpretation of baseball is different? (Omitted) Traditionally, the idea of 'Juku Baseball' has been planted in the subconscious of the players." While the details of "Juku Baseball" cannot be determined immediately, it is noteworthy that he was conscious of a view of baseball different from that of Waseda, which dominated the mainstream of the baseball world. His sudden death, just as he was expected to excel as a journalist after his managerial career and before he could engage in major debates, was a great loss not only for the Juku but for the baseball world and the entire Japanese sporting world.