Ex-Hiroshima Carp Catcher Wishes for Peace 81 Years after A-Bomb

Hiroshima, Aug. 7 (Jiji Press)–Minoru Hasebe, a 94-year-old former catcher for what is now the Hiroshima Toyo Carp professional baseball team, expressed his wish for continued peace as the team’s home city marked 81 years since it suffered an atomic bombing. On Aug. 6, 1945, the day of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, western Japan, in the closing days of World War II, Hasebe, then a high school student, was at his home roughly 9 kilometers from the hypocenter of the blast. At 8:15 a.m., a sudden flash of light lit up his room and he heard a loud rumble. Hasebe thought that a bomb had fallen and went to the bank of a nearby river, where he saw a mushroom cloud. “It was purplish pink,” he recounted. “The smoke gradually expanded and went up.” The atomic bomb destroyed the building of his school, so classes were held outdoors using recovered blackboards and desks. Hiroshima was not an easy place to study in, however. He saw a black market open up near Hiroshima Station and young people steal meals from travelers. Hasebe focused on playing baseball at school, not wishing to become such people. After the professional baseball team, then known as the Hiroshima Carp, was founded as a community-owned team without a parent company in 1949, Hasebe earned a spot on the roster after a tryout thanks to his strong arm. He joined the team after the manager said that he wanted to acquire local players to keep annual salaries low, but the team was in dire financial difficulty. The team held an intrasquad game near Hasebe’s home ahead of league matches, to gather funds to purchase uniforms and other equipment. Many local residents, including Hasebe’s father, came to watch the game, and the team received support from the community, including a gift of meat, a rarity at the time. The Carp cobbled together funds to pay travel and management fees by placing a sake cask near the entrance of baseball grounds as a donation box around 1950. Young players, including Hasebe, walked around shopping streets to sell pencils with players’ autographs. The team did not have its own baseball field, so it practiced in the schoolyard of Hasebe’s alma mater when it could not afford to rent a field. During Hasebe’s seven years as catcher, he saw his team grow amid struggles and felt the enthusiasm of Hiroshima residents for reviving the city. “It’s a team that survived thanks to help from citizens,” he said. “I played with a feeling of wanting to give back.” “I saw many dead people at the river,” Hasebe said of his experience the day of the atomic bombing. “The sight remains with me to this day.” “It is thanks to peace that we can play baseball and share joy,” he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]