:quality(50)/cloudfront-ap-northeast-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sankei/WRLTHTTXXFKJLK42DSAWWKOO2M.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,630&ssl=1 "“Rainy Blue” sung by Yakult’s Norichika Aoki! There was a lot of excitement during batting practice before his retirement game.")
(Central League, Yakult Hiroshima, 23rd round, 2nd, Jingu) Yakult outfielder Norichika Aoki (42), the oldest player in baseball, will play his retirement game and conclude his 21-year professional baseball career.
During pre-game practice, when Aoki entered the batting cage, he suddenly said, “Today, I would like you to listen to this at Jingu Stadium, so I have prepared something for you.Please listen to this.” An announcement was made.
As soon as Aoki raised his voice, “Let’s go batting!”, the sound of Hideaki Tokunaga’s “Rainy Blue”, which was also played at the Urasoe camp in Okinawa in 2022, was sung by Aoki. It was played as BGM during batting practice, and the players’ laughter could be heard.
When the song ended, Aoki, who was batting, exclaimed, “Thank you! Thank you!” to express his gratitude.
Source: Japanese