Matsuzaka Generation
The is a term used to collectively describe the (usually Japanese) baseball players that belong to current Chunichi Dragons starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka's age group. As per Japanese laws on how children are to be divided into grade levels, this term refers to players born between April 2, 1980, and April 1, 1981. The term was coined by the Japanese media as the age group that came to be known as one of the deepest and most talented in Japanese professional baseball history. Background Precursor In , then- Waseda Jitsugyo High School pitcher Daisuke Araki rose to national stardom for his sensational performance in the 62nd National High School Baseball Championship despite being in only his first year (Japanese equivalent of tenth grade) of high school. Araki went on to pitch in five consecutive national tournaments (spring and summer), including the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament. His popularity, particularly among women, became such a cultural pheno ...
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Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called " runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a ba