is a 2008 Japanese television series. It is based on the biography of Michihiro Takabatake, a professional

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 tea ...

player and coach who became a high-school teacher at the age of 59.

Cast

Katsumi Takahashi is a common Japanese given name used by either sex. Possible writings Katsumi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: ;as a given name *克己, "overcome, self/oneself" *克巳, "overcome, sixth earthly branch" *克美, "ov ...

as Michihiro Takabayashi *

Ran Itō is a Japanese actress and previous member of the 1970s idol group Candies. As the leading member of Candies, Itō was in charge of the solo of most of the trio's hit songs. Her real name is Ran Mizutani ( ''Mizutani Ran'') née Itō ( ''Itō R ...

as Michiko Takabayashi * Shohei Kawaguchi as Kōhei Takabayashi *

Katsuya Kobayashi is a Japanese actor from Shimonoseki. Even though he and fellow Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love-exclusive Rider actor Mitsuki Koga/Kamen Rider Ketaros were only Kamen Riders within the movie, they did make a guest appearance during the fin ...

as Kazuma Aragaki * Kōtarō Satomi as Seiichirō Tendō *

Masato Hagiwara is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and professional mahjong player. Biography When Hagiwara was three years old, his parents divorced and he was taken in by his father. However, his father died when he was in the fourth grade, and was th ...

as Ikkyū Abe *

Kazue Fukiishi is a Japanese actress and former gravure idol. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 28th Yokohama Film Festival for ''What the Snow Brings'', ''Tegami'', and ''Memories of Tomorrow''. Career Fukiishi starred in Takuji Suzuki's '' ...

as Aya Tokitō * Shinya Tsukamoto as Saburō Ōta

Awards

* Hoso Bunka Foundation Award (Episodes 1 and 4)

References

2008 Japanese television series debuts 2008 Japanese television series endings Japanese drama television series Television series based on actual events {{Japan-tv-prog-stub