2019.09.13
On August 31 (Sat.), 2019 in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, Taiyo Oil sponsored the “Taiyo Oil present Botchan Stadium Tour” event hosted by the Ehime Mandarin Pirates.
This year was the third installment of the event, with 47 teams of children and their parents or guardians having applied in advance for a total of 103 participants.
Botchan Stadium accommodates up to 30,000 people, the largest capacity of any stadium in Shikoku, and is the only stadium in Shikoku that meets the standards for holding official Nippon Professional Baseball games. In addition to hosting official Tokyo Yakult Swallows games and the team’s autumn training camp each year, the 2002 and 2012 all-stars games were even held here.
This year’s stadium tour was also the first to feature a hands-on baseball experience on the field. Participants were divided into two groups and went on the field together with baseball team personnel including former players from the Ehime Mandarin Pirates. Participants had the chance to experience measuring baseball speed with a speed gun, striking out, base running, and tee batting.
During the speed gun measuring, the children hurled the baseball as hard as they could toward a current player in the catcher position. For base running, they ran as fast as they could from first to third base and measured the time. All in all, these activities resulted in a fun stadium tour for everyone from children to adults.
As the tour came to an end, a commemorative photo was taken of the participants together with the Mandarin Pirates players and their coach, Mr. Junichi Kawahara.
Taiyo Oil will continue to support similar events in order to help foster children’s interest in sports and development of a sound mind in a healthy body.
Event outline
Date and time
August 31, 2019 (Saturday), 9:00 – 11:00
Venue
Botchan Stadium 625-1 Ichitsubo Nishimachi, Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture
Number of participants
47 pairs of children and their parents or guardians: a total of 103 participants
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Measuring ball speed with the speed gun
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The tee batting experience
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Taking of commemorative photo