Yangdai Steel retires from the game: Idol Matsui Katouo appeared to lay flowers and inherit the 21-year professional baseball friendship

Yangdai Steel (right), Matsui Katouyang (left). (Photo by special correspondent Ni Wanjun)

[Reporter Ni Wanjun/Report from Niigata] The 39-year-old Japan-based famous player Yo Daiko had his retirement match today. At the retirement ceremony held for him by his Niigata Swan King, there was an even more meaningful scene. His former idol Matsui Kanatoo appeared in person to lay flowers and send blessings to his 21-year career.

Yang Daigang was a fan of Katou Matsui when he was young. When "Weekly Baseball" produced a special feature on Yang Daigang in 2018, it pointed out that the person he admired was Katou Matsui. The article mentioned that when Yang Dai was still at Fukuoka Daiichi High School, Matsui had gone to the United States to play for the Mets. Yang targeted a player like Matsui who could attack, defend and run, and dreamed of entering the Nippon Professional Baseball League.

The relationship between the two began when Satoshi Nakajima, the current senior director of ORIX, told Matsui, "I heard that Dai Steel is a fan of yours," which led to their first meeting for dinner. In an interview with Japanese media in March 2016, Matsui described Yang Daigang as "no doubt a very cute junior, like a cute younger brother", and also revealed that Yang Daigang would take the initiative to invite him to dinner, which made him very happy.

Although the two belonged to different teams on the court, Matsui said at the time that they were not just seniors, but also "people who recognized each other and could feel excitement from each other." When Matsui, who was born as a guerrilla, later started guarding the outfield, he even asked Yang Daigang, who was already a Gold Glove-level center fielder, for advice on fielding concepts, passing and training methods, and incorporated some of the content into his own training.

Since Yang Daigang was the idol he looked up to when he was young, the friendship between the two has spanned many years. Now Yang Daigang bids farewell to his career of more than 20 years, and Matsui personally sent a retirement bouquet, which also left a particularly touching scene for this friendship between the seniors and juniors that spanned many years.