People :
The captain of the Baseball Team is set to join the Yakult Swallows.
Mr. Shinichi Takeuchi

Mr. Shinichi Takeuchi He was born in Hyogo in 1983 and graduated from Chiben Gakuen Wakayama private high school. Now he is the fourth year of the School of Human Science and belongs to the seminar of Junichi Kasai. His hobby is reading.

The dream of being a professional baseball player has come true, a dream for which he was vaguely wishful as a boy. Mr. Takeuchi, who is scheduled to join the Yakult Swallows, is an earnest sportsman with impressive cool eyes.

When he was in the second year of Chiben Wakayama high school, which is famous for baseball, his batting average was over .500. In those days he almost thought he was too successful. However, he had the very painful experience of failing in the first game of the Wakayama prefecture qualifying tournament when he was in the third year. His last summer in High school thus ended in a frustrating way. Just because of that, the victory in the last game of the Waseda-Keio tournament was a great pleasure. “I'm glad when people have high expectations of me. Basically I'm not the type to think too much and worry. By bedtime I've pretty much forgotten anything that was bothering me.

As the captain, who leads the team with his play, he has become the leading hitter and achieved victory at last. But Takeuchi says, “I might not express my true feelings on the field even if I am really pleased. I show pleasure easily when I'm with the team, but I can get a little stiff in front of a crowd.” At first sight he looks very self-possessed, but in fact he has his shy side. In four years he has matured a great deal thorough baseball. He says briskly, in a manner typical of an athlete, “A lot of people have supported us. Although I used to think only about myself, victories have given me self-confidence and enabled me to think of the people around me.” He also says “Some people think I'm hard to talk to, even though I'm just an ordinary student. I feel like I miss things that way.” He goes fishing with his friends on holidays and feels relaxed. Now he lives by himself, but he says, “I don't cook because using fire is dangerous”. His smile with his eyes half-closed looks very friendly.

Before him, there is an unknown world toward which he is setting out. He shook hands firmly with Mr. Furuta, the manager of the Yakult Swallows, surrounded by the reporters in front of Okuma Auditorium just after he was picked at the draft conference of Japanese professional baseball teams. He said, “I was really nervous then. I'd like to do my best as a professional even if I have anxieties. I want to be a model for boys who are interested in baseball as soon as I can.” Above is his newly autographed picture, taken at the end of the interview. This reporter is sure that he will make many people happy in the future.