Major – Goro’s dream is to become a professional baseball player like his father. As he strives through the path towards the pro league, from infancy to adulthood, his passion for the game galvanizes all of those around him.
Shigeharu Honda is a Major Leauge batter on the rise. His son Goro is a Little League pitcher who one day hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps. Momoko Hoshino is Goro’s schoolteacher, and the first woman Shigeharu has been interested in since the death of Goro’s mother. The destines of these three individuals will become intertwined as father and son experience both heartbreak and triumph on the baseball diamond. But when an unspeakable tragedy visits the family, it will take everything they have to pick up the pieces and reclaim their dreams.
Kindergarten~First Grade
Goro’s father, Shigeharu Honda, was a pitcher struggling between the major and minor teams of the NPB. Nonetheless, Goro looked up to his father, wishes to be a professional baseball player just like his father. Aside from his father, Goro was very close to two other people—Momoko Hoshino and Toshiya Sato. Momoko was Goro’s kindergarten teacher, and especially watched out for Goro because there are no other kids of Goro’s age at the kindergarten. Toshiya was another kid in the neighborhood, the only one Goro could find of his own age, and whom Goro taught baseball to.
The father and son were struck a cruel blow when Honda’s arm injury prevents him from continuing his baseball career as a pitcher. Goro was especially shaken by the fact that his father wouldn’t be able to continue as a baseball player anymore. To Honda, his son and baseball are all he has left in his life (his wife died 2 years ago). For his son’s sake, Honda took up his best friend’s advice, revived his batting instincts, and successfully transformed into a slugger. Amidst all this turmoil, Momoko was drawn deeper and deeper into the family’s life. Eventually, Honda proposed to Momoko.
Right when Honda established himself in the major team Yokohama Marine Stars, the Tokyo Shiants signed a contract with the American MLB player, Joe Gibson, famous for his huge physical build and fast balls. When the Marine Stars with Honda and the Shiants with Gibson finally met on the field, Gibson struck out every single Marine Stars batter, except for Honda. Honda managed to touch the ball on his first at-bat, and at his second at-bat hit a home run off Gibson’s 100-mile (160 km) best pitch. After Honda’s home run, the Marine Stars coach launched a series of bunt attacks, scoring additional runs, and psychologically shaking up Gibson who considers the tactic unsportsmanlike. When it was Honda’s third at-bat, Gibson has completely lost mental focus, and accidentally pitched a 99-mile (159 km) dead ball hitting Honda’s head. The umpire immediately called Gibson off the mound, though Honda quickly got back onto his feet and continued with the game. Honda’s excellent play made him the headline of major newspapers. The next morning Honda died due to internal bleeding in his skull, leaving his heartbroken son and fiancé behind.
Little League
Three years has passed since Momoko Hoshino, unmarried, adopted Goro as her own son upon Honda’s death. Goro began school as a fourth grader, and was finally old enough to join the local little league team, the Mifune Dolphins. However, the local kids were mostly interested in soccer, and Goro had to get new friends he made at school to join in order to have enough members to keep the team from being abolished.
Goro showed himself to be an extremely gifted baseball player. So much in fact that the Dolphins coach hated to see Goro waste away his potential with the other less-talented Dolphins players. The coach recommended Goro to join the nearby Yokohama Little team instead, which has better players, coach, and resources. When Goro visited, he discovered that not only was his old buddy Toshiya at Yokohama Little, but his own father, Shigeharu Honda, had been a member of the Yokohama Little with the current coach. Goro was torn, because if he were to follow his father’s footsteps, that meant he would be abandoning the friends he asked to join the Mifune Dolphins. Goro had a big fight with Momoko over the issue, and Momoko sought advice from Hideki Shigeno, Honda’s old buddy and teammate. While meeting with Shigeno, Momoko coughed blood, and was hostipalized. While it turned out it was just a gastric ulcer, it made Goro realize the living people are much more important than the dead.
At that time, Joe Gibson had just returned to the MLB after pitching in Japan for three years. He sent an invitation to Goro to travel to America, all expenses paid, and watch the MLB All-Star game, where Gibson was going to be the starting pitcher for the National League. At the game, he declared to the American League’s player that he would only pitch fast balls. Gibson threw 18 strikes, not a single slugger of the AL’s top rotation could touch Gibson’s pitch despite knowing what’s coming, and Gibson earned standing ovation from the audience. This was Gibson’s own way to show Goro how great a slugger Honda had been, as Honda had hit a home run off Gibson’s best pitch in a duel of only fast balls. After the game, Gibson allowed Goro to throw a hardball at him, where ever Goro wants to, if it would make Goro feel any better. Goro responded that he would postpone this “punishment” until the day he could pitch as well as Gibson, which was Goro’s own way of acknowledging Gibson’s greatness.
Back in Japan, with renewed determination, Goro led the Mifune Dolphins through various trials and practice matches, intending to defeat Yokohama Little, the best team in the region. At the end of the season, Goro’s adoptive mother marries Shigeno Hideki and the new family moves to Fukuoka when Shigeno is traded from the Marine Stars.
Junior High
Goro moves back to Mifune when his stepfather is traded back to the Blue Oceans and finds his little league friends grown up and attending Mifune East Junior High School. He surprises his friends when he tells them that he has been playing soccer and doesn’t plan on playing for the junior high baseball team, revealing that he had destroyed his shoulder out in Fukuoka. Goro changes his mind after confronting a bully who is threatening one of his friends. Together, Goro and his friend Komori Daisuke rebuild the junior high baseball team. The team becomes strong enough to enter the regional junior high tournament and, once again he finds himself playing against his friend and rival Sato Toshiya, who plays on the Tomonoura Junior High School team. Mifune eventually beats Tomonoura in a tight game and Goro and Toshiya vow to play on the same high school team together.
Kaido High School selection
After the tournament, Goro, his friend Komori, and Toshiya decide to try out for the baseball team of the prestigious private high school, Kaido. Komori is disqualified in the Kaido baseball club test and is forced to go to Mifune High. Goro and Toshiya get through the first round of the test. After the test there is an academic examnation which Goro also “succeeds in” as it is a test of determination. Immediately after they graduate middle school they are sent to Dream island where they have 6 months of ongoing hard training. He then proceeds to the Atsugi campus where he defeats the Varsity team and quits despite the anger of the 2nd in charge.
Kaido High School
Goro and Toshiya make the junior varsity team and spend a year and half together as teammates. However, in their second year, Goro reveals that his true desire is to challenge the excellent players of Kaido instead of play on the same team as them. His friend Toshiya is hurt by Goro’s decision, but respects him for it. The season ends with Goro leading the junior varsity team to victory over a scrimmage against the varsity team, and with Goro quitting Kaido High School to play for another team.
Seishū High School
Goro has returned home after quitting Kaido. Upon his arrival, his mother voices her displeasure with the fact that he did not consult with her about his leaving. She insisted Goro to be accountable for his actions and to accept the responsibility of paying the application fees on which ever schools he chooses to enroll in. Goro’s enrollment had been refused by several schools due to the assistant coach of Kaido (Egashira) threatening to sue the other schools. Goro was able to finally avoid Egashira’s interference by enrolling in Seishū High. Having been an all girls school until just two years ago, Seishū didn’t have a baseball team. Goro enrolls, determined to create a baseball team from scratch. Eventually, Seishū reaches the quarterfinals against Kaido. Despite extending the game into extra innings and striking out both Sato and Mayumura, Goro eventually falls after exhaustion. He loses to Kaido in the end.
Minor league baseball
Despite losing the match against Kaido, Seishū Highschool was the only team that actually put up a fight against the Koshien champion. As a result, Goro attracted the eyes of many scouts, including the Yokohama Blue Ocean and the Tokyo Warriors. However, upon learning that Joe Gibson is still pitching in MLB, and dedicated his 300-win achievement to his “young friend in Japan”, Goro lost any interest in Japanese professional baseball, and went to America to try out for the Major League. Meanwhile, Sato is recruited by the Tokyo Warriors, while Mayumura is recruited by the Yokohama Blue Ocean.
Goro’s 95 mph (153 km/h) fastball (99 mph in anime), while ineffective against Major League sluggers, allowed Goro to start in Triple A instead of the rookie league. At first he joined the Cougars, but was soon released after a fight with Joe Gibson Jr. from the Oklahoma Falcons. Eventually, Goro joined the Memphis Bats, an aggressive but defensively weak baseball team. It was during this time that Goro begin seriously training to fully control his fastball.
In Triple A Goro found a new rival—Joe Gibson Jr, son of Joe Gibson and an outstanding slugger. Junior blamed the death of Goro’s birth father as the cause of the tragedy that befell on his own family, and he challenged Goro to a bet: If Junior hit a home run off Goro, Goro is to return to Japan and never set foot on American soil again; On the other hand, if Goro can strike out Junior, then Junior will visit Goro’s father’s grave and apologize for his insults. Goro managed to strike out Junior with his fast ball, now at 100 mile/h (102 mph in anime), and lead his team to victory in the AAA Championship. (In the anime he did this twice)
Baseball World Cup
After the baseball season was over, Goro returned to Japan. Shimizu finally told Goro her feelings for him, and they became a couple. On the other hand, Goro learned from Toshi that there is going to be a Baseball World Cup the following year hosted in America, and for the first time, Major League players will be allowed to compete in it. Due to Goro’s impressive performances in the practice match between Rookies and the All-Star Japan team, he was selected as a replacement pitcher starting the second round of preliminaries. Goro pitched as the closer against Venezuela and South Korea, earning a win and a save respectively. Then Mayumura earned a win, pitching as closer against the Dominican Republic, advancing Japan to the semi-finals.
Shimizu came to America to cheer Goro on, and encountered Toshiya’s younger sister, Miho Sato. The day before the semi-finals match against Cuba, Toshiya accidentally ran into his sister, and the traumatic memories of being abandoned by his parents 7 years ago were reawakened. Toshiya’s body went into involuntary shock, and was temporarily hospitalized. Miho felt guilty about the incident, but Toshiya called her on the phone, and asked her to come watch the next game. By knowing his sister is somewhere in the audience, Toshiya felt he would be able to do his best. Toshiya made several excellent plays against Cuba’s aggressive offensive in the semi-finals, and Goro got the win as the closer.
After the Cuba game, Gibson Jr. revealed to the Team USA’s manager as well as Goro that his father, Joe Gibson, had angina pectoris. Junior hoped that the manager and Goro might be able to dissuade Gibson from getting on the mound and potentially kill himself. However, with players mostly in a “exhibition game” mentality, Gibson got on the mound in the 8th inning in the USA vs Venezuela semi-finals, risking his heart to awaken the baseball spirit of his teammates.
The following day, Gibson collapsed during practice session, and Goro rushed to the hospital to see Gibson. Gibson revealed to Goro that in a chance meeting with Momoko 10 years ago, he asked her why she had not accepted any monetary compensation from him. Momoko smiled gently, and asked Gibson to remain a top-class baseball player until Goro grows up, so that Goro could be proud of having a father who hit a home run from such a great pitcher, and that would be enough for her and for Goro. Momoko’s kind words had been the pillar that supported and drove Gibson all these years, but he felt if he could not complete this Baseball World Cup, and play against Goro on the mound, he would have failed Goro and Momoko. Goro comforted Gibson, telling him that he had done enough, and to just watch Goro and Junior’s showdown on TV.
The Japan vs USA finals game began with Japan taking a five run lead, prompting Gibson to leave the hospital and went to the stadium to cheer his teammates on by their side. Japan had to send out Goro in the 8th inning to protect their remaining 1 run lead, but Junior scored a home run off Goro’s 100-mile (160 km) fast ball. The game went into extra innings, and Gibson walked onto the mound again, determined to lead USA to victory. But Goro was very determined to strike out Gibson Jr.. And Goro pitched his fastest pitch in his life at 103 mph (166 km/h). But USA won in the very last inning.
Major League Baseball
As the new MLB season began, Goro performed extremely well for the Hornets in the exhibition matches. On his first official MLB match, he pitched a no-hit no-run game up until the 8th inning, when he suddenly lost control. On his second game, his pitches started to go wild by the 5th inning. Suspecting yips, his catcher Keen stopped Goro from voluntarily stepping off the mound, gambling on the chance that Goro can overcome his fears with a new success. Unfortunately, Goro ended up throwing at the batter in the head, and was ejected by the umpire. In his third game Goro was unable to retire a single batter. He was removed from the game in the first inning and sent back to AAA Bats until his situation improves.
Believing that Goro’s defeat at the hands of Gibson Jr. was the cause of his yips, the Hornets sent Goro to Billy Oliver, a sports psychologist, for treatment. Soon after Goro recovers from his yips. Later on, Gibson retires after getting defeated by Goro’s home run and the Hornet’s. (Vol 69)
