Sun Dong-yeol’s old teammate Yamamoto still plays at 50

“I can’t believe he is still playing baseball.”

From a few years ago, former KIA manager Sun Dong-yeol would say about Masahiro Yamamoto whenever the Japanese pitcher was the subject of discussion.

It is small wonder since Yamamoto was a teammate of Sun when he was a star in Japanese pro baseball Chunichi Dragons in the late 1990s. Sun was the closing pitcher, and Yamamoto was the starting pitcher.

Sun retired in 1999 and served as manager of Samsung and KIA teams but Yamamoto has stuck to playing baseball in only one team, the Chunichi Dragons. Already the oldest ever player in Japanese pro baseball, even after turning 50 this year, the age about when Confucius famously said one knows what the heaven intends for us, Yamamoto appears to continue as an active player.

Yamamoto said in a talk show in downtown Nagoya on Saturday that although he could retire this year, he would do his best to be selected in the starting pitcher rotation.

This year, the Chunichi Dragons will hold its first three games consecutively with Hanshin Tigers at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka from March 27 to March 29. The cause behind his being talked about as a strong contender for starting pitcher is that he has been remarkably strong against the Hanshin Tigers. From having made the main roster from 1986, he has won 48 of his total of 219 wins against the Hanshin Tigers. Last year, his only win, at the age of 49 and 53 days, was the record of the oldest winning pitcher in Japanese pro baseball history.

If Yamamoto serves as starting pitcher in the three consecutive games against the Hanshin Tigers and wins, that would surpass the U.S. Major League Baseball record as well. The oldest player to win in the U.S. is 49 years and 180 days, the record being held by Jamie Moyer. In Korea, the distinction is held by Song Jin-woo, former Hanwha coach, at 43 years and 51 days.

Whether Yamamoto will take the mound will be decided by manager Motonobu Tanishige, former catcher who is five years younger than Yamamoto.