Kiyoshi Nakahata, a former professional baseball player for the Yomiuri Giants and manager of the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, will appear on the variety show "Ogiyahagi's Car History NO CAR, NO LIFE!" (BS Nippon TV), which will air from 9:00 p.m. on July 5th.
Nakahata was a key player for the Giants in the 1980s after the V9. His current car is a Toyota Vellfire, and when Hiroaki Ogi saw the car, he said, "It's been tampered with..." Looking closely, there are traces of repairs made with tape, and Nakahata explains the reason.
Born and raised in a rural town in Fukushima Prefecture with a population of less than 20,000, Nakahata's favorite car at the time was a Toyopet Crown. "It was the only one we had. I was pretty proud of it," he says, but the car was also used as a company car, and Ogiyahagi is suspicious of an episode involving a "business tool" that he had in the back seat.
Nakahata's first car was a Toyota Chaser. He bought it from a friend who sold used cars, but he recalled, "I borrowed money from my sister to buy it." Yahagi Ken said, "I joined the Giants and borrowed money to buy a car..." and revealed that before he had a car, a senior player would drive him to and from school.
Nakahata also talks about how when he was a player, he was strongly pushed by manager Shigeo Nagashima to step up to bat. He also talks about the hellish Ito training camp, and how after Nagashima collapsed, he became the manager of the Japanese national team at the Athens Olympics, where he was given his first managerial role. He says that he "lost about 6 kilos because of the pressure."
