Tomoya Satozaki, a former catcher for the professional baseball team Lotte Marines, appeared as a guest on the variety show "Off the Record Sports" (TV Asahi, Friday 2:43am), hosted by model and talent Chihiro Kondo, which aired late at night on November 7th. He spoke about the "financial situation in the professional baseball world" and revealed the unique "bonuses" given to players.
Satozaki said that when Yakult player Munetaka Murakami hit his 56th home run in 2022, the most by a Japanese player, he was given a "300 million yen house" by a sponsor.
In 2021, the miso-katsu chain Yabatan announced that if a home run ball hit a billboard it had put up at the local baseball stadium, Vantelin Dome Nagoya (Higashi Ward, Nagoya), it would give 100 million yen to the player who hit it and a "waraji tonkatsu set meal" to all spectators who were watching the game that day. However, because the billboard is located 180 meters away from the batter's box, in the upper center field, no player has yet been hit by it.
In addition, players who hit the ball into the right and left field poles at Lotte's home stadium, Zozo Marine Stadium (Mihama-ku, Chiba City), will be presented with 1,000 boxes of Lotte's chocolate confectionery, TOPPO.
The show is billed as "a variety show that delves deeply into off-the-record stories about all kinds of sports and is a fun, behind-the-scenes story," and is a renewal of "Watashi-kaigai," which began in April this year with Kondo as MC. The show will be hosted by the station's announcer, Miyamoto Yumara.
