MASHIKI, Kumamoto Prefecture--Long before Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami terrorized pitchers in his record-setting season this year, he was unintentionally putting the fear into Mashiki resident Masayuki Hamada.

Hamada, now 77, was working in his fruit and vegetable field near his home in the town’s Hirata district about eight years ago when a white ball landed on the ground with a thud about 1 meter from where he was.

The agricultural field was adjacent to a town-run sports ground where the Kumamoto Higashi Little Senior baseball club used to practice.

Hamada later learned that the ball that nearly hit him was clubbed by a third-year junior high school student named Murakami.

“Until then, I had never seen balls flying over here, even if they were hit by an adult. I thought that the junior high schooler was amazing,” Hamada recalled.

The distance from home plate to a protective net in right field was about 80 meters. The net was at least 5 meters high, but not nearly tall enough to halt the blasts of the future home run king of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Baseballs kept clearing the net and landing on Hamada’s property. He showed a bucket filled with about 40 balls that he had collected from the field.

“I think most of these were probably hit by Murakami,” he said. “They have become my treasures.”

The sports ground is surrounded by agricultural fields, residential areas and mountain forests.

It has now become a “holy site” for baseball fans from around the country, thanks to the feats of the Yakult third baseman.

Hamada and his wife became early Murakami fans and now always watch the Swallows on TV, including the Central League’s team final game of the regular season on Oct. 3.

In that game, Murakami belted his 56th home run in his final at-bat, surpassing Sadaharu Oh’s long-held single-season record for a Japanese-born player.

“We saw how he was slumping after he hit his 55th homer,” Hamada said. “Watching Murakami leaping for joy and running around, we also exploded with joy.”

Just 22 years old, Murakami, nicknamed  “MuraGod,” also claimed the triple crown (tops in home runs, RBIs and batting average).

“He has become a really good player,” Hamada said, smiling broadly.

RAINING BASEBALLS

According to Yukio Yoshimoto, 66, who still serves as manager of the Kumamoto Higashi Little Senior baseball club, Murakami underwent a growth spurt during winter when he was a second-year student.

Hamada’s property then paid the price.

Every time a ball scored a direct hit on the cement board roof of a hut in Hamada’s field, Yoshimoto or a coach would visit later to fix the hole.

It became common for team staff members to apologize to Hamada on weekends. But he would tell them not to worry about it.

He decided to avoid working in the field when the team was taking batting practice.

Murakami’s teammates collected the balls that he hit over the net. But some of the balls were left embedded in the dirt.

When Hamada found these balls while working in the field, he put them in a bucket and returned them to the team when it was full.

Hamada didn’t see any balls land on his field after Murakami moved on to senior high school. But he was left with a bucketful of “souvenirs” that he didn’t have a chance to return.

DISASTER STRIKES

A year later, twin earthquakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture in April 2016, killing five residents in the Hirata district.

About 90 percent of all 240 households in the district near the epicenter along the Futagawa fault zone were damaged, including Hamada’s home.

The disaster created large cracks in the sports ground, and the club had to practice elsewhere.

After he restored his home, Hamada started working with other residents in the Hirata district to preserve quake-damaged structures for future generations to learn from.

When researchers and college students visit the district to observe traces of the disaster, Hamada takes them to the sports ground at the end of the tour.

Hamada feels proud when the visitors are intrigued by the place where Murakami had practiced.

Nowadays, baseball fans from the Kanto and Kansai regions visit the area.

Although the sports ground was restored, the baseball club has not returned. Hamada said he feels a twinge of sadness because he no longer hears team members greet residents or shout encouragement to each other.

He is now entertaining an idea of refurbishing a vacant lot near the sports ground into an exclusive practice ground and bring the team back to reinvigorate the community.

“Along with the quake-damaged structures, I want to promote the community as a place where a baseball player who can represent Japan grew up,” Hamada said.