JAPAN: Osaka Silver Sisters may be 75 years old on average but they are not letting their age get in the way of playing their favorite sport - baseball

Record ID: 464198

  • Title: JAPAN: Osaka Silver Sisters may be 75 years old on average but they are not letting their age get in the way of playing their favorite sport - baseball
  • Date: 15th July 2009
  • Summary: ALBUMS WITH PHOTOS OF KHOSAKA AND HER TEAMMATES IN WOMEN'S BASEBALL LEAGUE 50 YEARS AGO KHOSAKA FLIPPING THROUGH THE ALBUM KHOSAKA'S PICTURE FROM 50 YEARS AGO KHOSAKA AND HER TEAMMATES
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZ16DJRCM43HDZ8QHWXEWVJWQ
  • Story Text: It may be late in the game, but the Osaka Silver Sisters aren't hanging up their baseball gloves and bats any time soon.
    In matching red and white uniforms, 75-year-old Mineko "Mimi" Khosaka and her fellow Osaka Silver Sisters teammates were ready to pitch, hit and run in the field, showing the gathering spectators and the merely curious it's never too old to play some serious baseball.
    The Osaka Silver Sisters may be 75 years old on average, but they are not letting their age get in the way of playing their favourite sports as they leave their problems - ranging from back and knee pain to missing kidney and heart pacer - behind.
    The super grandmother team consists of 11 players who first walked the baseball "field of dreams" about half a century ago. They were once star players of various professional women's baseball leagues in Japan.
    After their reunion in 2005, Mimi and her friends decided to form an all-grandmother team called the Osaka Silver Sisters.
    Though they may look much older than any professional baseball players, these ladies pride themselves in their technique.
    Founder and captain of the Osaka Silver Sisters, Mimi makes catches behind her back like Major League Baseball star Ichiro Suzuki.
    The team meets every Friday morning for an hour of practice followed by a game with a much younger all-boys team.
    Mimi, now in her fourth year of playing with the Osaka Silver Sisters, says she cannot have more fun than when playing a serious baseball game.
    "It feels great when I get a hit, but even better if I can run fast! It's difficult but I try to run as fast as I can to make it to the first base on time!" Mimi, who turns 76 in August, told Reuters.
    When the Osaka Silver Sisters are called in for a game, the game is played the sisters' way.
    Health and safety come first and foremost as the players are not allowed to make a head-first slide and base steal.
    But that doesn't keep the ladies from hitting homeruns and throwing fast pitches.
    The baseball loving grandmothers play all year except for December, January and August when it gets too cold and hot to play in the field.
    To Mimi and her teammates, baseball is more than just a sport.
    "Nothing can separate myself from baseball. I know I'll keep playing till I die and I've already asked my children to send me off in my baseball uniform when the time comes. You just can't take baseball away from me."
    Mimi started playing baseball in the professional women's league at the age of 15 and continued to play until she married her husband at the age of 21.
    She and her husband then opened a small coffee shop in central Osaka, where she currently serves locals with her special blend coffees and shares memories from the 1950s women's baseball league.
    During her free time, Mimi, who played the pitcher, catcher and first base, enjoys going through her old album collections with photos of herself and some of her teammates smiling in their old uniforms.
    Mimi and members of the Osaka Silver Sisters were one of the first teenagers to play in the women's baseball league in Japan.
    But the league did not last long due to the lack of funding and private sponsors. Moreover, the public did not support the idea of women playing men's sports especially in short shorts making it more difficult for female baseball players to continue their career.
    Though Mimi stopped playing baseball when she was 21 years old, she kept her baseball gloves with her until she formed the Osaka Silver Sisters in 2005.
    She still uses the gloves, which she says "brings back the memories from the good times" she had in the women's league.
    75-year-old Teruko Yoshida, Mimi's teammate 50 years ago and member of the Osaka Silver Sisters, says winning is still her top priority, despite a few aches and pains.
    "I'm very competitive so I give my best to hit every ball. I'm also very focused so I tend to forget all the body pain until I get home when I finally realise all the back and knee pain!" said Yoshida smiling.
    The Osaka Silver Sisters play against the much younger all boys "Nakayoshi Genki Club" every Friday, but never give the rival team an easy win.
    "I'm really surprised by the level of their baseball. The ladies often ask me to pitch faster telling me that slow and wobbly balls are hard to hit! Some of them are big hitters as well so I'm just stunned," said 68-year-old Hajime Morioka, team captain of Nakayoshi Genki Club.
    The Osaka Silver Sisters say they plan to play baseball until they celebrate their 80th birthday, but just like Mimi, they have no plans to hang up their cleats until the end.
    Until then, you can find Mimi in the batters' box or at first base every Friday, gracefully turning back the pages of time.
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