Koshien legends: Matsuzaka and Kiyohara voted top heroes

A reader survey conducted regarding legendary figures of the Summer Koshien (National High School Baseball Championship) has identified historical favorites in both pitching and batting categories.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was voted the top pitcher, significantly outpacing runner-up Masumi Kuwata. Other notable pitchers included Masahiro Tanaka and Taku Egawa. In the batting category, Kazuyoshi Kiyohara and Hideki Matsui dominated the results, together accounting for approximately 80% of the votes. Kiyohara took first place, while Matsui followed in second, with many voters citing his historic performance involving five consecutive intentional walks in a single game.

The survey results highlighted that professional success does not always correlate with Koshien popularity; for instance, major stars like Ichiro and Munetaka Murakami did not place in the top 10 due to early tournament exits during their high school years.