By Hideki on July 20, 2009 9:30 PM
The 80th Major League baseball All-Star Game was held last Tuesday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. President Barack Obama threw out ceremonial first pitch at the game and Ichiro was selected to make his ninth consecutive appearance in All Star game.
I was happy to see the players from the towns, such as Minnesota (Twins), San Francisco (Giants) and Toronto (Blue Jays) where I used to live.
Here in Japan, Japanese professional baseball's All-Star games will be held at Sapporo Dome and MAZDA ZOOM-ZOOM STADIUM on July 24th and the 25th. MAZDA ZOOM-ZOOM STADIUM is the home of HIROSHIMA TOYO CARP and is its opening year.
MAZDA ZOOM-ZOOM STADIUM
I was very lucky to see 'MARKUN' Masahiro Tanaka, 21-year-old ace pitcher of Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He was the starting pitcher for the game. I saw his 'guts' even from the distance.
This ballpark's limited edition 'Kappa ebisen' shrimp-flavored snack. Oishi ! I bought 3 bags of the snack and I enjoyed them with 5 glasses of beer. Watching baseball game with beer makes me feel like I am in heaven.
The special bento is a little bit expensive. 1,000 yen
Hiroshima Carp won the game with game-ending home run hit by Carp catcher Ishihara in the 10th inning.
I met Nakata-san, a volunteer in the stadium and I had a nice talk with her. 'Nakata-san, Thank you for your kindness and smile'
By the way, I am a big fan of Hanshin Tigers. May 9, 1999 at 3COM PRAK in San Francisco (Nomo playing for Milwaukee Brewers) July 2, 2001 at SkyDome in Toronto (Nomo playing for Boston Red Sox) Hideo Nomo is my hero...forever and ever. 
