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Japan baseball scout kills himself
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Posted on Nov 30 1998
The chief scout of a Japanese professional baseball team plunged to his death from an apartment building after negotiations with a high school baseball star failed, police said.
Orix BlueWave official Katsutoshi Miwata, 53, fell Friday from the 11th floor of the building in Naha, Okinawa, 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, said a police spokesman, who only gave his surname, Matsuno.
Miwata was scheduled to meet Friday with high school pitcher Nagisa Arakaki, the BlueWave’s top pick in last week’s amateur draft. But the 18-year-old athlete said he was unwilling to join the team.
Police were investigating the death as a suicide, but declined to speculate on motives. There was no suicide note.
Miwata had taken off his shoes and left his wallet on the ground before leaping.
Arakaki had expressed his wish to play for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, but Orix had won exclusive negotiating rights to the player at an amateur baseball draft last Friday.
Before gaining the right to negotiate directly with the pro teams of their choice, high school players are required to spend three years in Japan’s corporate baseball league or four years with a university team.
Arakaki had reportedly already begun enrolling in a university.
Friday’s suicide sent shock waves through Japan’s baseball world, which has been debating Japan’s rigid amateur draft system after a number of high school stars chose to defer entry into the pro league this year.
Associated Press
