Samurai Shortstop is about a family of samurai in Turn of the Century Japan. The Emperor ordered all samurai to lay down their swords, or retire. The main character, Toyo Shimada, goes to Ichiko, which is a boys' school. There his father, Sotaro, teaches him Bushido, or the way of the samurai. His father, a former samurai, writes an article for the newspaper, Asahi Shimbun.
At Ichiko, Toyo is in the school besu-boru club (baseball team). He fought very hard to earn his postion on the team, his position (shortstop), and his teammates' respect.
In their first game against Kaseda, another school, Toyo made an outstanding double play. The author made it sound so good that it could compete with a Major League Baseball player. "Toyo came to life, moving quickly to his right...The ball ducked beneath the third baseman's glove, and Toyo was there. Reaching across his body, he swallowed the ball with his glove, pivoted, jumped, and launched the ball to Katsuya. He watched as the second baseman swept the bag with his foot, hurdled the sliding runner, and threw down to first." This quote made me think of Major League Baseball. Here is a video of a double play, http://youtu.be/n4Fo9MXY3XI. Toyo is a freshman at Ichiko and I think that it is amazing that he could do something like that.
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