Stories that land

Yamade meets the man he impersonates

A part-time job at Tokyo Dome brought Yamade face to face with former baseball player Kakefu.

Before the story

Comedian Yamade (ダークホースの山出雄大) recalls a part-time job at Tokyo Dome—and a meeting with a player whose voice he knew rather well.

At Tokyo Dome

I love baseball, so I used to work part-time at Tokyo Dome. I helped the women handing out flyers at the gates. A bit of work, a bit of pleasure. And I thought, who knows? Maybe I’d meet a baseball player…

One day I met Kakefu, the former Hanshin player. He was there doing commentary.

Now, I used to do Kakefu impressions in my act all the time. And there I was, meeting the actual man! I couldn’t believe it.

He was heading back toward the staff entrance. A security guard was keeping the fans away from him—doing such a thorough job that his elbow caught me in the chest. It really hurt. I went, “Oof!”

And Kakefu, who hadn’t done anything wrong, said, “Uh, I’m sorry about that.”

I thought, this is it. Now or never. So I immediately answered, in my Kakefu voice, “Uh, don’t worry about it.”

He gave me this look, like, What’s with this guy? Then he thought for a moment. Maybe he realized I’d just done an impression of him. All he said was:

“…Right!”

The women from Team Giabbit beside us were beaming.

And that was my lovely, dream meeting with the man himself.

Smiling spectators raise fists, red towels and cheering sticks beside a large red flag bearing a white G.
Text in the illustration:G → G

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