夢のように A Dream Come True

たくさんの日本人とアメリカ人の男子の夢は野球選手になるということでしょうね。僕もその夢がありましたが、中学校の頃に野球を辞めました。僕はアメリカで少年野球やっていたが、その頃からあまり野球していません。今年は友達との草野球チームに入りました。平均月一・ニ回週末に試合しています。あまり上手じゃないですが、プレイするだけで楽しいことだと思います。

Many Japanese and American boys dream of being baseball players when they grow up. I had the same dream when I was younger, but I quit playing when I was in middle school. I played little league baseball in America, but since then I haven’t really played at all. This year I joined an informal baseball team with some of my friends. Usually we play about one or two games a month on the weekends. I am not very good, but for me it is just fun to be out there playing.

それで、うちのチームが年一回大阪京セラドームを借りて、試合します。今年の１１月末に僕が初めて参加しました。プロ野球スタジアムで試合するのは二時間僕の少年の夢が現実になったようなことでした。スタジアムに入ったら感動しました。または、試合には僕がファーストを守っていたので、やりながら「このスタジアムでこの位置は阪神のシーツ選手と一緒やなぁ」と思い込んでいました。そして、安打一本できて、二塁を盗塁したから嬉しかったです。僕は野球そんなに上手じゃないし、今は年取りすぎて、プロ野球選手の夢がもう散てしまいましたが、二時間だけで夢を試すのは気持ちよかったです。

Once a year my team rents out the Kyocera Dome, a professional baseball stadium in Osaka, to play a game. This year at the end of November I played there for the first time. To be able to play in a professional baseball stadium for two hours was like my childhood dream had come true. When I first walked onto the field I felt a chill down my spine. Also, in the game I was playing first base so when I stood out there I realized, “Wow, this is the same place where the Hanshin Tigers’ first baseman Andy Sheets stands!”* Then, I was able to get a nice clean hit into center field during the game and then steal second base so I was happy. I am not that good at baseball and by now I am too old to break into professional baseball anyways, so my dream of being a professional baseball player is far gone. But for two hours I was able to pretend like I was a pro baseball player and get a taste for what my dream would have been like. It felt good.

*Andy Sheets is an American who plays firstbase for the local favorite professional baseball team the Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers play some of their home games at the Osaka Dome when their primary stadium (Koshien) is being used for the National High School Baseball Championships in the summer.