Masahiro Tanaka Appears as Santa Claus!

In addition to Tanaka, 20 elementary school children participated on the day. At the beginning of the event, as Christmas was approaching, Tanaka made a surprise appearance dressed as Santa Claus, eliciting cheers and applause from the audience.

As gifts from Tanaka to the children, he handed out his own autographed baseballs one by one from a giant bag. The children gazed at the signed balls with joyful expressions.

After interacting with the children, Tanaka spoke about the background of this charity event: "This year, Japan experienced numerous disasters, and my Yankees teammates expressed their concern. So, upon returning to Japan, I wanted to take some action, and after consulting with Hublot, we decided to hold this charity event."

Following this, for the target challenge that would determine the donation amount, Tanaka taught the children pitching techniques through catch. Tanaka himself joined the children in pitching, offering gentle advice such as, "In catch, it's important to consider your partner and throw a ball that's easy for them to catch."

As his arm warmed up, Tanaka took his position as catcher to receive the children's full-power pitches. When the children received comments like "Nice ball!" from Tanaka, they threw the ball towards him with a mixture of nervousness and joy.

Next, a target challenge was held where participants pitched towards targets marked with different monetary values. The total amount from the hit targets would determine the charity donation to Chiba Prefecture. Initially, 10 representatives were scheduled to attempt the challenge, but at Tanaka's call of "We're one team, so we have to throw together!", everyone participated.

After successfully hitting all the targets, he passionately commented on the importance of teamwork: "I believe we were able to achieve our goal precisely because we all aimed for it together. They encouraged each other and became one team."

The 1.5 million yen donation, earned by successfully completing all targets, is scheduled to be contributed as baseball equipment to the NPO Chiba Prefecture Boys Baseball Federation.

Finally, a talk session was held where Tanaka shared his thoughts.

He commented, "Looking back at this season, it was a frustrating year with inconsistent pitching. I think everyone has various personal goals, but not everything goes as planned. The sense of accomplishment grows through detours and repeated failures."

He offered encouragement to the children. When asked about the upcoming season, Tanaka expressed his determination: "As it's the final year of my contract with the Yankees, it will be a decisive year. I want to see the highest view I've ever seen."

Hublot x Masahiro Tanaka Charity Event ~Pray for CHIBA~
Date & Time | December 2, 2019 (Monday) 5:00 PM - 6:10 PM
Venue | Meiji Jingu Gaien Indoor Sports Facility (3-1 Kasumigaokamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0013)
Speakers | Masahiro Tanaka (Professional Baseball Player), Approx. 20 Children
Schedule | 5:00 PM - Opening / Masahiro Tanaka Appears
5:10 PM - Warm-up & Catch
5:20 PM - Pitching Practice (Tanaka serves as catcher)
5:30 PM - Target Challenge (Approx. 20 Children)
5:45 PM - Talk Session & Children's Q&A
6:00 PM - Ceremony, Donation Announcement
6:05 PM - Photo Session
6:10 PM - Closing