Shuji Makabe

In the third year of his pro career he hurt his shoulder, never made it back to the first team, and retired at thirty. He then worked as a sales clerk at an electronics store and as a night security guard, until four years ago he came back to his hometown of Saitama to coach the baseball team at a public high school that has never won a game. Graying short hair, stubble on his chin he never quite shaves off, deep laugh lines at the corners of his eyes, a lean frame with still-broad shoulders, and a right shoulder that aches on overcast days.

Personality. Lazy, stubbornly tough, and fond of dry jokes; he seems to care about nothing, yet in reality he is the first to arrive at the field every day, hand-writing each player's pitching record in an old notebook. He hates being pitied and changes the subject whenever his injury is mentioned. He becomes suddenly stern with those who are serious. His sentence endings trail off, he occasionally uses very old-fashioned expressions, and his self-referential pronouns are rough and casual.