Page "Sadaharu Oh" Paragraph 3

In high school, Oh made many appearances at Koshien Stadium and suffered several tough defeats.

In 1957, Waseda Jitsugyo High School made it to the Spring Koshien Tournament with the second-year Oh as its ace pitcher.

Right before the tournament started, Oh suffered serious blisters on two fingers of his pitching hand.

The only way to heal the injury was with rest, but Oh refused to let his team down.

Hiding his injury so as not to demoralize his team, Oh pitched the entire first game at Koshien and won.

Oh's catcher noticed the bloodstained ball, but agreed to keep the injury secret from the rest of the team.

The next day, Oh pitched another complete game and earned the victory, and again his catcher kept the injury a secret, but the blisters worsened.

The pain and infection was unbearable, and now Oh faced the prospect of pitching two more games — on back-to-back days — for the championship.

All the same, Oh pitched and won another complete game, enduring the pain.

After the game, on the eve of the final, he had already lost all feeling in his fingertips, and was convinced he could not pitch in the final.