子育て時期が終わって、こどもたちの成長期によく行っていた地元プロ野球チーム・北海道日本ハムファイターズの野球観戦から遠ざかっていました。
　別に地元チームへの関心がまったくなくなったワケではないけれど、子育て時期の終わりとともにすっかり足が遠のいた。興味の主要な分野は関東と関西へのほぼ月イチ行脚に転換していったのかなぁ。
　そういうなか息子が強く誘ってくれたので、はじめてこの新設球場にて試合観戦。
　札幌の隣町ではありますが、まことに雄大な北海道的な景観のなかに突然出現した牧歌的な超現代ドームと言った趣の球場。やや高台に建っているので、試合後に帰路に着くときには遠くの山並みが、試合の勝ち負けの矮小な気分を吹き飛ばしてくれるかのようです。☜それが大きな狙いかなぁ（笑）。
　この地元チームは、札幌市職員で構成される球場運営の第３セクター組織の超官僚主義的な対応にガマンの限界を突破してしまって、この隣接地域に球団が考える理想の「BallPark」を作り上げた。そのような姿勢の方が、むしろ本来のフロンティアスピリットで北海道らしい。開拓から１世紀半近くを経過してきて、地域自治体組織の制度疲労蓄積を垣間見せてくれていた。
　そういった経緯を耳にしながら、しかし、子育て時期の終焉とともに野球観戦の基本動機が失われていて、すっかり縁遠くなっていたのですね。
　最近は遠出はマイカー移動一択で徒歩10分ほどの周辺駐車場との往復でしたが、昨日の歩数はいつもの６割程度に留まった。夫婦とも健脚を持て余し。野球観戦のための物足りない歩数。
　カミさんはこれじゃ歩き足りないと、野球観戦の半ばではあちこち球場内散歩。わたしは野球観戦の楽しみにどうしても没頭してしまっていた。つくづくと、野球はピッチャーという思いを強く感じていた。１球１球、その球種と球速、コースの投げ分けでいろいろな個性の打者と対峙する。それを捕手と２人３脚で工夫しながらゲームを組み立てていく。スゴい、エラい。
　双方の投手のみなさんの戦いぶりを堪能させていただきました。最後を締めた日ハム守護神・斉藤投手のユニークな感想もヒーローインタビューで聞けて超オモシロかった。
　さて、今後の終活生活のなかでこの球場とのかかわりはどう展開していくかなぁ・・・。

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English version⬇　

【Nippon-Ham Fighters Stadium “BallPark F Village”／First Time Watching a Game】
First time watching baseball in ages. Impressed by the architecture’s ingenuity. Savored both teams’ pitching staffs’ game management. Now then, what will my future relationship with baseball be? …

　After my children grew up, I drifted away from watching the local professional baseball team, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, whom I used to frequently see during their formative years.
It’s not that I lost all interest in the local team, but as the child-rearing period ended, I simply stopped going. My main interests shifted to traveling to the Kanto and Kansai regions almost monthly.
　Amidst this, my son strongly urged me to go, so I attended a game at this newly built stadium for the first time.
Though it’s in a town next to Sapporo, the stadium feels like an idyllic, hyper-modern dome suddenly appearing amidst truly grand, quintessentially Hokkaido scenery. Built on a slight hill, the distant mountain ranges visible on the way home after the game seem to blow away any petty feelings about the game’s outcome. ☜ That might be the main goal, I suppose (laugh).
This local team, fed up with the ultra-bureaucratic attitude of the third-sector organization running the stadium (composed of Sapporo city employees), broke through their limits of endurance and built their ideal “BallPark” in this adjacent area. That kind of attitude feels more like the true frontier spirit, more Hokkaido-like. Nearly a century and a half after the pioneering days, it offered a glimpse into the accumulated institutional fatigue within the local government organization.
　Hearing about these events, I realized that as the child-rearing phase ended, my fundamental motivation for watching baseball had faded, and I’d grown quite distant from it.
Lately, long trips meant driving my own car, just walking back and forth to a nearby parking lot about 10 minutes away. Yesterday’s step count was only about 60% of usual. Both my wife and I had our sturdy legs going to waste. It felt like an insufficient number of steps for a baseball game.
　My wife, finding this insufficient, started wandering around the stadium midway through the game. I, however, was completely absorbed in the joy of watching baseball. It really drove home how much baseball revolves around the pitcher. Pitch by pitch, they face off against batters of various personalities, varying their pitch types, speeds, and locations. They build the game together with the catcher, working in tandem. Amazing, truly impressive.
　I thoroughly enjoyed watching both teams’ pitchers battle it out. Hearing the unique thoughts of Nippon-Ham’s closer, pitcher Saito, during the hero interview at the end was super interesting.
Well, I wonder how my relationship with this stadium will unfold in my future end-of-life activities…

●Notice
My book “Writers and Living Spaces” published as an e-book by Gentosha
Available on Amazon.

Posted on 9月 15th, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 未分類