Masked Fans Return to Stadiums as Baseball Inches Back in Japan
- Japan restarts spectator events even as Tokyo virus cases rise
- U.S. Major League Baseball looks for tips ahead of its opening
Fans watch a Nippon professional baseball match between Chunichi and Hiroshima in Nagoya on July 10.
Photographer: Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
After a relatively tight ten innings of play, infielder Dayan Viciedo walked to the plate and slugged a “sayonara” home run, leading the Chunichi Dragons to a dramatic 3-2 win over the Hiroshima Carp.
The home crowd of 4,958 erupted, jumping up and down, clapping and yelling -- precisely the full-throated show of enthusiasm that Japan’s baseball league officials had spent months devising ways to prevent.