Activity – Baseball Legends Foundation (BLF)

Our actions

Supporting Charitable Activities by the Players and the Teams

Takahiro Norimoto of Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles supports the children’s education in Tohoku

Both in the regular and the post season games, Norimoto donates 10,000 yen per 1 inning to the Chance For Children and supports the children’s education mainly in Tohoku. BLF plans and coordinates all this activities, including providing the opportunities for the children to greet the players both on and off the field.

Kodai Senga of Fukuoka Softbank Hawks supports Orange Ribbon (child abuse prevention)

Both in the regular and the post season games, Senga donates 10,000 yen per 1 strikeout to Orange Ribbon project. Not only he has his new glove embroidered an orange ribbon, he also wears a ribbon badge in public and cooperates in enlightenment of this project. BLF plans and coordinates all this activities, including Orange Ribbon Seminar for the baseball fans.

Masataka Yoshida of Orix Buffaloes supports the poor children in Asian developing countries

In the regular games, Yoshida donates 100,000 yen per 1 homerun to KnK (Children without borders) and support saving the poor children in developing countries such as Cambodia, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. BLF plans and coordinates all this activities, including providing the online donation page for baseball fans.

Katsuya Kakunaka of Chiba Lotte Marines supports the families with the disabled in Ishikawa prefecture-his home town.

In the regular games, Kakunaka donates 10,000 yen per 1 hit to Ishikawa Prefecture Community Donation and mainly supports the families with the disabled in Ishikawa, his hometown. BLF suggests and coordinates how to use his donation.

Again Ball Project by Kazuki Yoshimi of Chunichi Dragons.

Gathering broken baseballs from the schools and the teams all over Japan, the disabled sew and repair them in Shoyuen, the facility of their employment support. Yoshimi purchases these repaired “again balls” and donate them to the kids’ baseball teams in Japan. The profit from his purchase is allotted to the wage for the disabled, which helps them socially independent. We have planned and operated this activity since 2015.

Iwata Project 21 by Minoru Iwata of Hanshin Tigers

Iwata, who has been suffering from Type 1 diabetes because of virus infection in his high school days, still injects the insulin to himself four times a day, never giving up being a starting pitcher of Tigers. In 2011, he stood up for those suffering from the same disease and launched “Iwata Project 21” for awareness. We offer him with media support such as producing the publication to introduce his baseball history with his disease.

Lions Cup Wheelchair Softball Event

Saitama Seibu Lions has been holding “Lions Cup”, the wheelchair softball event every September since 2015. We have been dispatching the volunteer staffs to this event, and we started supporting as a sponsor in 2017.

Lions Calorie Off-set Program 2015

In 15 official games of 2015 season, the calories the players consume in the game (1 kilo-calorie as 1 yen) and those the spectators consume in cheering (200 kilo-calories as 1 yen) were converted to the money, and donated 650,425 yen to Leyte Island in the Philippines where many people were impacted by huge typhoon. We organized and supported this action

Our Own Actions Related to Baseball

BLF Charity Talk – fundraising event with the players（since 2018）

After the baseball season every year, both active and retired players gather for BLF Charity Talk to fundraise by tickets, photo sessions and online donation. We donate “Dream Schlorship” of Nippon(Japan) Foundation.

《Players on the talk and photo session》
Tsuyoshi Wada, Shohei Tateyama, Kazuhiro Hatakeyama, Takahiro Norimoto, Kodai Senga, Masataka Yoshida

Annual Charity Auction by professional baseball players（2016～2018）

Former/active players offered the used and autographed items for our charity auction. We organized this auction once a year during the off-season.

Achievement in 2018

《Players》
Ryota Arai, Masanori Ishikawa, Hisashi Iwakuma, Koji Uehara, Seiichi Uchikawa, Daichi Osera, Kazuma Okamoto, Tomoaki Kanemoto, Yusei Kikuchi, Takumi Kuriyama, Masashi Kuwahara, Taketoshi Goto, Tetsuya Kokubo, Taisuke Kondo, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Hirokazu Sawamura, Kodai Senga, Yuki Nishi, Takahiro Norimoto, Yoshihisa Hirano, Kazuki Yabuta, Taisuke Yamaoka, Hotaka Yamakawa, Masataka Yoshida, Ryota Wakiya, Hideaki Wakui, Tsuyoshi Wada, Naoto Watanabe, Mookie Betts

《Balance》
●All amount of winning bid: 2,040,158 yen
●Expenses: System fee for Yahoo! 142,791 yen/deputizing fee 82,000 yen/others　204,015 yen
●Profit: 1,611,352 yen

《Use of profit》
●Donation for Kumamoto Prefecture (assistance of reconstruction after the earthquake)…805,676 yen
●BLF action fee for supporting baseball players charitable activities…805,676 yen

Achievement in 2017

《Players》
Shogo Akiyama, Alex Ramirez, Ryota Arai, Takuro Ishii, Akinori Iwamura, Koji Uehara, Seiichi Uchikawa, Daichi Ohsera, Masayuki Kakefu, Tomoaki Kanemoto, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Takumi Kuriyama, Taketoshi Goto, Kazumi Saito, Hirokazu Sawamura, Seiya Suzuki, Ginjiro Sumitani, Kazunari Tsuruoka, Yuhei Nakamura, Toshihisa Nishi, Fumiya Nishiguchi, Shinjiro Hiyama, Kenta Maeda, Daisuke Miura, Yuki Yanagita, Masataka Yoshida, Tsuyoshi Wada

《Balance》
●All amount of winning bid: 1,778,599 yen
●Expenses: System fee for Yahoo! 124,502 yen/deputizing fee 88,000 yen/others177,860 yen
●Profit: 1,388,237 yen

《Use of profit》
●Donation for Kumamoto Prefecture (assistance of reconstruction after the earthquake)…694,119 yen
●BLF action fee including supports for the disabled in sports and in employment…the rest

Achievement in 2016

《Players》
Shogo Akiyama, Alex Ramirez, Hirokazu Ibata, Koji Uehara, Yoshio Itoi, Ryota Imanari, Hisashi Iwakuma, Minoru Iwata, Seiichi Uchikawa, Kenji Otonari, Yasuhiro Ogawa, Yuki Karakawa, Kentaro Kyuko, Yuki Kuniyoshi, Clay Buchholz, Hirokazu Sawamura, Yosuke Shimabukuro, Hisanori Takahashi, Toshihisa Nishi, Daisuke Miura, Yuki Yanagita, Shun Yamaguchi, Takeshi Yamasaki, Tsuyoshi Wada

《Balance》
●All amount of winning bid: 1,208,169 yen
●Expenses: System fee for Yahoo! 65,491 yen/deputizing fee 120,817 yen/others120,817 yen
●Profit: 901,044 yen

《Use of profit》
●Donation for Make A Wish of Japan…100,000 yen
●Purchase of repaired baseballs for employment support of the disabled…100,000 yen
●Donation for Japan Wheelchair Softball Association…100,000 yen
●BLF action fee to support players’ charitable activities…the rest

Employment Support for The Disabled by Baseball Repair

Gathering broken baseballs from the schools and the teams all over Japan, the disabled sew and repair them in Shoyuen, the facility of their employment support. We purchase these repaired baseballs, have them autographed by former/active professional baseball players, and give them to BLF donors and supporters as the gifts in return. The profit from our purchase is allotted to the wage for the disabled, which helps them socially independent.

Our performance since 2014

Support for reconstruction after the earthquake

-Donated 1,499,795 yen for Kumamoto Prefecture
-Donated 250,000 yen for NGO Peace Winds Japan for Kumamoto emergency assistance

The adapted sports support

-Donated 100,000 yen to Japan Wheelchair Softball Association
-Volunteering and sponsoring Lions Cup Wheelchair Softball event.

Employment support for the disabled

-150,000 yen purchase of the repaired baseballs for the wage of the disabled.
-Supporting Yoshimi’s Again Ball Project.

Support for the kids with incurable disease

-Donate 100,000 yen to Make A Wish of Japan.

Support Developing countries

Operation for the Calorie Off-set Program by Saitama Seibu Lions donating 650,425 yen to Leyte Island of the Philippines.

Support Type 1 diabetes awareness

We produced Iwata’s publication and donated the part of royalty to the diabetes association.