Japanese Grandma Still Fit for Baseball

The Osaka Silver Sisters may be 70 years old but they are not letting their age get in the way of playing their favorite sport – baseball. They are ready to pitch, hit and run, showing spectators they are not too old to play ball.

It may be late in the game, but the Osaka Silver Sisters aren’t handing over their baseball gloves and bats yet.

In matching red and white uniforms, 75-year-old Mineko Khosaka, nicknamed Mimi, and her fellow teammates, are ready to show spectators and they are not too old to play some serious baseball.

The Osaka Silver Sisters leave their problems – ranging from back and knee pain to missing kidney and heart pacer – behind, as the super grandmother team of 11 players who first walked the baseball „field of dreams“ about half a century ago keep the tradition alive.

They haven’t always been together like this and had a break. But after their reunion in 2005, Mimi and her friends decided to form the all-grandmother team.

The team meets every Friday morning for an hour of practice followed by a game with a much younger all-boys team. Mimi says nothing beats the feeling.

[Mineko „Mimi“ Khosaka, Osaka Silver Sister]:
“It feels great when I get a hit, but even better if I can run fast! It’s difficult but I try to run as fast as I can to make it to the first base on time!”

The ladies might hit homeruns or throw fast pitches, but health and safety come first as players are not allowed to make a head-first slides or steal bases. They play all year except for December, January and August when it gets too cold or hot to play.

[Mineko „Mimi“ Khosaka, Osaka Silver Sister]:
“ I know I’ll keep playing till I die and I’ve already told my children to send me off in my baseball uniform when the time comes. You just can’t take baseball away from me.“

Mimi started playing baseball in the professional women’s league at the age of 15 and continued to play until she married at the age of 21.

She and her husband then opened a small coffee shop in central Osaka, where she currently serves locals with her special blend coffees and shares memories from the 1950s women’s baseball league.

(NTDTV)