3rd Base Fourth

The compilation volume of 3rd Base 4th.

3rd Base 4th (4番サード ,Yoban Sādo) is a one-volume shōnen sports manga by Gosho Aoyama. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday between 1991-1993, lasting a total of six chapters. The premise revolves around the final tournament of high school baseball, the Koushien, which is played every year at the Hanshin Koushien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan.

Story

Shigeo Nagashima is third baseman on Kohnan High School's baseball team. However, he isn't a very good player until he happens to purchase a baseball bat from a strange little store. As he discovers, the bat is magical, whenever he steps up to the plate with money in his back pocket, the money vanishes and he always hits the ball. The more money he pays in this manner to the mysterious shopkeeper who sold him the bat, the farther the ball flies. A friend, Yutaka Enatsu, gives Shigeo a part-time job at her father's café to earn money for the baseball bat.

Kohnan manages to reach the Koushien, where they face Ougane High School for the championship title. On the opposing team is pitcher Kazuhisa Inao, whose baseball glove is also magical and can throw extremely powerful fastballs. He must also pay for this ability, but as the son of a wealthy business family, he can easily afford the cost. How can Shigeo, who must work hard at his part-time job for every yen, hope to compete?

Characters

Picture	Name	Role
	Shigeo Nagashima	Main character of the story. Wields "The Bat of God".
	Kazuhisa Inao	Shigeo's baseball rival. Wields "The Glove of God".
	Yutaka Enatsu	Shigeo's best friend. Daughter of the owner of Café Kagetora.
	Mr. Enatsu	Father of Yutaka. Owner of Café Kagetora.

Chapters

Bat of Miracles

People

Shigeo Nagashima
	Second year student of Kohnan High School Baseball fan

Kohnan High Baseball Coach
	Baseball coach of Kohnan High School

Ekoda High Baseball Team Captain
	Baseball team captain of Ekoda High School

Mysterious Sports Equipment Shopkeeper
	Enigmatic owner of the Mysterious Sports Equipment Shop

Eiji Sawamura
	Died age 27 (1917 - 1944) Legendary real life player of the Giants Shirt number 14 Ghost

Babe Ruth
	Died age 53 (1895 - 1948) Shirt number 3 Legendary real life player of the Yankees

Captain
	Kohnan High School baseball team captain

Mrs. Nagashima
	Shigeo's mother Housewife

Take Me To Kōshien

People

Yutaka Enatsu
	Manager of Kohnan High School's baseball team Nagashima's best friend

Mr. Enatsu
	Owner of Café Kagetora Yutaka's father

Kazuhisa Inao
	Second year student of Ohgane High School Baseball player

Trivia

Settings

• Hyōgo Prefecture
  • Nishinomiya City
    • Koshien
      • Koshien Stadium
• Tokyo
  • Minato Ward
    • Kohnan-Shibaura Area
      • Café Kagetora
      • Kohnan High School
      • Mysterious Sports Equipment Shop
      • Nagashima Residence
      • Public baseball training ground

Cameos

• One of the assistants of Gosho Aoyama, Eiichi Yamagishi, appears as a team member of Shigeo Nagashima in the Kohnan High School baseball club.

Crossover

Shigeo and Kazuhisa cameo in Detective Conan in Miracle at Koshien Ball Park! The Defiants Face the Dark Demon (2 Hour Special), the adaptation of manga files 445-449, the Koshien Bomber Case. Kohnan and Ougane are the two teams facing off for the Koshien title during the case. There is more time spent showing the baseball game and the players in the anime special than the manga arc.

The final match from 3rd Base 4th is also referenced as being "one year ago", but retconned it in the way that Kohnan High School lost it instead of winning like in their own series, wanting a rematch with Ohgane High School. This is probably due to the fact that it was played and won with magical sports equipment, rendering it non-canon to the world of Detective Conan, effectively placing 3rd Base 4th in a parallel world.

Café Kagetora in this series is named after Yaiba Kurogane's pet tiger Kagetora from Yaiba. The real Shigeo Nagashima, who is jokingly mentioned several times in comparison with Shigeo from this series, also appeared together with his son in chapter 11 of Magic Kaito.

Origins

The two main characters' names are from Shigeo Nagashima (長嶋 茂雄) and Kazuhisa Inao (稲尾 和久), both of whom are well-known Japanese baseball players in real life. Please note that there are some differences in kanji, though in both cases the pronunciation is the same. The real Shigeo Nagashima and his son Kazushige Nagashima appear in the Magic Kaito chapter The Boy Who Bet On the Ball collected in volume 2.

Cover in other countries

Japan (volume 1)

Japan (Collected Short Stories of Gosho Aoyama 3rd Base Fourth)

Vietnam (Collected Short Stories of Gosho Aoyama 3rd Base Fourth Volume 1)

Vietnam (Collected Short Stories of Gosho Aoyama 3rd Base Fourth Volume 2)

See also

• Manga