Tohoku Rakuten club president Yozo Tachibana had no choice but to take the last ticket from the lottery box, because the representatives from the other four teams had already chosen by the time his turn arrived.
In the end, however, his ticket was the only one that had the coveted stamp on it.
Five teams put themselves in the running for high school pitching phenom Yuki Matsui of Toko Gakuen, with the Golden Eagles winning the right to negotiate with him in the first round of the NPB draft on Thursday evening at a Tokyo hotel.