FUKUOKA – Nobuhiro Matsuda, the lively and exuberant soul who plays third base for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, is often referred to as the team’s “mood-maker.”
You can remember the game is supposed to be fun as Matsuda hops around on one leg in the batter’s box, engages the fans with his guttural shouts of “atsuo!” after home runs and also in the earnest way he fields grounders during practice and shouts encouragement to his teammates.
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