Minor League Arc

Minor League Arc
Kanji	マイナーリーグ編
Rōmanji	Mainārīgu-hen
Manga
Volumes	8
Chapters	65
435. America 436. Challenger 437. Tryout 438. It Must Be a Knothole 439. Bolton 440. The Results of The Tryout... 441. Color Doesn't Matter 442. Humiliating Handicap 443. Road to Major 444. Dream 445. Just Try Your Best 446. We Can Do It! 447. First Guest to Arrive 448. Salmons' Ace 449. This Is The Majors 450. Spoiled Brat! 451. A Guide On The Path to The Majors 452. Triple a Cougars 453. Pinch-hitter, Gibson 454. Idiot Father 455. Past Mistakes 456. Discharge 457. From a New World 458. Alice Jinnai 459. Courageous!! 460. Backbone 461. The Season Begins 462. Wake Up Call!! 463. Reprimanded 464. Degrees of Enthusiasm 465. Each One of Us Must Truly Wish to Win 466. Golden Rookie 467. Pitcher's Supremacism 468. Keane's True Strenght 469. Goro's Chosen Path 470. Sanders' Departure 471. Hero 472. Ill Feeling 473. The First Game of The Playoffs 474. Distinction 475. Evolution 476. Getting the Hang of It 477. The Night Before The Decisive Game 478. The Beginning of The Storm 479. Scrambled Pitching 480. Build Up 481. A Losing Game 482. The Bat's Spirit 483. Accident 484. Limiter 485. The Throw of Fate 486. The Price of Victory 487. Junior's Promotion 488. Rematch 489. His Gaze 490. Gibson's Prophecy 491. Beyond Theory 492. A Great Man 493. A True Rival 494. Off His Game 495. Far From Over 496. Just One More 497. Proof of Growth 498. Maximum 499. Vow
Anime
Episodes
Number of Episodes	26
Ep79: To the Birthplace of Baseball Ep80: Tryout Ep81: I'll Do It! Ep82: This is the Majors! Ep83: The Signpost Towards the World Ep84: Unforgivable!! Ep85: Courageous Perfect Score Ep86: Debut! Ep87: Challenger Ep88: It's Not Impossible Ep89: Let's Aim For It Ep90: Liar! Ep91: A Stupid Bet Ep92: Keene's Past Ep93: Hero Ep94: I'm Fed Up! Ep95: A Thing to Aim For Ep96: Alice's Dream, Everyone's Dream Ep97: Decision Ep98: Get Out! Ep99: A Stormy Match Opening Ep100: The Pitch of Destiny Ep101: Another Final Battle Ep102: A Great Man Ep103: A Real Rival Ep104: An Oath

The Minor League Arc is the sixth story arc of the MAJOR series. This arc is centered around the beginning of Goro Shigeno's professional baseball career in the U.S. and his eventual confrontation with Joe Gibson Jr.

Summary

Goro Shigeno takes a flight to the U.S. to take part in the Minor League tryouts. As he arrives in Los Angeles, he is immediately robbed by a duo of conmen. He ends up resorting to hitchhiking, and meets Hayato Yaginuma in the process, a japanese shortstop. Eventually, Goro and Yaginuma are able to pass the tryouts. Yaginuma is accepted by a Single A team while Goro is accepted directly into the Salmons, a Major League team. However, Goro fails to impress the Salmons' directors, and is eventually demoted to a Triple A team, the Cougars. As he makes his debut in the Cougars, Goro meets Joe Gibson Junior, the son of Joe Gibson. The two end up fighting during the match, and Goro is released from his contract. Following this, Goro eventually signs with another team, the Memphis Bats, owned by Alice Jinnai. Goro spends the Minor League season and eventually sorts out his differences with Gibson Junior after winning the Triple A league championship. After the season ends, both Goro and Junior are promoted to the Major League, where they spend the post-season with the Indiana Hornets and the Texas Raiders, respectively. As the post-season ends, Goro heads back home on vacation.

Manga and Anime Differences

This arc is much shorter in the manga version. In the anime, a few side stories, most notably Toshiya Sato's professional debut in the NPB, were added to fill the 26-episode season. As such, the following episodes are original content not present in the manga:

• Ep86: Debut!, Ep87: Challenger, Ep101: Another Final Battle: Toshiya's professional debut storyline.
• Ep90: Liar!: Daisuke Komori's daily life as an university student.
• Ep92: Keene's Past: An original story detailing how Jeff Keene became obsessed with data.
• Ep94: I'm Fed Up!: Taiga Shimizu and Ayane Suzuki's second year of high school managing Seishu's baseball club.
• Ep95: A Thing to Aim For: Kaoru Shimizu's daily life as an university student.
• Ep96: Alice's Dream, Everyone's Dream: An original story detailing the history of the Bats' baseball team, its fans, and Alice Jinnai's family.

Matches

• Tryouts recruits 9 - 10 Tucson Red Rocks - Ch. 441 - 446.
• Anaheim Salmons 4 - 8 Dallas Elephants - Ch. 451.
• Cougars ? - ? Falcons - Ch. 452-455.
• Memphis Bats 6 - 4 Cyclones - Ch. 458-460.
• Memphis Bats 10 - 9 Gators (season opener) - Ch. 461.
• Memphis Bats ? - ? Vipers - Ch. 462-465.
• Memphis Bats 3 - 0 Rockets - Ch. 466-468.
• Memphis Bats 7 - 8 Gators - Ch. 469.
• Memphis Bats ? - ? Gators - Ch. 470-471.
• Memphis Bats 6 - 5 Sharks - Ch. 473-476.
• Memphis Bats ? - ? Sharks - Ch. 477.
• Memphis Bats 4 - 3 Oklahoma Falcons - Ch. 478-499 (Playoffs, series of seven matches).

Important Events

• Goro Shigeno arrives in the U.S.
• Goro meets Hayato Yaginuma and they both participate in the tryouts for the Minor League.
• Goro ends up joining the Salmons Major League team, but is demoted to the Minor League team Cougars shortly after, due to not being on Major level just yet.
• Goro meets Joe Gibson Jr. for the first time during a match between the Cougars and the Falcons.
• Goro tries to fight Jr. during the match and ends up creating a large commotion.
• Due to the commotion, Goro's contract with the Salmons/Cougars is terminated, and he ends up joining Alice Jinnai's Memphis Bats.
• Goro wins the eastern division of the Minor League with the Bats after promising Sanders to do so.
• During the league championship matches, Goro faces Gibson Jr. and the Falcons and wins.
• Goro is promoted to the Major League, starting the next year.
• Goro flies to Japan on vacation.