Keisuke Baba (born 1979) was a Japanese professional baseball player and former street criminal who once led the B-Kings street gang in Tokyo during the 2000s.
Biography[]
Keisuke Baba was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1979, and he became a delinquent as a youth and led the B-Kings street gang in Kabukicho, extorting pedestrians and doing dirty work for the Atobe-gumi yakuza family. The gang usually congregated at the Yoshida Batting Center, and, in December 2005, Baba and the rest of the gang confronted their former gang mate Takashi Fujiwara at the batting center after he decided to leave the gang and elope with the Atobe-gumi boss' daughter Kyoka Atobe. Kazuma Kiryu, an associate of Takashi's father, the Florist of Sai, arrived at the center and helped Takashi fight off the B-Kings, but Baba taunted Kiryu, saying that Takashi was done for, as he had run away with Kyoka's father's money. Later that same month, however, Kiryu helped Baba and his other gang members escape from extortion at the hands of the yakuza, forcing Baba to swallow his pride and thank Kiryu for his help. By 2010, Baba was able to turn his life around and become a professional baseball player; the B-Kings disbanded shortly after Baba's departure. In 2010, Baba challenged Kiryu to a baseball competition, but Kiryu managed to homerun one of Baba's curveballs, impressing Baba and convincing Baba to take a break from baseball to further improve his pitch.