Yuki Sawada (1975-) was a Japanese professional baseball player who played as the Tokyo Gigants' ace pitcher from 1997 to 2012. Sawada was secretly involved in organized crime as the leader of the Nagoya-gumi, a quasi-vigilante group founded by Tsubasa Kurosawa with the dual purpose of chasing the more powerful Tojo-kai and Omi Alliance out of Nagoya and enabling him to engage in widespread match-fixing with Sawada's help.
Biography[]
Yuki Sawada was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1975, and he attended Chukyo Academy before becoming a star high school baseball player. Right from the beginning, he was bribed by the Kuroha-gumi to become their agent in the underworld of baseball match-fixing; the Kuroha-gumi would bribe and threaten Sawada's opponents to make immense profits from betting on Sawada's team, while Sawada would be promised a bright future in baseball. Sawada's cultivated success led him to become the ace pitcher for the Tokyo Gigants in 1997, while his high school rival Tatsuo Shinada of Kabukicho West High School became a batter for the Nagoya Wyverns, the two players effectively trading cities. That same year, Sawada joined the Nagoya-gumi, a quasi-vigilante group led by coach Junpei Fujita, who oversaw the Kuroha Family's match-fixing in exchange for being allowed to keep Nagoya yakuza-free. On 7 June 1997, the day before a match-fixed game with Shinada and the Wyverns, Fujita instructed Sawada to throw a fastball at the upcoming game despite Shinada's weakness being curveballs, as he wanted to see genuine competition one last time before he stepped down from baseball to lead the Nagoya Family. Sawada agreed, and, the next day, he threw six fouled curveballs before Shinada hit a home run on Sawada's seventh-pitch fastball. Sawada was puzzled by how his fastball had been read, and Shinada was promptly accused of sign-stealing and was banned from baseball. The police proceeded to investigate match-fixing, forcing the Omi Alliance and Tojo to flee, while the citizen-led Nagoya Family took sole control of Nagoya and its match-fixing scene.
Sawada in 2012
In 2012, after a highly successful career of 197 wins, Sawada was traded to the Nagoya Wyverns, as Fujita intended Sawada to return to Nagoya and helm the Nagoya Family. At the same time, Shinada had become a known threat to the Nagoya Family after his former high school classmate and Tojo-kai chairman Daigo Dojima paid him to investigate the circumstances surrounding his ban from baseball. Sawada was sent to lure Shinada into a trap at the Wyverns Stadium, where he and his handlers from the Kuroha-gumi would murder Shinada.
Sawada reconciling with Shinada
Shinada met with Sawada, and the two discussed their fateful 1997 game and the match-fixing before the Omi hitmen arrived to kill Shinada. However, Sawada remained curious as to how Shinada had known that he would throw a fastball during his seventh pitch, while Shinada demanded to know more about why he was framed for sign-stealing. Sawada proceeded to shoot one hitman dead, and the two men fought off the remainder in hand-to-hand combat. The two then re-enacted their 1997 game at the stadium, with Shinada once again striking out on the seventh pitch as Sawada threw a fastball. Sawada, realizing that Shinada had not relied on sign-stealing and was instead a skilled player, acquired a newfound respect for his former rival, and the two reconciled before Shinada joked that he could retire in peace. When Shinada announced his intention to meet with Fujita in Tokyo, Sawada warned him that the Kuroha Family was planning something sinister at an upcoming Japan Dome concert, ultimately helping Shinada foil Shigeki Baba's attempted assassination of popstar Haruka Sawamura.