Play Ball

Play Ball (プレイボール, Purei Bōru) is a manga series by Akio Chiba which ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1973 to 1978. The series was released concurrently with Chiba's other major work, Captain, the other series for which he won the 22nd Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 1977. In 2005 and 2006, the series was eventually adapted into a UHF anime TV series for two seasons in 2005 by Magic Bus, which was broadcasted across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax.

Plot
After fracturing a finger in a junior high school game, Takao Taniguchi is unable to play baseball. After entering Sumitani High School, he is constantly watching the baseball club even though he is unable to play. He catches the eye of the captain of the soccer club and decides to join, while still has lingering hopes of joining the baseball club. While he's a complete beginner, Taniguchi developed a strong spirit of hard work while in junior high school and his new teammates begin to see his potential. While he focuses all of his energy on soccer, he is unable to forget his youthful zeal for baseball and he begins umpiring baseball games in secret.

After someone leaks his secret to the captain of the soccer team, the captain becomes angry at him and Taniguchi decides that soccer is not really for him. At the recommendation of the captain, he resigns from the soccer club and joins the baseball club. The Sumitani baseball club would lose their big game every year due to the inexperience of the club members. After Taniguchi joined, however, the club begins to change for the better.