As part of the celebration commemorating the 80 years of the Hanshin Tigers franchise, the ballclub will later this month remember the 30th anniversary of one of the most exciting moments in Japanese baseball home run history.

On April 17, the Tigers will host the archrival Yomiuri Giants at Koshien Stadium. It was on the same date 30 years ago in 1985, a Wednesday that year, when Hanshin sluggers Randy Bass, Masayuki Kakefu and Akinobu Okada slammed back-to-back-to-back homers to straightaway center field.

It was a magical event that seemed to instill confidence in the players and fans and the belief the team could win its first Central League pennant since 1964. It was as if the team had awoken from a 21-year slumber within a five-minute period. That feeling carried through to the end of the season when the Tigers were crowned Japan Series champions in early November.

In that game three decades ago, a then-young Yomiuri right-hander Hiromi Makihara was coasting toward a victory with a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bass, batting third in the Hanshin lineup, came to the plate with two runners on base but with two outs. At the time, Bass had yet to connect for a home run that season and was hitting just .133.

He jumped on Makihara’s first pitch — a fastball — and sent it soaring over the fence in dead center. Giants outfielder Warren Cromartie stood with slumped shoulders and his back to the wall, as Bass followed two teammates home to give Hanshin a 4-3 lead.

The crowd went wild and got even more excited three pitches later when Kakefu, hitting .273 with one homer at the time, belted a 144-kph delivery from Makihara over Cromartie, making the score 5-3.

Okada put the cherry on top of the whipped cream with his first home run of the season, one that went so high and so far that all Cromartie could do was turn around and watch it go. That made it 6-3 and caused yet even more euphoria among the Hanshin players and fans.

Yomiuri manager Sadaharu Oh walked slowly out to the mound to remove the shell-shocked Makihara, and the Japanese TV play-by-play announcer said the atmosphere was like a “Koshien matsuri.” A festival for sure.

As all-time home run scenes go in Japanese baseball, this has to rank right up there with the famous sayonara homer hit by Shigeo Nagashima of the Giants against the Tigers in front of the Japanese emperor at Korakuen Stadium on June 25, 1959, and Oh’s 756th career home run, also hit at Korakuen on Sept. 3, 1977, that broke Hank Aaron’s world record.

What made it all that much more spectacular was the fact all three home runs were hit to the deepest part of the stadium. At the time, Koshien still had its “lucky zones,” areas in left — and right-center field where wire fences in front of the stands provided space for fly balls not hit all that well to drop in for home runs.

However, there was nothing cheap about any of the three homers that April night. Bass’ poke cleared the fence directly over the 120-meter mark, Kakefu’s shot hit the stands a bit left of center, and Okada’s blast went over the back screen.

Cromartie, speaking last week by phone from Miami, remembered the event clearly and said, “It was quite a feat. The Hanshin fans were going nuts, and they were letting me have it out there, too. I heard all 45,000 of them, and the Tigers fans at Koshien are like a 10th player.”

Bass, on the phone from Oklahoma, said he remembers the event as if it happened yesterday and knew when he stepped in against Makihara a homer would put his team ahead.

Asked if he thought the Tigers really won the pennant that night, although it was only about two weeks into the season, Bass said, “Maybe so. We had to show we could beat the Giants. As I recall, we swept that (three-game) series, and we beat them in Tokyo that year, too.”

Bass hit 54 homers, won a batting Triple Crown and was named MVP of the Central League season and the Japan Series in 1985. Kakefu belted 40 homers of his own, Okada hit 35 and leadoff man Akinobu Mayumi slammed 34.

“We had a lot of great young players then, including Mayumi and (current Tigers manager Yutaka) Wada, a rookie that year,” Bass recalled. “We worked hard and deserved to win. I am so looking forward to seeing them all again later this month.” Bass, Kakefu and Okada, as well as many others from the ’85 Hanshin championship team, are expected to be at Koshien on the 17th for what is being billed as “Legends Day” to celebrate the double anniversary and see if the current Tigers can win against the Giants again.

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