Since it’s Mothers Day, I’d like to share a story Akinori Otsuka told me a few years ago in Peoria, Arizona. Otsuka, who recorded the final out in the 2006 World Baseball Classic to seal Japan’s first championship, was then a Triple-A pitching coach for the Padres, his first MLB team.

We started talking about the lucky circumstances that got him to San Diego, the team he most wanted to play for. Suddenly, he started talking about the turning point in his baseball career, his mother, and why always looks at the ground during the national anthem lost in thought.

“That I was able to play baseball is quite something. When I was in elementary school, I hated the hard practice.”

“I hated it, hated it.”