On October 4th, a retirement ceremony for Tohoku Rakuten Takero Okajima was held at Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Okajima took his final at-bat as a pinch hitter, hitting hit past short stop off the opposing starting pitcher, Mitsunari Takahashi. In the top of the 9th inning, he also played in right and left defense.

At the post-game ceremony, a video was shown looking back on Okajima's 14 years as a player, and video messages were also played from pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, Motohiro Shima, Kazuo Matsui, and Kazuya Fujita, who all played for Tohoku Rakuten.

Next, Okajima gave a speech. The full speech is below.

"Thank you very much to everyone who has supported Takero Okajima for the past 14 years. I started at the Kumejima training camp in 2012 and experienced the intensity and toughness of professional baseball. I still remember thinking, "I'll just do my best for three years."

I just worked hard at practice and was able to win the league championship and become the best in Japan in 2013. Even now, the best memory of my baseball career is the moment we became the best in Japan.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to someone. First of all, Mr. Senichi Hoshino. I will call him Manager here. In 2013, at the rally in Morioka, I went to bow and ask him to use me wherever he wanted. He simply replied, "Okay, keep practicing," but two days later I was in starting line-up as leadoff hitter and right fielder. I took the bat with the feeling that I didn't want to have any regrets.

The result was a hit to center fielder. If the best moment was when I became number one in Japan, then this was the one I'll never forget. I think I've been able to continue playing baseball this far because of the manager who used me there. Thank you, Manager Hoshino.

Dad, thank you for coming to practice every day even though you're tired from work. I owe my batting to you. Mom, thank you for getting up early in the morning and taking me to and from school to bring lunch. I'm so grateful. Kids, thank you for understanding my job. We haven't had much time to hang out, so let's go to lots of different places from now on.

And Mayu, thank you for always welcoming me with a smile. I can't express how much your smile has helped me. I'm truly grateful.

To my teammates, I have no regrets about retiring. I just wanted to win one more championship. From now on, as a fan, I would like to watch the victory together with all of you here.

And, I have seen the same scenery with all of you fans, through good times and bad. I cannot express how much your voices and cheers have helped me. Please continue to send your enthusiastic support to the players. Thank you very much.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone involved with the team who helped organize this grand ceremony. Everyone who came to Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi. Everyone who watched on the screen or listened to the radio. My seniors, juniors, and friends who shared the same time with me. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with Takero Okajima. Thank you so much for the past 14 years."

Afterwards, he was presented with bouquets by pitcher Takahiro Norimoto​ ​Norimoto, players Ginjiro Sumitani, Ginji, Kazuo Matsui, and his family, who played for Tohoku Rakuten from 2021 to 2023. After taking a group photo with his teammates on mound, he took a leap into the air in the seventh inning.

At the end, he walked around the stadium, throwing autographed balls and waving back to the cheers of the crowd.

・ Takero Okajima results/video