Why do Maeda Jun productions so frequently feature baseball?


Things by Maeda Jun feature baseball. A lot.

Episode 1 of _Clannad: After Story_ is a baseball episode, and there's a fair
bit of baseball elsewhere in both seasons of _Clannad_. Episode 4 of
_Charlotte_ is a baseball episode. Episode 4 of _Angel Beats!_ is a baseball
episode, and the whole Hinata/Yui thing later in the show is also rife with
baseball. _Little Busters!_ is brimming with baseball. I'm told that _Rewrite_
(the VN) also has baseball in it. Dunno about _Air_ or _Kanon_ , but I'd be
surprised if they were devoid of baseball.

I know baseball is big in Japan, and I know that Maeda's work is formulaic to
a degree (ever seen the Maeda Jun bingo board?), but this goes beyond that.
Why does Maeda Jun put baseball in so many of his works? (I've heard that Key
has some sort of sponsorship deal with a baseball team. Is this true? If so,
that'd explain it.)




The two reasons I can come up with is that [Baseball is one of the most
popular sports in Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_in_Japan), and
therefore is a common
[troupe](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BaseballEpisode) in anime
and Maeda Jun just uses it a lot, in order to provide a filler and some comedy
in a show.

The second reason is advertisement for Yokohama DeNA BayStars, where they
collaborate on the baseball episodes, where some characters are based on or
named after the DeNA team members. But, I can only be [sure for that for
Charlotte](http://seagull.hateblo.jp/entry/charlotte-baystars), not the other
anime you have mentioned.

> This entire anime is done in collaboration with DeNA Baystars, which is a
> baseball team in Yokohama, Japan. The characters are even named after the
> team members.

