Play Ball (プレイボール) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akio Chiba. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1973 to 1978, with its chapters collected in twenty-two volumes.
A sequel, Play Ball 2, illustrated by Yūji Moritaka, was published in Grand Jump from April 5, 2017,[1] to May 6, 2021,[2] and collected into twelve volumes.[3]
The manga was adapted into a two-season anime television series co-produced by Eiken and Magic Bus, which aired on several Japanese television stations as well as the anime satellite television network Animax from July to September 2005 (1st season) and from January to March 2006 (2nd season).