[5] He closed out his high school career with an earned run average of 0.41, which was significantly lower than Daisuke Matsuzaka (1.12) and Masahiro Tanaka (1.31).

[1] Egawa was drafted by the Crown Lighter Lions in 1977, but turned down the team's offer because he wanted only to play for the Yomiuri Giants, and that "Kyushu was too far away, and I don't like flying", as he had developed acrophobia as a kid nearly falling off a cliff.

Instead, he went to Los Angeles, attended University of Southern California, and worked with USC baseball pitching coach Rod Dedeaux, while also learning English with future NPB player Chris Smith.

[3] After the Fukuoka Baseball Corporation sold the Lions to Seibu, then moved them to Tokorozawa, representatives began contacting Egawa to try and get him to sign.

In 1985, American expatriate player Randy Bass of the Hanshin Tigers was poised to break Sadaharu Oh's single-season record of 55 home runs.

The Yomiuri Giants pitchers — whose manager was Sadaharu Oh — were said by pitching coach to have been given instructions to intentionally walk Bass in every at-bat.

Like Hiromitsu Ochiai, known for his Oreryu (オレ流) attitude ("to do with only my style"), Egawa was considered part of a new generation of Japanese baseball players who rejected the traditional values of "obligation, self-sacrifice, and deference to their superiors.