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Masumi Kuwata
Masumi Kuwata (桑田 真澄 ''Kuwata Masumi'', born 1 April 1968 in Yao, Osaka, Japan) is a former Japanese right-handed pitcher who played the bulk of his career with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched 21 seasons with the Giants, beginning in 1986. Near the end of his career, he played part of one season with the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. He is the son of professional golfer Izumi Kuwata. Personal life In high school, Kuwata entered the prestigious PL (Perfect Liberty) High School in Osaka. He and his teammate Kazuhiro Kiyohara immediately became stars in high school baseball. Kuwata led his team to five Koshien tournaments, winning the tournament twice. He won 20 games at Koshien, which is second only to Masao Yoshida's 23 wins. The Yomiuri Giants drafted Kuwata in the 1st round in 1985. The draft generated some controversy, since Kuwata had repeatedly expressed a desire to enter Waseda University, prompting other teams to refr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881 under the name Pittsburgh Allegheny, the club joined the National League in 1887 and was a member of the National League East from 1969 through 1993. The Pirates have won five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles and made three appearances in the Wild Card Game. Despite struggling in the 1880s and 1890s, the Pirates were among the best teams in baseball shortly after the turn of the 20th century. They won three consecutive NL titles from 1901 to 1903, played in the inaugural World Series in 1903 and won their first World Series in 1909 behind Honus Wagner. The Pirates took part in arguably the most famous World Series ending, winning the 1960 World Series agains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazuhiro Kiyohara
is a Japanese television personality, YouTuber and former professional baseball player. He played in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league for 23 seasons. He retired following the 2008 season. Born in Kishiwada, Osaka in 1967, his family were baseball fans. He began his career when he joined his high school baseball team in the 1980s that subsequently won two Japanese High School Baseball Championships. He became a widely respected high school player and was selected by Seibu Lions in 1985. During his time in Lions, the team won six Japan Series titles and he tied the rookie HR record for Japanese professional baseball. In 1996, he joined the Yomiuri Giants, and was an integral part of their 2000 and 2002 Japan Series championship squads. He later joined the Orix Buffaloes, before retiring in 2008. He has been dubbed "The Uncrowned King" as he never won a major batting title, despite being widely regarded as one of NPB's greatest hitters. In 2014, Kiyohara was hospitalized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salomón Torres
Salomón Torres Ramirez (born March 11, 1972) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He began his career in with the San Francisco Giants, and also played for the Seattle Mariners, Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Milwaukee Brewers. Career San Francisco Giants Torres is best known for starting the last game of the 1993 season for the Giants, when he gave up three runs over innings to the arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants, winners of 103 games that season, finished in second place behind the 104-win Atlanta Braves, at that time in the National League West division. Though he was then in his first month as a Major Leaguer, some Giants fans blamed Torres for ruining a promising season and apparently never forgave him; those fans continued to heckle him when he returned to San Francisco as an opposing player. Said Torres: "They come to the park and they pay my salary, so they have the right to heckle me. If that's going to make them feel better and get ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indianapolis Indians
The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which opened in 1996. The Indians previously played at Owen J. Bush Stadium from 1931 to 1996 and at two versions of Washington Park from 1902 to 1931. Indianapolis is the second-oldest minor league franchise in American professional baseball (after the Rochester Red Wings). The team originated in 1902 as members of the American Association (AA), which was an independent league at the time but was granted Class A status in 1903. Since then, the Indians have played at the highest level of Minor League Baseball, though the terminology has changed. Indianapolis remained in the AA until the league disbanded after the 1962 season. They were briefly members of the International League (1963) and Pacific Coast League (1964–1968) before returning to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn, which later became a borough of New York City, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and assumed several different monikers thereafter before finally settling on the name Dodgers in 1932. From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers developed a fierce cross-town rivalry with the New York Yankees as the two clubs faced each other in the World Series seven times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before defeating them to win the franchise's first title in 1955. It was also during this period that the Dodgers made history by breaking the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues since 1884. Another major milestone was reache ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox' home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor, , following the lead of previous teams that had been known as the "Boston Red Stockings," including the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves). The team has won nine World Series championships, tied for the third-most of any MLB team, and has played in 13 World Series. Their most recent World Series appearance and win was in . In addition, they won the American League pennant, but were not able to defend their 1903 World Series championship when the New York Giants refused to participate in the 1904 World Series. The Red Sox were a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pira ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kei Igawa
is a former Japanese left-handed pitcher. He played for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He led all pitchers in the Central League for strikeouts in , and 2006. He also played in the 2006 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series. Although he has not announced his retirement, Igawa does not belong to any professional team. Professional career Hanshin Tigers (1998–2006) He was the number two draft choice of the Hanshin Tigers in . After a couple of years in the Hanshin minor league system, Igawa entered the starting rotation in . In his first full season as a starter, Igawa went 9–13 for the last-placed Tigers, but finished with a Central League second-best 2.67 ERA, behind only Chunichi's Shigeki Noguchi. In 2002, Hanshin improved to fourth, and Igawa's record was 14–9. He finished third in ERA (2.49), trailing Masumi Kuwata and Kenshin Kawakami. He also led the Central Lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatsunori Hara
is a Japanese former professional baseball player, and the current manager of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team in Nippon Professional Baseball. Career Hara played for the Giants during his professional baseball career from to . He won the Central League Rookie of the Year award in 1981 and the Central League MVP in 1983. A hugely popular member of the Giants, during his playing career he was frequently the subject of newspaper, magazines, and television profiles.Whiting, Robert. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), pp. 68-70. Hara previously managed the Giants from 2002 to 2003, and again from 2006 until his abrupt resignation at the end of the 2015 season. During those tenures, he led the Giants to seven Central League pennants and three Japan Series championships. In October 2018, he was rehired as Giants manager for three seasons after Yoshinobu Takahashi announced his intention to step down. Hara led the Japan national baseball team to victory in the final o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award was originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, but in 1967, after the retirement of Frick, the award was given to one pitcher in each league. Each league's award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, with one representative from each team. As of the 2010 season, each voter places a vote for first, second, third, fourth, and fifth place among the pitchers of each league. The formula used to calculate the final scores is a weighted sum of the votes. The pitcher with the highest score in each league wins the award. If two pitchers receive the same number of votes, the award is shared. From 1970 to 2009, writers voted for three pitche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Gullickson
William Lee Gullickson (born February 20, 1959) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who played professionally in Canada, the U.S. and Japan, during an 18-year professional career, of which 14 seasons were spent in MLB. MLB career (1979–1987) Minor Leagues Gullickson was selected as the second player to be drafted in the first round of the June 1977 Major League Baseball draft by the Montreal Expos, out of Joliet Catholic Academy in Joliet, Illinois. Montreal Expos He finished second behind Steve Howe in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in , after a season in which he went 10–5 with an earned run average (ERA) of 3.00, and set a major-league record for most strikeouts in a game by a rookie, with 18. Gullickson held that record for 18 years, until Kerry Wood broke it with 20 strikeouts in . Gullickson held the Montreal Expos-Washington Nationals all-time strikeout record for a single game with 18 strikeouts until Max Scherzer broke the record in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Kuwata
, known professionally as or Matt Rose, is a Japanese media personality, model, and musician. Early life His father is former professional baseball player Masumi Kuwata; his older brother Masaki is also a former professional baseball player, and his grandfather is professional golfer Izumi Kuwata. When he was 7 years old, his father began playing piano as a form of rehabilitation; at this time, Matt began to teach himself to play piano and violin. However, in elementary school, his father pushed him to continue playing baseball until graduation, in the hope that he would grow to eventually like it and continue. This did not happen; with the support of his mother, Maki, he promptly quit baseball after completing the sixth grade in order to pursue his interest in music. While his older brother appeared to have inherited their father's passion for the sport, Matt was reportedly disinterested in it. His mother wrote a book about the experience, titled ' (You're Fine the Way You Are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarento
Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as "talents" and were distinguished from production crews, which were seen as having more technical than charismatic talents. Careers Japanese television programs often feature these media personalities. Many, sometimes dozens at a time, are called in to take part in these prime time shows. Their participation in these programs varies greatly and includes performing, voicing opinions, mimicking fellow celebrities in a practice called ''monomane'', taking part in game shows, joking or just being present for the entire duration of the show (known as being part of the "gallery"). While it is very common for ''tarento'' to appear in serious Japanese television drama or movies, they are distinguished from mainstream actors by the fact that, where an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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