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Senichi Hoshino
was a Nippon Professional Baseball player and manager. In 2003, he led the Hanshin Tigers to their first Central League pennant in 18 years before retiring for health reasons. In 2007, he managed the Japanese national team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In October 2010 Hoshino was hired as manager of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He led the Eagles to a Pacific League pennant and Japan Series championship in 2013. Childhood Hoshino was born the third of three children in Kurashiki, Japan. His father died three months after he was born, and his mother raised him and his two sisters alone. He played baseball throughout his high school years, but was unable to advance to the Koshien baseball tournament. He entered Meiji University, and became a starter from his first year. He marked 23 total wins in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, including one no-hitter, but his team never won the league championship. Hoshino's reputation as a hot-headed leaderWhiting, Robert. ''You Gotta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer. Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League(and later the National League) and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The Japanese Central Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country. Unlike the Pacific League, designated hitters are not used during Central League home games. History The Central League was founded in 1949 with eight teams: four holdovers from the previous Japanese Baseball League — the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers, the Yomiuri Giants, and the Shochiku Robins (formerly the Taiyō Robins) — and four new teams — the Hiroshima Carp, the Kokutetsu Swallows, the Nishi Nippon Pirates, and the Taiyō Whales. The Nishi Nippon Pirates existed for one season — they placed sixth in 1950, and the following season merged with the also Fukuoka-based Nishitetsu Clippers (a member of the Pacific League) to form the Nishitetsu Lions, who joined the Pacific Lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsuya Nomura
was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) catcher and manager. During his over 26-season playing career mostly spent with the Nankai Hawks (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks), he became one of NPB's greatest offensive catchers. He was awarded the Pacific League MVP Award five times, became the first NPB batter to win the Triple Crown in 1965, and holds the record for second-most home runs and RBIs in NPB history. Nomura was a player-manager for the last eight years he was with the Hawks, leading them to the Pacific League title in 1973. After playing, he became a full-time manager and served led the Yakult Swallows to four league titles and three Japan Series championships from 1990 to 1998. Later, he managed the Hanshin Tigers for three seasons and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles for four seasons until his retirement in 2009. As a manager, Nomura recorded 1,565 wins, the fifth-most wins of any manager in NPB history. He was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh (Japanese: , ''Ō Sadaharu''; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born former baseball player and manager Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Ō Sadaharu"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 758. who is currently the chairman of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. Oh holds the world lifetime home run record, having hit 868 home runs during his professional career. He established many NPB batting records, including runs batted in (RBI) (2,170), slugging percentage (.634), bases on balls (2,390), and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.080). In 1977, Oh became the first recipient of the People's Honour Award. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. Oh batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Originally signed with the powerhouse Yomiuri Giants in 1959 as a pitcher, Oh was soon converted to a full-time hitter. Under the tutelage of coach Hiroshi Arakawa, Oh devel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shigeo Nagashima
is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager. Biography Nagashima played baseball at his local high school, and on the Rikkyo University baseball team from 1954–1957. He joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1958. His jersey number (3) is now a retired number for the Yomiuri Giants. After retiring, he became manager of the Yomiuri Giants from 1975–1980, and again from 1993–2001. He was scheduled to manage the Japanese national team for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but he suffered a stroke shortly before and was hospitalized. He recovered from his stroke, appearing at a baseball game in the Tokyo Dome in 2005, and in a television commercial in 2006, with his son, Kazushige. Nagashima has four children. His eldest son, Kazushige Nagashima, is a former professional baseball player, and currently works as a sportscaster. Kazushige was not as successful as his father on the field, but he played on the Yomiuri Giants when his father was manager, and has since launched a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eiji Sawamura Award
The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year. The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawamura, a power pitcher who enjoyed an illustrious career for the Tokyo Giants before being killed in combat during World War II. It is a special award that is independent of the official ''Most Valuable Pitcher'' award that is presented to one pitcher in each league (Central and Pacific) each year. Overview Selection process One starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball is chosen at the end of each season based on the following selection criteria. * Games started: 25 or more * Wins: 15 or more * Complete games: 10 or more * Winning percentage: .600 or higher * Innings pitched: 200 or more * Earned run average (ERA): 2.50 or lower * Strikeouts: 150 or more The selection criteria were established in ; prior to this, a pool of jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yomiuri Giants
The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They have played their home games in the Tokyo Dome since its opening in 1988. The team's owner is Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, Japan's largest media conglomerate which also owns two newspapers (including the eponymous ''Yomiuri Shimbun'') and the Nippon Television Network (which includes flagship Nippon TV). The Giants are the oldest team among the current Japanese professional teams. They are also by far the most successful, having won 22 Japan Series titles and an additional nine in the era of NPB's forerunner, the Japanese Baseball League. Their main rivalry is with the Hanshin Tigers, a team especially popular in the Kansai region. The Yomiuri Giants are regarded as "The New York Yankees of Japan" due to their widespread popularity, past do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shigeru Mizuhara
is a former professional baseball infielder and manager in Japan's Japanese Baseball League (JBL) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). As a player his team won nine JBL championships; as a manager his teams won five Japan Series championships. Mizuhara was a star third baseman for Keio University.Whiting, Robert. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), p. 45. Mizuhara played his entire professional career for the Tokyo Giants/Tokyo Kyojin/Yomiuri Giants, from the Japanese Baseball League's beginnings in 1936 until 1950. Playing second base for Tokyo in 1942, Mizuhara was voted Most Valuable Player of the JBL. Mizuhara served in the Japanese military during World War II, eventually being captured by the Russians; while in the prisoner of war camp, he introduced baseball to his captors. The JBL reorganized to Nippon Professional Baseball in 1950, and Mizhuara became player-manager of the Giants (although he retired as a player after the season). As manager for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whiting, Robert
Robert Whiting (born October 24, 1942) is a best-selling author and journalist who has written several books on contemporary Japanese culture - which include topics such as baseball and American gangsters operating in Japan. He was born in New Jersey, grew up in Eureka, California"More about Robert Whiting" japanesebaseball.com and graduated from in . He has lived in Japan for more than three decades since he first arrived there in 1962, while serving in the U.S. Air Force. He divides his time between homes in Tokyo and Californ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo Big6 Baseball League
is an intercollegiate baseball league that features six prominent universities in the Tokyo area. Before the 1936 establishment of the Japanese Baseball League and subsequent growth (after 1950) of Nippon Professional Baseball, the Big6 League was widely considered the highest level of baseball in Japan. Members Hosei University *Established: 1915 *All-Time Record: 1,204-880-121 *League Championships: 46 *Last Championship: Spring 2020 Keio University *Established: 1892 *All-Time Record: 1,225-864-95 *League Championships: 37 *Last Championship: Autumn 2019 Meiji University *Established: 1910 *All-Time Record: 1,254-851-109 *League Championships: 40 *Last Championship: Spring 2019 Rikkyo University *Established: 1874 *All-Time Record: 947-1,146-100 *League Championships: 13 *Last Championship: Spring 2017 University of Tokyo *Established: 1917 *All-Time Record: 253-1,672-57 *League Championships: None *Last Championship: N/A Waseda University *Established: 1901 *All-Time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiji University
, abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-era lawyers, Kishimoto Tatsuo, Miyagi Kōzō, and Yashiro Misao, Meiji University is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in Japan. The university has a total of approximately 33,000 students on all four campuses around the Greater Tokyo Area: Surugadai, Izumi, Ikuta, and Nakano. Meiji is organized into 10 undergraduate, 12 graduate, 4 professional graduate schools; and operates 15 world-class research centers and a museum. It began its first partner agreement in 1986 with York University in Canada, and currently partners with 363 universities and institutions in 56 countries. Some of the university's partners include: Stanford University, Columbia University, the University of Oxford, the University of Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koshien (other)
Kōshien (甲子園) often refers to: *Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, a neighborhood of Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan *Koshien Stadium, a baseball stadium in Koshien which is the venue of the annual high school baseball tournaments *Kōshien baseball tournament, two annual baseball tournaments played by Japanese high schools nationwide Kōshien may also refer to: Places *Kōshien Station on the Hanshin Main Line in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo *Kōshien Hotel in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, now part of Mukogawa Women's University Sport *Kōshien baseball tournament, high school tournaments generally referred to as Kōshien **Japanese High School Baseball Championship, commonly called Summer Kōshien **Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, commonly called Spring Kōshien * ''Kōshien'' (series), Japan-exclusive high school baseball-themed video games released for various systems *Koshien Bowl, an American football championship held in Koshien Stadium Education *Koshien Juni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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