(August 6, 1917 – October 5, 1996) was a Japanese baseball pitcher, infielder, catcher, and manager who played 15 total seasons in the
Japanese Baseball League
was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball.
The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine league c ...
and then
Nippon Professional Baseball
or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''.
Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...
, during the period 1936 to 1955. The rare
two-way player
In sports that require a player to play on offense and defense (such as basketball and ice hockey), a two-way player refers to a player who excels at both. In sports where a player typically specializes on offense or defense (like American footb ...
, Noguchi was particularly unusual in that he excelled in the specialized positions of both pitcher and catcher.
A four-time
All-Star and a two-time
Best Nine Award
The Best Nine Award is awarded annually to the best player at each position in both the Central League and Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball as determined by a pool of journalists.
History
While the Best Nine Award was first presen ...
-winner, Noguchi was the eldest of four brothers who played professional baseball in Japan.
Biography
Born in
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
,
Aichi
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectu ...
, Noguchi attended Chukyo Shogyo High School and
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-er ...
.
Senators/Taiyō/Nishitetsu
Noguchi began his professional career in 1936 with the
Japanese Baseball League
was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball.
The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine league c ...
(JBL), as an 18-year-old with the
Tokyo Senators
The Nishitetsu Baseball Club was a team in the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). Founded in 1936 as the Tokyo Senators, the team went through a number of name changes and mergers before being dissolved after the 1943 season.
The team's undisputed ...
. As a rookie, Noguchi went 15-13 with a 2.65 earned run average in 1936; following that with a combined 34–22 record in 1937, with a 2.21 ERA. (The 1936 and 1937 JBL seasons were split into spring and fall half-seasons.) His 1937 totals led the league in games pitched and innings; he started nearly 70% of his team's games, and his 34 wins represented 68% of the Senators combined victories for the year.
Noguchi wore uniform number 18 for the Senators, starting a trend where ace pitchers wore that number. Other notable Japanese pitchers who have worn number 18 since Akira Noguchi (even carrying the tradition over to
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
) include
Tsuneo Horiuchi
is a former professional baseball player in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and a politician. A right-handed pitcher, in he was voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baseball career
Horiuchi played for the Yomiuri Giants his ...
,
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 wi ...
,
Yu Darvish
, more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ 有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...
,
Daisuke Matsuzaka
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed in Japan and "Dice ...
, and
Tsuyoshi Wada
is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB). He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs.
Wada pitched in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Be ...
.
[Mike]
What’s In A Number?,"
''River Ave Blues'' (February 21, 2012).
After excelling as a pitcher in 1936–1937, Noguchi left professional baseball for four seasons, during which his younger brother
Jirō Noguchi
(January 6, 1920 – May 21, 2007) was a Japanese baseball pitcher and outfielder/infielder who played 13 seasons in the Japanese Baseball League and then Nippon Professional Baseball, from 1939 to 1952. A two-way player who really excelled at pi ...
took his place as the team's star pitcher. (Two other Noguchi brothers briefly played in the JBL: Noboru
. 1922, d. 1945with the
Hanshin Baseball Club, and Wataru
. 1926 who played for
Kinki Nihon.)
Akira returned to the team in 1942–1943, joining Jirō. After his hiatus from baseball, Akira mostly left pitching behind, concentrating on hitting, initially as a first baseman and then in later years as a catcher. Altogether, Noguchi played four seasons with the Senators franchise, which, due to various pressures and changing ownership went through a number of name changes during his tenure: Tokyo Senators (1936–1937), Taiyō (1942), and finally Nishitetsu (1943).
Hankyu
Noguchi moved to the
Hankyu Baseball Club
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...
in 1944, returning to the team (which soon became known as the
Hankyu Braves
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...
) after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. There he was joined by
Jirō, where the two brothers were teammates for three more seasons (making it five in all). As a member of the Braves in 1947, Akira became the first person in Japanese pro baseball to hit an
inside-the-park
In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a play where a batter hits a home run without hitting the ball out of the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer".
Discussion
To score a ...
grand slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
.
Dragons
Leaving the Braves after the 1948 season, Akira joined the
Chunichi Dragons
The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...
, the franchise where he would have his greatest success, as a catcher. He played for the Dragons from 1949 to 1955, making four
All-Star teams and being named to the
Best Nine
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporatio ...
at catcher twice. His best year was 1950, when he hit .271 with a career-best 18 home runs and 73 RBI.
Immediately after his playing career ended, Noguchi was hired by Dragons as the team's manager. He guided the team to winning records in 1955 and 1956, and then retired from baseball.
Death
Noguchi died on October 5, 1996, at age 79.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noguchi, Akira
1917 births
1996 deaths
Japanese baseball players
Nippon Professional Baseball catchers
Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers
Hankyu Braves players
Chunichi Dragons players
Chunichi Dragons managers
Nishitetsu Baseball Club players
Meiji University alumni
Sportspeople from Nagoya