is a Japanese former professional baseball infielder, coach, and manager. He spent all of his playing career with the

Nishitetsu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

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 ...

, and served as player-manager of the team from 1962 to 1969. Nakanishi also managed the Nippon Ham-Fighters,

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Yom ...

, and

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

. He coached for the Swallows,

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stad ...

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 ...

, and

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

Playing career

Nakanishi began playing baseball in junior high school. At the time, his team did not have any baseball equipment. The group practiced side by side with the American soldiers stationed in Japan 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 ...

. Nakanishi and his teammates would pick up and practice with baseballs military personnel had left behind. During his high school baseball career, Nakanishi played in the

Japanese High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', t ...

three times. He had planned to attend

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

, but his parents negotiated Nakanishi's first contract with the

without his consent. He hit 12 home runs in his rookie season and subsequently decided to hone his power stroke. Due to his small build, Nakanishi had to twist and contort his body during at bats to generate power. He came close to the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

in four seasons, (1953, 1955, 1956, 1958) but never won. In 1953,

Isami Okamoto Isami (written: 勇) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *Isami Doi (1903–1965), American printmaker and painter *Isami Enomoto (1929-2016), American ceramicist *, Japanese professional wrestler * (1834–1 ...

led the league in hits, while Nakanishi finished second. In 1955, Nakanishi lost the RBI title to

Kazuhiro Yamauchi was a Japanese baseball player and manager. He played for the Mainichi Orions, the Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp over the span of an 18 season-long career (1952–1970). Yamauchi was the first Japanese professional baseball playe ...

. The next year, he finished second in batting average to teammate

Yasumitsu Toyoda was a Japanese professional baseball player and coach, who played as a shortstop. He played and coached for the Nishitetsu Lions and the Swallows franchise of Nippon Professional Baseball. In 1972, he coached the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Playing car ...

. In 1958, Takao Katsuragi denied Nakanishi the RBI title for the second time. Nakanishi was spiked during the 1959 season, and suffered tendonitis in his wrist in 1960. He played through the wrist injury in a bid to improve his arm strength. However, both injuries sapped his effectiveness as a player and he succeeded Tokuji Kawasaki as Lions' manager in 1962, playing the field occasionally until 1969.

Personal

For most of his own playing career, Nakanishi was managed by Osamu Mihara. Nakanishi married Mihara's daughter Toshiko in 1956.

References

External links

Baseball Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakanishi, Futoshi 1933 births Living people Baseball people from Kagawa Prefecture Nishitetsu Lions players Hanshin Tigers managers Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters managers Tokyo Yakult Swallows managers Chiba Lotte Marines managers Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Japanese baseball players Baseball player-managers Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners People from Takamatsu, Kagawa