Hichori Morimoto (Japanese: 森本稀哲, Korean: 이희철,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 李稀哲, born January 31, 1981) is a Japanese professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

er of Korean descent for the

Saitama Seibu 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 ...

. He was the number 4 draft pick for the Fighters in . For years, he was the backup for the most popular player in the league, Tsuyoshi Shinjo. After the 2006 season in which the Fighters won the Japan Series, SHINJO (registered name with capital letters) announced his retirement, in which Morimoto then took over SHINJO's center field spot, and also his number 1 (Morimoto had worn number 46 when SHINJO was playing). Morimoto has alopecia areata, an

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly a ...

that causes loss of body hair.

References

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Hichori Morimoto, JapaneseBallPlayers.com
1981 births Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Japanese baseball players Japanese people of Korean descent Living people Naturalized citizens of Japan Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Nippon Ham Fighters players Baseball people from Tokyo Yokohama BayStars players Yokohama DeNA BayStars players Saitama Seibu Lions players Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches People with alopecia areata {{Japan-baseball-outfielder-stub