(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 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 ...

, from 1939 to 1952. A two-way player who really excelled at pitching, Noguchi was a six-time 20-game winner, a three-time 30-game winner, and once won 40 games in a season. His 1.96 career earned run average is second all-time. As a batter, Noguchi had a 31-game hitting streak, a Japanese professional baseball record which stood for 25 years. He was elected to the

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The is a museum which includes a library, reference rooms and . It first opened in 1959 next door to Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. In 1988, the museum moved to a new site within the Tokyo Dome. The Hall of Fame and Museum was created as a ...

in 1989. Noguchi was one 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, Noguchi attended Chukyo Shogyo High School and

Hosei University is a private university based in Tokyo, Japan. The university originated in a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha (, i.e. Tokyo association of law), established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō (, i.e. Tokyo school of law ...

(although he dropped out).

Senators/Tsubasba/Taiyō/Nishitetsu

Noguchi began his professional career in 1939 with the Japanese Baseball League (JBL), as a 19-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 ...

(the team his older brother

Akira Noguchi (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 and then Nippon Professional Baseball, during the period 1936 to 1955. The rare ...

had played for in 1936–1937). Jirō Noguchi played five seasons with the franchise, which, due to various pressures and changing ownership went through a number of name changes during his tenure: Tokyo Senators (1939), Tsubasa Baseball Club (1940), Taiyō (1941–1942), and Nishitetsu (1943). Noguchi's rookie season of 1939 was remarkable: a workhorse, he went 33–19 with a 2.04 earned run average, setting a rookie record for victories. He led the league in innings pitched, most games pitched, complete games, and hits and home runs allowed. When not pitching, he often played outfield or first base (although he only hit. 251). In 1940, Noguchi put together another remarkable season, going 30–11 with a league-leading 0.93 earned run average. He also hit .260. Noguchi went 25–12 with a league-leading 0.88 ERA in 1941, becoming the only pitcher in Japanese professional baseball history to have two consecutive sub-1 ERA seasons. Jirō Noguchi's 1942 season was his most impressive one as a pitcher, featuring a record of 40-17 and a 1.19 ERA, with a still-league-record 19 shutouts to go along with 264 strikeouts. He led the league in victories. That year Noguchi pitched all 28 innings of a tie game against Nagoya Club that featured Nagoya's Michio Nishizawa also pitching all 28 innings."Noguchi, Jiro,"
The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website. Retrieved Aug. 23, 2020. In 1942, Noguchi appeared in 66 games, throwing a total of innings. In 1943,

returned to pro baseball (this time as an infielder/catcher), joining Jirō on the team. (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 The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

.) Noguchi went 25–12 with a 1.45 ERA in 1943, also hitting .253. Despite finishing with a .513 winning percentage in 1943, Nishitetsu was dissolved after the season. By this time, Noguchi had been drafted by the military to serve in

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 ...

Hankyu

When the league returned after the war in 1946, Jirō and Akira joined the Hankyu Club, which a year later became 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 ...

. (Altogether, Jirō and Akira played five years as teammates in the JBL.) In 1946, Jirō Noguchi had a 31-game hitting streak, a record which stood until 1971 (when it was broken by

Tokuji Nagaike Tokuji "Atsushi" Nagaike (長池徳士, born February 21, 1944) is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder in Nippon Professional Baseball. He played 14 seasons in NPB, all for the Hankyu Braves, from 1966 to 1979. A two-time Pacific ...

). Noguchi hit .298 overall, finishing ninth in the league in batting average. He was 13-14 for Hankyu with a 2.67 ERA, good for fifth in the league. In 1947, Noguchi had his sixth 20-win season at 24–17 with a 2.26 ERA. In 1948, Noguchi was 14–16 with a 2.94 ERA and hit .261; he also stole 18 bases in 22 attempts. That year he set a record with 13 complete games that featured no bases on balls. In 1950, the JBL reorganized into

(NPB); Noguchi stayed with Hankyu, playing into the 1953 season. His final notable year as a pitcher was 1950 when he went 15–9, finishing sixth in the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

division in ERA with a 3.16 mark; he also hit .259.

Retirement and legacy

Noguchi retired after the 1953 season, later working as a minor league manager for the

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 ...

, and as a coach for the

and

Mainichi Orions 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 ...

. For his career, Noguchi went 237–139 with a career 1.96 ERA, walking 647 and striking out 1,395 in innings. He hit .248 with 9 career home runs and 368 runs batted in. He is second all-time in Japanese baseball in career ERA (behind

Hideo Fujimoto (also known as Hideo Nakagami) (May 10, 1918 – April 26, 1997) was a Japanese baseball pitcher. He holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA (1.90) and seasonal ERA (0.73), as well as best all-time winning percentage (.697). During his ...

) and still ranks very high in a number of career pitching records, including victories, complete games, shutouts, walkless complete games, and innings pitched. Baseball guru Jim Albright ranks Noguchi as number 12 on his list of the greatest players in Japanese baseball history.Albright, Jim
"JAPAN’S TOP PLAYERS,"
BaseballGuru.com. Retrieved Aug. 23, 2020. Noguchi was elected by the Selection Committee for Players to the

in 1989. He died in

Takarazuka, Hyōgo 270px, Takarazuka City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takarazuka city center The kanji (UTF-8 code FA1016), which is part of Takarazuka's official name (), is not available on all systems. (It can be entered in Wikipedia with HTML character & ...

, on May 21, 2007, at age 87.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noguchi, Jiro 1920 births 2007 deaths Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Hankyu Braves players Nishitetsu Baseball Club players Hosei University alumni Sportspeople from Nagoya Japanese military personnel of World War II