is a former 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 ...

player for the

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 ...

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) ...

, having played his professional career for them since his debut in . He was drafted in the first round in the NPB Draft. Tatsunami holds the all-time NPB

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

record with 487, and is a member of the

Meikyukai The is one of the two baseball halls of fame in Japan, the other being the . The Meikyukai is a limited company for public benefit. Founded by Hall of Fame pitcher Masaichi Kaneda in 1978, the Meikyukai honors players born after 1926 (the begi ...

(Association of Great Players, or Golden Players Club). After the 2009 season, Tatsunami retired, having seen his skills and playing time diminish for the last few seasons. He retired with a career .285 batting average, 171 home runs, 1,037 RBI, and 2,480 hits. On 15 January 2019, Tatsunami was inducted into 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 ...

for his achievements as a player. On 13 October 2021, it was confirmed that Tatsunami has been approached to become the new manager of the Dragons ahead of the 2022 NPB season.

References

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* * 1969 births Living people People from Settsu, Osaka Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Chunichi Dragons players Chunichi Dragons managers Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Japanese baseball coaches Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Managers of baseball teams in Japan {{japan-baseball-infielder-stub