Koji Akiyama (秋山幸二 ''Akiyama Kōji'', born April 6, 1962) is a retired 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. He played for the

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 ...

and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (currently the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 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. ...

) in Japan's

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 ...

(NPB). A speedy slugger, Akiyama accumulated more than 400 career home runs and 300 career stolen bases, a feat matched only by one other NPB player in history (

Isao Harimoto is a Korean former Nippon Professional Baseball player and holder of the record for most hits in the Japanese professional leagues. An ethnic Korean, his birth name is Jang Hun (Hangul: 장훈, Hanja: 張勳). Harimoto has spent his life as a resi ...

). Akiyama was an integral part of the "Invincible Seibu" during the 1980s and 1990s, named such due to their sustained domination of the league, winning 11 league championships and eight Japan Series championships between 1982–1994. (Akiyama left Seibu after the 1993 season.) On July 13, 1989, Akiyama

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League Ba ...

. Akiayma was a

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 eight times, a Golden Glove winner 11 times (1987–1996, 1999), and appeared in 18 consecutive

Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series The Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game is an annual baseball series of All-Star Games (in most years, two games are played, but three such games can and have been played as well) between players from the Central League and the Pacific Leag ...

(1985–2002), an NPB record. In addition, Akiyama was

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

MVP twice (1991 and 1999), and a

Matsutaro Shoriki Award Matsutaro Shoriki Award is named in honor of Matsutarō Shōriki, the owner of the Yomiuri Shimbun, whose achievements earned him the label of the real parent of present day Japanese professional baseball. The prize was founded in 1977. It is pre ...

-winner three times (1991, 2011, and 2014). (He also struck out 1,712 times, third on the all-time list.) Akiyama 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 2014. He is also a member of

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 begin ...

(the Golden Players Club). He replaced

Sadaharu Oh Sadaharu Oh (Japanese: , ''Ō Sadaharu''; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born former baseball player and manager Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Ō Sadaharu"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 758. who ...

on October 8, 2008 as manager of the Hawks, serving as the team's manager through 2014.

Career statistics

※Bolded figures are league leading

Titles and accomplishments

*Home Run Champion : once (1987) *Stolen Bases Champion : once (1990) *Decisive RBIs Champion : 4 times (1985,1987)

References

External links

*
Koji Akiyama at BR Bullpen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akiyama, Koji 1962 births Baseball people from Kumamoto Prefecture Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks managers Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Living people Managers of baseball teams in Japan Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders San Jose Bees players Seibu Lions players

Career statistics

Titles and accomplishments

See also

References

External links