The Commissioner of Baseball is the highest office in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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). NPB's current Commissioner is Sadayuki Sakakibara.

History

Matsutarō Shōriki was a Japanese media mogul and politician. He owned the ''Yomiuri Shimbun'' newspaper, the main mouthpiece for the military dictatorship during the war, after the war it gained Japan’s highest readership while openly distributing nationalistic ...

, media mogul and owner of the

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 ...

, was instrumental in the formation of NPB in 1949–1950, and acted unofficially as the league's first commissioner in 1950.

Ichiro Yoshikuni Ichiro Yoshikuni (September 2, 1916 - September 2, 2011) was a Japanese baseball executive. He served as the Commissioner of Baseball (NPB), Commissioner of Baseball in Nippon Professional Baseball from 1989 to 1998. The longest-serving NPB commis ...

has been the longest-serving commissioner, in office from 1989–1998. In September 2013, three-term Commissioner Ryozo Kato was forced to resign when it was revealed that the baseballs used during the

2013 Nippon Professional Baseball season The 2013 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 64th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. Juiced ball scandal At the beginning of the 2013 NPB season, a new livelier ball was introduced in secret. This juiced up baseball allowed m ...

were "juiced" in secret, though Kato claimed to not know about the change. The livelier ball resulted in a marked increase in home runs league-wide, including

Tokyo 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 ...

outfielder

Wladimir Balentien Wladimir Ramon Balentien (; born July 2, 1984), nicknamed "Coco", is a Curaçaoan-Dutch professional baseball outfielder who is currently a free agent. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, and in ...

breaking the cherished NPB single-season home run record of 55, previously held by professional baseball's all-time home run leader

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 ...

Commissioners

# Morita Fukui (1951–1954) #

Nobori Inon is a Japanese banner. They are long, narrow flags, attached to a pole with a cross-rod to hold the fabric straight out and prevent it from furling around the rod; this way, the field is always visible and identifiable. History of use The ''nob ...

(1956–1962) #

Yushi Uchimura Yushi may refer to: *Mount Yushi, a mountain in Dongyang Township, Guangfeng District, Shangrao, Jiangxi, China *Yushi, Hunan, a town in Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan, China *Yushi Subdistrict, in Xishi District Xishi District () is a dis ...

(1962–1965) #

Toshiyoshi Miyazawa Toshiyoshi is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Toshiyoshi can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *敏義, "agile, justice" *敏吉, "agile, good luck" *敏善, "agile, virtu ...

(1965–1971) #

Nobumoto Ohama Nobumoto (written: 信本) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (born 1964), Japanese anime screenwriter Nobumoto (written: 信元) is also a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * (di ...

(1971–1976) #

Toshi Kaneko Toshi may refer to: * Toshi (given name), people with the given name ''Toshi'' * Toshihiko Tahara (born 1961), Japanese idol singer, a solo vocalist * Toshi (musician) (Toshimitsu Deyama, born 1965), a Japanese singer and musician * Toshi (comedian ...

(1976–1979) #

Takeso Shimoda was a Japanese diplomat who served as ambassador to the United States and a justice in the Supreme Court of Japan. Career Shimoda served as vice foreign minister (a bureaucratic appointment) within the Japanese Foreign Ministry. He was involve ...

(1979–1985) # Juhei Takeuchi (1985–1988) #

(1989–1998) #

Hiromori Kawashima Hiromori Kawashima (February 2, 1922 – December 9, 2012) was a Japanese executive. He served as the Commissioner of Baseball in Nippon Professional Baseball from 1998 to 2004. He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Kawashima wa ...

(1998–2004) #

Yasuchika Negoro was the 9th ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Aomori Prefecture). His courtesy title, initially Dewa-no-kami, was later raised to ''Saikyo Daiyu'' and ''Jujū'', and his Court rank was Junior ...

(2004–2007) # Ryozo Kato (2008–2014) #

Katsuhiko Kumazaki was the commissioner 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". ...

(2014–2017) #

Atsushi Saito Atsushi is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *Atsushi (musician), Japanese singer and vocalist of the band Exile *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese synchronized swimmer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Jap ...

(2017–2022) # Sadayuki Sakakibara (2023–present (minimum 2024))https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/nippon-professional-baseball-appoints-new-commissioner/

References

{{reflist Nippon Professional Baseball commissioners Baseball occupations