is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. He currently is a coach for the
Yokohama DeNA BayStars
The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...
. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Ishii was regarded as one of the best Japanese shortstops of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Though late in his career his stats declined due to age, he still contributed with his precise fielding and solid batting abilities, as well as his veteran leadership.
Ishii entered the professional leagues with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales, and played with the franchise for most of his career. (The team changed its name to the
Yokohama BayStars
The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...
in 1993.)
Biography
Ishii joined the Yokohama Taiyo Whales from outside the draft in 1988. His uniform number was 66. He played as a pitcher during his early career, and marked his first professional victory in 1989. He also got a hit in his first victory. Ishii compiled a record of 1-4, with a 5.69 ERA in his three years as a pitcher.
Ishii converted to the infield in 1992. He became the team's regular third baseman the same year. The team changed its name to the
Yokohama BayStars
The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...
in 1993, and Ishii changed his uniform number to 0. He played a full season at third base, batting second. He won the
Central League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...
Golden Glove award and led the league in steals. He changed his number to 5 in 1994.
He played in the
All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...
for the first time in 1995. He switched from third base to shortstop in 1996. He was an all-star for five consecutive seasons from 1997 to 2001.
Ishii began to bat lead-off in 1997. He received 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 ...
as the best shortstop in the Central League in 1997. He would receive this award for five consecutive years, until 2001. The Yokohama Baystars won the Central League pennant, as well as the
Japan Championship Series in 1998 (38 years after their last championship in 1960). Ishii led the league in steals and hits, and received his fourth Golden Glove award at shortstop. He led the league in steals for three consecutive seasons (1998~2000).
In 1999 he marked 1,000 career hits, 1,000 games played, and 200 career steals. Ishii led the league in hits for the second time in his career in 2001.
Ishii went into a huge slump in 2003, getting fewer than 100 hits in a season for the first time since 1992. He reversed his slump in 2004, matching his career high in home runs.
He started every single game in 2005, batting first and playing shortstop. He also played in every inning. In 2006, he played in every inning of all 146 season games for the second year in a row. He also tied his career high for single-season hits.
Ishii got his 2,000th career hit on May 11, 2006, in his first at-bat against the
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping c ...
.
["Takuro Ishii Hits 2,000th,"]
JapaneseBaseball.com (May 12, 2006). He was the 34th player in Japanese baseball — and the second player who has a win as a pitcher — to reach the milestone. As a result, he automatically became 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 ...
, one of the two Japanese baseball halls of fame.
Ishii had knee surgery during the 2006 off-season, and was removed from a game on April 1, ending his full-inning play record at 339 games (second most among active players).
After spending 19 seasons with the Whales/BayStars, Ishii moved to the
Hiroshima Toyo Carp
The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...
in 2009. After retiring following the 2012 season, he became a coach for the Carp.
Personal life
Ishii's wife is
FujiTV
JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned-and-operated station, Owned and operated by the it is the flagship (broadcasting), key station of t ...
announcer Shiori Arase. He has two children, born in 2002 and 2005. His former wife is
Azusa Senou
, is a Japanese singer, actress and model. She was a former member of the Japan's idol group Coco in the late 1990s.
Biography
Azusa was born in Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan, and made her solo debut on 4 September 1991. She was a founding member o ...
, who was a member of
CoCo. They were married from 1996 to 2000, but she left him because he frequently cheated on her with other women. One famous example occurred in 2000 when well-known NHK announcer
Yumiko Udo
is a Japanese journalist, television reporter, television personality, and former NHK Announcer.
Early years
Udo was born in Ijūin Town (now Hioki City), Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. At an early age she moved to Osaka, where she grew up. Fai ...
was photographed coming out of Takuro's apartment in the early hours of the morning disguised wearing a wig.
Awards
*Best Nine Award: 1997~2001 (shortstop)
*Golden Glove Award: 1993~1995 (third base), 1998 (shortstop)
*All-Star: 1995, 1997–2001
*2000th hit: May 11, 2006
References
External links
Nippon Professional Baseball statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Takuro
1970 births
Living people
Baseball people from Tochigi Prefecture
Japanese baseball players
Nippon Professional Baseball infielders
Yokohama Taiyō Whales players
Yokohama BayStars players
Hiroshima Toyo Carp players
Japanese baseball coaches
Nippon Professional Baseball coaches