was a 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. A right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, he played in Japan for the

Nishitetsu 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 Chunichi Dragons. Tanaka was a top pitcher in

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 ...

shortly before scandals derailed his career. A 23-game winner in 1966, he also is one of the few NPB pitchers to ever throw a

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

Biography

Tanaka attended

Miike Miike may refer to: *The Miike coal mine, Japan *Takashi Miike, Japanese filmmaker *Miike Domain *Miike District, Fukuoka *Lake Miike See also *Miike Snow Miike Snow (pronounced "Mike Snow") is a Swedish indie pop band formed in 2007. The band ...

Kougyou High School. He made his NPB debut for the

in 1961, becoming a mainstay by 1963, when he went 17-8 with a 2.66 ERA. That year he was eighth 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 ...

in ERA, tying for the shutout lead with four. After his successful 1963 season, Tanaka was named the Lions' opening day starter for four consecutive years, from 1964 to 1967. In 1964 and 1965, Tanaka had problems with his control, allowing 102 walks and 84 walks, respectively, both of which were the most in his league. On May 12, 1966, Tanaka threw a

against the Nankai Hawks, defeating them 2–0 in

Heiwadai Stadium was a ballpark located in the Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. From 1950 to 1978, it served as the home ballpark of the Nishitetsu Lions, a team in Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Pacific League. It also briefly served as the home stadi ...

. He finished the 1966 season 23-12 with a 2.34 ERA (seventh in the league), a league-leading 217 strikeouts, and 13 complete games, winning a Best Nine Award. Tanaka only won 12 games in 1967 despite a 2.17 ERA (fourth-best in the league) and a league-leading six shutouts. He was traded to the Chunichi Dragons in 1968 (for first baseman-outfielder Isao Hirono), where Tanaka went 11-12 with a 3.41 ERA, and 8-6 with a 3.31 ERA in 1969. Tanaka retired following the 1969 season.

Black Mist scandal

Following the 1969 season, the

front office discovered

Masayuki Nagayasu taking bribes from an

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

family to intentionally lose games. The team announced that Nagayasu would be released after the end of the season. Late in November 1969, the committee of commissioners presiding over the league at the time voted to ban Nagayasu from the league for life, the first time any player had been banned from Japanese baseball.McKenna, Brian. ''Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers'' (Scarecrow Press, 2007), p. 17. In April 1970, Nagayasu revealed that other players on his former team were also involved in game-fixing. The league summoned seven players to testify about their involvement, including team ace Masaaki Ikenaga. Ikenaga claimed to be uninvolved, despite having received 1 million

Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the ...

from former Lions teammate Tanaka as an invitation to cheat. (Ikenaga and Tanaka had been teammates for three seasons on the Lions, from 1964-1967.) Later that same month, an auto racer under investigation for rule violations in a race revealed that baseball players were involved in a scheme to fix the results of races. Tanaka was one of a number of current and former players arrested under suspicion of participating in the scheme. As a result of his involvement in both game-fixing and race-fixing, and even though he had already retired, Tanaka was banned from NPB for life. In his later life, Tanaka operated a restaurant and went into health food sales.

References

External links

* Career statistics and player information fro
Baseball-Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Tsutomu Japanese baseball players Nishitetsu Lions players Chunichi Dragons players 1939 births Living people Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers who have pitched a perfect game