Tomohiro Nioka (二岡智宏, born April 29, 1976, in

Miyoshi, Hiroshima is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on March 31, 1954. As of May 2017, the city has an estimated population of 53,616 and a population density of 69 persons per km2. The total area is 778 km2. On April 1, ...

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 ...

) is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

former professional baseball player. He previously played for 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 ...

and

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a ...

. Nioka batted and threw right-handed.

Japanese career

Early career

Tomohiro Nioka was the second draft pick of the

in . He made his pro debut that year, playing in 126 games and hitting .289. The following season he played in 119 games, hit 10

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, and collected 32

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. Nioka played in only 86 games in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, and played in 112 in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. He hit 24 homers (which set a Giants record for his position) and compiled a .281 average in the 2002 season. The Giants won the championship in 2002, and Nioka won the

Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award The is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the Japan Series, which is the final round of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) postseason. The award was first presented in 1950. The series follows a b ...

Career year

Tomohiro had a career season in . He played in 140 games, and hit .300, the first .300 season of his career. Nioka also recorded career highs in hits (172), home runs (29),

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s (14) and

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

(88). Nioka played a large part in keeping the Giants out of the cellar that year by hitting many home runs that helped snap losing skids, including a home run on September 18 that helped the Giants win, 5 to 3, and end a 9-game losing streak. The Giants tied for 3rd place in 2003.

2004-2013

In 2004, Tomohiro appeared in only 91 games, but still managed to collect 88 hits. He had a strong comeback year in 2005, hitting 16 dingers and driving in 58 runs. Nioka hit .301 in 2005, a new career high. In 2006, he reached the 20-home run mark for the third time by sending 25 over the fence. In , Nioka hit .295, hit 20 home runs, and set a career high in RBI with 83. He played at both short and

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in '07. On November 14, , Nioka and

Masanori Hayashi is a former professional Japanese baseball player. He played as a pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants (2002–2008), the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2009–2011) and the Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a pr ...

were acquired by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters for Takahito Kudo and

Micheal Nakamura is a Japanese-born Australian former professional baseball pitcher who played for the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Yomiuri Giants and Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Pr ...

MLB rumors

It was rumored over the 2007

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

offseason that Nioka, a free agent after the '07 season, was interested in playing in the big leagues. He was quoted as saying "I'd most definitely consider playing in the Major Leagues" in 2003. It was reported that possible destinations for Nioka might be the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

, or

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Love hotel scandal

In July 2008, the Japanese tabloid weekly Josei Seven reported, with pictures, that Nioka, who is married, had gone to a

love hotel A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sexual activities. The name originates from "Hotel Love" in Osaka, which was built in 1968 and had a rotating s ...

with TV announcer

Mona Yamamoto is a Japanese TV announcer and presenter. Her father is Norwegian and she became a naturalized Japanese citizen at the age of 6. After graduating from Gakushuin University, Mona joined the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation as an announcer. She p ...

. The two met by chance at a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

bar in Shinjuku ni-chōme, Tokyo and, according to the newspaper, traveled to the hotel after drinking and conversing for several hours. The incident received widespread press attention in Japan.Brasor, Phillip,
All this fuss over just a little drink at a . . . love hotel
, ''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', July 20, 2008.

References

External links

*
MLB4U
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nioka, Tomohiro 1976 births Living people Baseball people from Hiroshima Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Yomiuri Giants players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Managers of baseball teams in Japan