is a Japanese former baseball player for the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, 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 Figh ...

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 ...

. He played for the Fighters during all 22 years of his professional career, earning the nickname "Mr. Fighters". Tanaka played for Japan's

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. On May 15, 2007, he recorded his 2,000th career hit during a game against

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 ...

, automatically becoming 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 begi ...

(the Golden Players Club). For most of his career, Tanaka wore uniform number 6. Tanaka retired in 2007. As a coach, he wears #72. The

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

20019 Yukiotanaka is named after Tanaka.

References

External links

* 1967 births Living people Baseball people from Miyazaki Prefecture Nippon Ham Fighters players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Olympic baseball players for Japan Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches People from Miyakonojō {{Japan-baseball-infielder-stub