Makoto Kozuru (Japanese:小鶴誠, ''Kozuro Makoto'', December 17, 1922 — June 2, 2003) 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 t ...

player who played in both the Japanese Baseball League and

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 was the MVP of 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 consi ...

in 1950, and was inducted into the

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The is a museum which includes a library, reference rooms and . It first opened in 1959 next door to Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. In 1988, the museum moved to a new site within the Tokyo Dome. The Hall of Fame and Museum was created as a ...

in 1980. His nickname was "The Japanese DiMaggio." Kozuru played as an outfielder and infielder. He holds the Japanese baseball record for most RBIs in a single season with 161 in 1950. That same year he also hit 51 home runs, becoming the first Japanese player to break the 50-homer mark in a single season. Kozuru made his professional debut at age 19 with Nagoya-gun (the team that eventually became known as the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

). After two years with the club, he spent 1944 and 1945 in the Japanese navy. Kozuru returned to his original team for the 1946 and 1947 seasons, and then spent one season each with the Kyuei Flyers and

Daiei Stars The were a Japanese professional baseball team that was founded in 1946, and played in various incarnations until 1957, when it merged with another team. Overall, the franchise only had three winning seasons, never rising higher than third place. ...

in 1948 and 1949. He hit .361 in 1949, leading the league in hitting and earning Best Nine Award honors. Joining the Shochiku Robins in 1950 (the first year of

), Kozuru had a season for the ages, hitting .355, and leading the

in home runs with 51, RBI with a still-league record 161, and runs scored with 143. He led the Robins to the inaugural

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

, which they lost to the

Mainichi Orions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugura ...

, 4 games to 2. (Kozuru was 4 for 23 in the Series, with no home runs. The Robins merged with the

Taiyo Whales The are a professional baseball team in the 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 curren ...

following the 1952 season and Kozuru joined the

Hiroshima Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 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 ...

for the balance of his career. Unfortunately, a herniated disk in his back curtailed his production and he ended up retiring in 1958 at the age of 35.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozuru, Makoto 1922 births 2003 deaths People from Iizuka, Fukuoka Baseball people from Fukuoka Prefecture Nihon University alumni Japanese baseball players Shochiku Robins players Hiroshima Carp players Daiei Stars players Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Imperial Japanese Navy personnel Japanese military personnel of World War II