Shigeru Sugishita (杉下茂, born September 17, 1925) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and coach. Renowned for his forkball, Sugishita dominated 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 ...

from 1950–1955, "SUGISHITA, Shigeru,"
The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Japan). Accessed April 3, 2015. winning more than 30 games twice (winning at least 23 games each season), and garnering three Eiji Sawamura Awards. Sugishita usually split his time between starting games and pitching in relief. He played 11 seasons, ten of them for the Chunichi/ Nagoya Dragons.

Biography

Born in

Tokyo Prefecture Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Sugishita attended Teikyo Shogyo High School and Meiji University. In 1950, Sugishita led the

in strikeouts and innings pitched. In 1951, he went 28-13 with a 2.36 ERA, leading the Central League in victories and winning his first Eiji Sawamura Award. 1952 was another stellar campaign for Sugishita, as he went 32-14 with a 2.33 ERA, pitching in 61 games and throwing innings. That year he again won the

Sawamura Award The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year. The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawa ...

. In 1954, Sugishita won his third

, going 32-12 with a 1.39 ERA. He pitched innings, had 27 complete games, 7 shutouts, and 273 strikeouts, and was named

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a partic ...

of the

. Capping off the season, he was the MVP of 1954 Japan Series, pitching in four of the seven games and winning three of them, including the game-seven clincher. He is one of only three players in NPB history to win the Sawamura Award, the MVP award, and the Japan Series MVP in the same season. Despite only being 32 years old, Sugishita retired from playing after the 1958 season and became the Dragons' manager. After guiding the team for two seasons, Sugishita was let go after the 1960 season, when the Dragons finished in fifth place. In 1961, Sugishita returned to playing, pitching mostly in relief for the Daimai Orions. He went 4-6 with a respectable 2.44 ERA. Sugishita went back to managing, leading the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

in 1966, and returning to Chunichi in 1968. His teams did not perform well, and Sugishita moved on to announcing baseball on television. Shigeru Sugishita was elected to 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 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugishita, Shigeru 1925 births Living people Meiji University alumni Baseball people from Tokyo Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Chunichi Dragons players Daimai Orions players Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners Managers of baseball teams in Japan Chunichi Dragons managers Hanshin Tigers managers Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees