was a Japanese professional baseball

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

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 ...

. Eto played for 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) ...

from 1959 to 1969, where he was the Central League batting champion in 1964 and 1965 (hitting .323 and .336 respectively). In addition, he was a

Best Nine Award The Best Nine Award is awarded annually to the best player at each position in both the Central League and Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball as determined by a pool of journalists. History While the Best Nine Award was first present ...

-winner as an outfielder five times: 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, and 1968. Eto moved to the

Lotte 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 inaugural ...

from 1970 to 1971 and the Taiyo Whales from 1972 to 1974. He was the player-manager of the Taiheiyo Club Lions in 1975. He returned to the Lotte Orions for his final season in 1976. Eto died in 2008 of liver cancer at the age of 70. He was posthumously inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

References

External links

Shinichi Eto
at the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Eto, Shinichi 1937 births 2008 deaths Baseball player-managers Chunichi Dragons players Deaths from cancer in Japan Deaths from liver cancer Japanese baseball players Lotte Orions players Managers of baseball teams in Japan Nippon Professional Baseball catchers Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Taiheiyo Club Lions players Taiyō Whales players Seibu Lions managers Baseball people from Kumamoto Prefecture Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees