Jump to content

Koji Yamamoto (baseball, born 1946)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Icarusgeek (talk | contribs) at 10:55, 19 April 2016 (removed Category:People from Hiroshima; added Category:Sportspeople from Hiroshima using HotCat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Koji Yamamoto
Yamamoto as manager for the Japan national team in 2013 World Baseball Classic
Center fielder / Manager
Born: (1946-10-25) October 25, 1946 (age 78)
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
NPB debut
April 12, 1969, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Last appearance
1986, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
NBP statistics
Hits2339
Home runs536
Base on balls1168
Runs batted in1475
Stolen Bases231
Batting average.290
Slugging percentage.5416
NBP All-Star Game statistics
Batting average.316
Home runs14
Runs batted in27
Managerial statistics
WinsLeague Champion (1991)
Teams
As player

As manager

Career highlights and awards
Regular season

Records

  • 5x Over 40 Home runs (1977–1981)
  • 9x Over 30 Home runs (1975, 1977–1984)
  • 6x Over 100 Runs batted in (1977–1981, 1983)
  • 5-years consecutive seasons over 40 Home Runs (1977–1981)
  • 8-years consecutive seasons over 30 Home Runs (1977–1984)
  • 13-years consecutive seasons over 20 Home Runs (1974–1986)
  • 5-years consecutive seasons over 100 Runs batted in (1977–1981)
  • 17-years consecutive seasons over 100 Hits (1970–1986)
  • 1x Hitting for the cycle (April 30, 1983)
  • 9-Consecutive Hits (July 6–8, 1972)
  • 302-Consecutive Plays with No error (1975)
  • 872-Consecutive Games (1976–1983)
  • 11x Grand Slams (1972,1977,1978,1980–1984)
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction2008

Kōji Yamamoto (山本 浩二, Yamamoto Kōji, born October 25, 1946 in Saeki, Hiroshima) is a former Japanese baseball player and manager of the Hiroshima Carp of Japan's Central League. A four-time home run king having played for Hiroshima Carp throughout his career, Yamamoto contributed to the team winning five league championships including its first-ever in 1975, and three titles of Japan Series in 1979, 1980 and 1984. He recorded over 40 home runs for five years in a row from 1977. With 536 home runs, he is fourth on the NPB career list. He is known as the Mr. Red Helmet (ミスター赤ヘル, Misutā Akaheru), nicknamed after Hiroshima Carp's symbolic red colored helmet.

Yamamoto managed Hiroshima Carp twice, between 1989 and 1993, and later between 2001 and 2005. He led the team to win Central League championship in 1991. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, and is a member of the Meikyukai, or the "Golden Players Club."

Career

After graduating from high school in Hiroshima, Yamamoto was admitted to Hosei University in 1965. Although he originally joined its baseball club as a pitcher, he was later converted to outfielder by the team manager who saw higher potential in Yamamoto at bat. Thus he came to be known as the "Hosei Trio", together with Kōichi Tabuchi and Masaru Tomita. Yamamoto was drafted first round by Hiroshima Carp in 1968. He began to exhibit his talent as an average and long range hitter in 1975, with which he contributed to the Carp mark its first league championship in its history, ending the season at .319 (leading hitter of the year) with 30 home runs. Starting 1977, he logged over 40 home runs for five consecutive years, which is in Japan a record paralleled only by Sadaharu Oh as of 2010. He was the home run leader of 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1983 seasons, and the RBI winner between 1979 and 1981. He was also awarded the Mitsui Golden Glove Award for ten consecutive years from 1972. Together with his number 8, Yamamoto retired from playing for the Carp in 1986, when the team won the league championship but lost Japan Series for the Seibu Lions.

Managerial career

Spending several years as a baseball analyst for NHK, Yamamoto returned to Hiroshima Carp as its manager in 1989. He finished the first two years in second place, then took the team to win the Central League pennant in 1991. In 1993, however, he resigned from his post after delivering the team the last place in the league which it had not seen since 1974. He was asked to direct the Carp once again in 2001, although he never finished better than fourth place in the first year, then in fifth for the following three years, and finally in last place in 2005 when he left the squadron once again.

Other records and data

  • 1st play on April 12, 1969.
  • 1st hit on April 13, 1969
  • 1st home run on May 14, 1969.
  • Hitting for the cycle (April 30, 1983).
  • MVP in the Japanese Central League (1975 and 1980).
  • Best nine of the year (1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1986).
  • Japan All-star game (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986)
  • Hiroshima Prefectural Prize of Honour (1987).
  • 536 HR, 1475 RBI, 2339 H and 231 SB

Statistics as a player

Year Team No. GP AB R H 2H 3H HR RBI TB BB SB CS SH BA Titles
1969 Hiroshima 27 120 366 38 88 20 1 12 40 146 23 9 5 8 .240
1970 Hiroshima 27 128 461 67 112 8 4 22 56 194 41 21 12 4 .243
1971 Hiroshima 8 123 431 42 108 19 0 10 52 157 39 25 10 4 .251
1972 Hiroshima 8 130 485 73 125 27 0 25 66 227 52 18 11 10 .258 Gold Glove Award
1973 Hiroshima 8 126 449 68 121 24 1 19 46 204 59 10 12 12 .269 Gold Glove Award
1974 Hiroshima 8 127 476 74 131 23 2 28 74 242 41 18 6 8 .275 Gold Glove Award
1975 Hiroshima 8 130 451 86 144 21 0 30 84 255 67 24 1 9 .319 MVP, Best 9, Gold Glove Award, League Champion
1976 Hiroshima 8 129 464 79 136 26 3 23 62 237 62 14 3 7 .293 Gold Glove Award
1977 Hiroshima 8 130 448 102 138 24 4 44 113 302 94 22 0 4 .308 Best 9, Gold Glove Award
1978 Hiroshima 8 130 473 114 153 28 0 44 112 313 84 12 0 4 .323 HR Leader, Best 9, Gold Glove Award
1979 Hiroshima 8 130 467 90 137 20 0 42 113 283 81 15 0 5 .293 RBI winner, Best 9, Gold Glove Award, League Champion, Japan Series Champion
1980 Hiroshima 8 130 440 91 148 28 3 44 112 314 87 14 0 12 .336 RBI winner, MVP, HR Leader, Best 9, Gold Glove Award, League Champion, Japan Series Champion
1981 Hiroshima 8 130 473 102 156 21 0 43 103 306 73 5 0 3 .330 RBI winner, HR Leader, Best 9, Gold Glove Award
1982 Hiroshima 8 130 448 84 137 21 0 30 90 248 87 8 0 3 .306 Best 9
1983 Hiroshima 8 129 462 86 146 19 2 36 101 277 85 5 0 6 .316 HR Leader, Best 9
1984 Hiroshima 8 123 437 64 128 15 0 33 94 242 64 5 0 4 .293 Best 9, League Champion, Japan Series Champion
1985 Hiroshima 8 113 387 57 110 15 1 24 79 199 71 2 0 2 .288
1986 Hiroshima 8 126 439 48 121 13 0 27 78 215 58 4 0 2 .276 Best 9, League Champion
TOTALS – 2284 8052 1365 2339 372 21 536 1475 4361 1168 231 48 119 .290 -

Statistics as a manager

Year Team Ranking G W L D AVG HR BA ERA Titles
1989 Hiroshima 2nd 130 73 51 6 .589 101 .271 3.01
1990 Hiroshima 2nd 132 66 64 2 .508 140 .267 3.57
1991 Hiroshima 1st 132 74 56 2 .569 88 .254 3.23 League Champion
1992 Hiroshima 4th 130 66 64 0 .508 122 .260 3.60
1993 Hiroshima 6th 131 53 77 1 .408 155 .253 4.29
2001 Hiroshima 4th 140 68 65 7 .511 155 .269 3.82
2002 Hiroshima 5th 140 64 72 4 .471 154 .259 4.35
2003 Hiroshima 5th 140 67 71 2 .486 153 .259 4.23
2004 Hiroshima 5th 138 60 77 1 .438 187 .276 4.75
2005 Hiroshima 6th 146 58 84 4 .408 184 .275 4.80
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koji_Yamamoto_(baseball,_born_1946)&oldid=716019712"