| Most popular Japanese baseball player ever. The legendary number "3" has the nicknames "Mister Giants" and "Mister Baseball", however is usually referred to as just "Mister". Played for the Tokyo Giants for 17 seasons (1958-1974) along with the other Giants great Sadaharu Oh. After retirement, became the manager of the Tokyo Giants first from 1975 to 1980 and then again in 1993 until 2001.
Birthdate: February 20, 1936
Birthplace: Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Honors include:
Rookie of the Year (1958)
6 Batting titles (1959 - 1961, 1963, 1966, 1971)
5 MVP awards(1961, 1963, 1966, 1968, 1971)
5 RBI titles (1958, 1963, 1967 - 1970)
2 Homerun titles (1958, 1961)
2000 hits on May 25, 1971
13 Central League Titles as a player
11 Japan Series Titles as a player
2 Japan Series Titles as a manager (2000 and 1994)
5 Central League Titles as a manager (2000, 1996, 1994, 1977, 1976)
Lifetime Batting Statistics
Batting Average .305
Games 2186
At Bats 8094
Hits 2471
Home Runs 444
RBIs 1522
Runs 1270
Walks 969
Strikeouts 729
Stolen Bases 190
Hit by pitch 46
Errors 264
Information from various sources.
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