Koji Yamamoto (baseball)

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
Batted: Right Threw: Right
NPB debut
April 12, 1969, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Last appearance
1986, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
NBP statistics
Hits	2339
Home runs	536
Base on balls	1168
Runs batted in	1475
Stolen Bases	231
Batting average	.290
Slugging percentage	.5416
NBP All-Star Game statistics
Batting average	.316
Home runs	14
Runs batted in	27
Managerial statistics
Wins	League Champion (1991)
Teams
As player Hiroshima Toyo Carp (1969-1986) As manager Hiroshima Toyo Carp (1989-1993, 2001-2005) Japan national team (2013)
Career highlights and awards
Regular season 2x Central League MVP (1975, 1980) 1x NPB Batting Champion (1975) 4x NPB Home Run Champion (1978, 1980, 1981, 1983) 3x NPB RBI Champion (1979-1981) 3x NPB On-bases Chanpion (1979, 1980, 1983) 10x NPB Best Nine Award (1975, 1977-1984, 1986) 10x NPB Golden Glove Award (1972-1981) 14x NPB All-Star Selections (1973-1986) 2x NPB All-Star Game MVP (1975, 1983) 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
Inducted	2008

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

External links

• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from Japanesebaseball.com
• THE GOLDEN PLAYERS CLUB (Japanese)
• NPB History (Japanese)