Sachio Kinugasa

Sachio Kinugasa
Third baseman
Born: (1947-01-18) January 18, 1947
Batted: Right Threw: Right
NPB debut
May 16, 1965, for the Hiroshima Carp
Last appearance
October 22, 1987, for the Hiroshima Carp
NBP statistics
Batting average	.270
Hits	2543
Runs batted in	1448
Home runs	504
Total bases	4474
Stolen Bases	266
Teams
Hiroshima Carp/Hiroshima Toyo Carp (1965–1987)
Career highlights and awards
13x NPB All-Star (1971, 1974–1977, 1980–1987) 3x NPB Best Nine Award (1975, 1980, 1984) 1x NPB Stolen Base Champion (1976) 3x NPB Golden Glove Award (1980, 1984, 1986) 1x NPB Central League MVP (1984) 1x NPB RBI Champion (1984) Matsutaro Shoriki Award (1984) People's Honour Award (1987) Records 2215-Consecutive Games (1970-1987) 20-years consecutive seasons over 10 Home runs (1968-1987) 13-years consecutive seasons over 20 Home runs (1974-1986) 5-consecutive games Home runs (June 6–10, 1971) 1x Hitting for the cycle (July 7, 1976) 2-Hit by pitches in the same inning (August 31, 1976) 2-consecutive games Lead-off home runs (October 4–5, 1977)
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted	1996

Sachio Kinugasa (衣笠 祥雄, born January 18, 1947 in Kyoto, Japan) is a former Japanese baseball player with Hiroshima Carp. He is nicknamed Tetsujin, meaning "Iron Man". He played in a then world-record 2,215 consecutive games, passing Lou Gehrig's mark in 1987. (This record was later broken by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1996.)

Kinugasa is mostly remembered for his consecutive game streak, but he ranks 7th in Nippon Professional Baseball in career home runs (504), 5th in career hits (2543), and 10th in career RBIs (1448), showing that he was one of the most consistent hitters in Japanese baseball. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.

Biography

Kinugasa's father was an African American serviceman stationed in Japan after World War II. Kinugasa's mother was Japanese, and she raised him by herself.

Playing career

Kinugasa entered the Heian high school in Kyoto, and advanced to the Japanese National High School Baseball Championship twice in his senior year as a catcher. He was signed by the Hiroshima Carp in 1965, and spent several years in the minors before being converted to first base in 1968. He became the team's regular first baseman, hitting 21 home runs with a .276 batting average. In 1975, he moved to third base at the suggestion of manager Joe Lutz, and his efforts helped the Hiroshima Carp win their first ever league championship. He led the league in stolen bases in 1976, and won the MVP award in 1984 as his team won the Japanese championship series. Kinugasa's solid hitting and defense made him one of the central players of the Carp's golden age in the late 70s and early 80s.

His jersey number (28, later changed to 3) gave him the nickname, Tetsujin (Iron Man), after the robot manga "Tetsujin 28" (Known as Gigantor in the United States). Kinugasa was worthy of his nickname, playing in games even when he was badly injured. His consecutive game streak began in October, 1970, and ended when he retired in 1987, passing Lou Gehrig's record in the major leagues to become the world record. His streak of 2215 consecutive games played was broken in 1996 by Cal Ripken, Jr., who played in 2632 straight games in the major leagues.

Retirement

Kinugasa currently writes baseball related articles for newspapers, and sometimes appears on variety television shows. His eldest son, Tomoaki, has had a successful career as an actor.

Awards and accolades

Kinugasa was given the People's Honour Award for his performance in the professional leagues. He and Sadaharu Oh are the only baseball players to have received the award. His jersey number (3) was retired by the Carp in 1987.

There is a baseball stadium in Nagasaki named after Kinugasa.

Statistics

Year	Team	No.	GP	AB	R	H	2H	3H	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SB	K	BA	Titles
1965	Hiroshima	28	28	44	3	7	1	0	1	2	11	0	0	4	.159
1966	Hiroshima	28	32	34	3	5	3	1	0	2	10	6	1	9	.147
1967	Hiroshima	28	28	48	6	12	2	0	2	5	20	4	1	13	.250
1968	Hiroshima	28	127	395	52	109	19	2	21	58	195	65	11	76	.276
1969	Hiroshima	28	126	428	43	107	12	0	15	46	164	51	32	73	.250
1970	Hiroshima	28	126	406	44	102	10	3	19	57	175	50	13	81	.251
1971	Hiroshima	28	130	460	72	131	18	2	27	82	234	79	12	71	.285
1972	Hiroshima	28	130	498	67	147	18	1	29	99	254	61	12	77	.295
1973	Hiroshima	28	130	454	52	94	12	1	19	53	165	68	6	73	.207
1974	Hiroshima	28	130	471	72	119	10	1	32	86	227	54	7	78	.253
1975	Hiroshima	3	130	479	66	132	22	1	21	71	219	49	18	61	.276	Best 9, League Champion
1976	Hiroshima	3	130	522	82	158	26	2	26	69	264	41	31	84	.299	SB
1977	Hiroshima	3	130	514	88	136	22	2	25	67	237	59	28	81	.265
1978	Hiroshima	3	130	461	81	123	18	1	30	87	233	80	9	83	.267
1979	Hiroshima	3	130	410	82	114	21	2	20	57	199	64	15	72	.278	League Champion, Japan Series Champion
1980	Hiroshima	3	130	489	79	144	20	0	31	85	257	52	16	89	.294	Gold Glove Award, Best 9, League Champion, Japan Series Champion
1981	Hiroshima	3	130	495	82	134	23	2	30	72	251	48	7	83	.271
1982	Hiroshima	3	130	483	74	135	22	0	29	74	244	12	89	.280
1983	Hiroshima	3	130	496	86	145	25	1	27	84	253	54	8	53	89	.292
1984	Hiroshima	3	130	490	79	161	25	1	31	102	281	39	11	83	.329	MVP, RBI, Gold Glove Award, Best 9, Matsutaro-Shoriki Award, League Champion, Japan Series Champion
1985	Hiroshima	3	130	480	77	140	16	0	28	83	240	49	10	77	.292
1986	Hiroshima	3	130	477	42	98	11	0	24	59	181	39	4	80	.205	Gold Glove Award, League Champion
1987	Hiroshima	3	130	370	40	92	17	0	17	48	160	26	2	61	.249	National Prize of Honour
TOTALS		-	2677	9404	1371	2543	373	23	504	1448	4474	1092	266	1587	.270	-

See also

• Koji Yamamoto
• Tsunemi Tsuda
• Manabu Kitabeppu
• List of top Nippon Professional Baseball home run hitters
• Matsutaro Shoriki Award (1984)
• People's Honour Award (1987)

External links

• THE GOLDEN PLAYERS CLUB (Japanese)
• NPB History (Japanese)

Awards
Preceded by Tatsuro Hirooka	Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize 1984	Succeeded by Randy Bass
Preceded by Kōichi Tabuchi	Matsutaro Shoriki Award 1984	Succeeded by Yoshio Yoshida