Three new players, including Koichi Tabuchi, enter the Baseball Hall of Fame

Three new players, including Koichi Tabuchi, enter the Baseball Hall of Fame January 14 at 16:20

Three new players were selected, including Koichi Tabuchi, who played an active role as a catcher in Hanshin and other places in the “Baseball Hall of Fame,” which honors those who have made significant achievements in the development of baseball.

Three new players have entered the Baseball Hall of Fame, with one competitor award and two special awards.

Mr. Tabuchi was awarded the “Expert Award” for those who have experienced professional baseball or who have been retired for more than 21 years.

Tabuchi, 73, joined Hanshin from Hosei University in 1969 and won the home run king in the seventh year as a bang catcher. He subsequently transferred to Seibu, where he contributed to the league championship for the second consecutive year and the best in Japan, hitting 474 home runs in 11th place overall. After retiring, he coached Daiei, the predecessor of SoftBank, coached the Japan representatives of Hanshin, Rakuten and the Beijing Olympics, and supported his close friend, Seiichi Hoshino since college.

In addition, special awards include Yukichi Maeda, who has served as director of Keio University at Tokyo Roku University Baseball for 18 years, and died at the age of 85 four years ago, and Ren Ishii, who has served as director of Waseda University for 13 years, and died five years ago. Mr. Kura was selected as a major contributor to the development of student baseball.

Koichi Tabuchi Profile

Koichi Tabuchi is 73 years old from Tokyo. At Hosei University, he hit a total of 22 home runs, the largest number of league records at the time of Tokyo 6 University Baseball, and joined Hanshin in 1969 as the first draft.

He hit 22 home runs from the first year as a bang catcher and shines as a rookie king. He hit 43 home runs in 1975, the seventh year of the Showa era, and was the 13th consecutive year of the previous year. It became the first home run king to suppress Sadaharu.

Seibu, who traded off the line in 1978, won the league for the second consecutive year and contributed to Japan's best, hitting 474 home runs in 11th place overall.

After retiring, he was a director at Daiei, the predecessor of SoftBank for three years from 1990, and in 2002 he became chief strike coach as Senichi Hoshino, who was a close friend since college, became director of Hanshin, the following year. Contributed to the league title.

He then coached the Japan National Team at the Beijing Olympics under Hoshino, and for three years from 2011, supported Hoshino three times as a Rakuten coach.

Profile of Yukichi Maeda

Mr. Yukichi Maeda was born in Kochi Prefecture, and went to Keio University from the old Kochi Joto Higashi Junior High School and the current Kochi Otemae High School, and played an active role as a pitcher.

In 1960, he took over the supervision of his alma mater, Keio University, and took the lead in the so-called "Saikei 6 consecutive games" in which he played 6 games with Waseda University in the autumn league.

Mr. Maeda has been the director of Keio University for 18 years from 1960 to 1960 and from 1982 to 1993, and won eight league games during this season. We won all wins.

Even after resigning from the coach, Maeda contributed to the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics as the chairman of the All Japan Amateur Baseball Federation.

He also contributed to the spread of baseball in 1997, assisting developing countries and donating baseball equipment as the secretary general of the Asian Baseball Federation, and died at the age of 85 in 2016.

Profile of Renzo Ishii

Mr. Renzo Ishii advanced from Waseda University in Mito to Waseda University, and played an active role as a pitcher. In 1954, a fourth grader who served as captain, he was the batter and the top hitter in the autumn league match.

After graduation, after playing in the adult team, he was appointed as a coach at the age of 25 in 1958, and presented strict guidance to the forefront, combining 6 years from 1963 to 1988 from 1988. He served as coach for 13 years and won four league titles.

He is also known for taking the lead in the so-called "Saikei 6 consecutive games", which won the championship after playing six games with Keio University in the league match in the fall of 1960.

Among the professional baseball players, Satoshi Komiyama, who currently plays a role in Lotte and is currently the director of Waseda University, and a giant, and Toshihisa Nishi, who played in Yokohama, received guidance from Ishii.

Even after retiring from the director, Ishii served as a key player in the All Japan University Baseball Federation and the Japan Student Baseball Association, working on the development of student baseball, and died in 2015 at the age of 83.