Tetsuharu Kawakami

Tetsuharu Kawakami (川上 哲治, Kawakami Tetsuharu, March 23, 1920 – October 28, 2013) was a Japanese baseball player and manager, known for his red bat, and his nickname 打撃の神様 (dageki no kamisama,, "the God of Batting/Hitting"). He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.

Tetsuharu Kawakami
Tetsuharu Kawakami
First basemen
Born: (1920-03-23)March 23, 1920
Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto, Japan
Died: October 28, 2013(2013-10-28) (aged 93)
Inagi, Tokyo, Japan
Batted: Left Threw: Left
Japanese Baseball League (JBL) debut
Spring, 1938, for the Tokyo Kyojin
Last appearance
1958, for the Yomiuri Giants
JBL/Nippon Professional Baseball statistics
Batting average.313
Hits2,351
Home runs181
Runs batted in1,319
Runs1,028
Stolen bases220
Teams
As Player

As Manager

Career highlights and awards
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1965

Biography

Player

Born in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto, he played for Kumamoto Tech (Kumamoto) in the 1937 Summer Kōshien. Kumamoto advanced to the championship game, but lost. After the game, Kawakami grabbed a handful of dirt from the playing field of Kōshien Stadium and put it in his uniform pocket as a memento. This became known as the original scooping of "the dirt of Kōshien" (甲子園の土 Kōshien no tsuchi?). Since then, as a memento of their fleeting time on the hallowed grounds of Kōshien, players from the losing teams take home a pouch of the precious soil.

Kawakami played for Tokyo Kyojin/Yomiuri Giants between 1938 and 1958 (though he missed the years 1943–1945 when he served in the Japanese military). Kawakami signed with the Giants as a pitcher/first baseman, and actually pitched in 39 games between 1938 and 1941, compiling 11 wins against 9 losses, with an excellent 2.61 ERA. He converted full-time to first base in 1942.[1]

In 1951, he struck out only 6 times, which is the Japanese single-season tie record. In 1954, Kawakami hit the first cycle in Yomiuri Giants' franchise history.

He was a professional player for 18 years, winning the batting title five times, two home run crowns, three RBI titles, and had six titles for the most hits in a season. He was the MVP of the 1953 Japan Series. He was the first player in Japanese pro baseball to achieve 2,000 hits and was named the league's MVP three times.[2]

Manager

As manager of the Giants from 1961–1974, he was known for his ruthless, tough-love style, but he led the Yomiuri Giants to nine consecutive championships.[3][4]

Filmography

Tetsuharu Kawakami appeared in three films:[5]

In addition, Kawakami is referred to by name in the baseball game scene from film director Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog (1949); a.k.a. Nora Inu.

gollark: Too bad.
gollark: As planned, planted and planed.
gollark: I agree.
gollark: And it can, but you may need some special multiblock they added.
gollark: It does. There's an add-on thing. Look up the name of the essentia type you need and it'll show you what has it.

References
  1. "Takuro Ishii Hits 2,000th," JapaneseBaseball.com (May 12, 2006).
  2. "Ex-Giants skipper Kawakami, 'God of Batting,' dies at 93". Kyodo News. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  3. Whiting, Robert, "Kawakami was Japanese baseball's first Zen master", Japan Times, 27 November 2013, p. 14, retrieved 27 November 2013.
  4. Whiting, Robert, "Kawakami's philosophy as manager never wavered", Japan Times, 28 November 2013, p. 16, retrieved 28 November 2013
  5. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0233360.htm accessed 27 January 2009
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