Yoshio Yoshida

Yoshio Yoshida 吉田 義男
Shortstop
Born: July 26, 1933 Kyoto, Kyoto
Batted: Right Threw: Right
NPB debut
March 28, 1953, for the Osaka Tigers
Last appearance
1969, for the Hanshin Tigers
NPB statistics
Batting average	.267
Hits	1864
Home runs	66
RBIs	434
Teams
As player Osaka Tigers/Hanshin Tigers (1953–1969) As manager Hanshin Tigers (1969, 1975–1977, 1985–1987, 1997–1998)
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted	1992

Yoshio Yoshida (吉田 義男 Yoshida Yoshio, born July 26, 1933 in Kyoto) was a Japanese professional baseball player with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). His number 23, is retired with the Hanshin Tigers. He works for the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation as a live radio and TV baseball commentator.

Career

He was famous for his steady batting and his defence at shortstop, and received the Best Nine Award of the NPB nine times, in 1955-60, 1962, 1964-65. This is the best record till now. He was often compared with the famous 12th century general, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and they called Yoshida "Ushiwakamaru", Yoshitune's name as a child.

After retirement, he became the manager of the Hanshin Tigers three times, in 1975-77, 1985–87, 1997-98. The 1985 season was his best. His Hanshin Tigers won the Central League's championship for the first time since 1964, and broke the Seibu Lions in the Japan Series. This is the only time the Hanshin Tigers won the series. That year Yoshida was the winner of the Matsutaro Shoriki Award.

In 1989-95, Yoshida lived in Paris, and managed the French national baseball team, but his team failed to qualify for the Olympic Games twice; first for the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona and again for the 1996 Summer Olympics at Atlanta. Since then, Yoshida has had a new nickname, "Monsieur". He was selected as a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

External links

• Career stats at Japan Baseball Daily
• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from JapaneseBaseball.com