Japanese HOF Project

[nat]

Taira Fujita played 19 seasons with Hanshin (1966 to 1984), mostly at shortstop. He was a pretty good hitter, especially for a shortstop. Uncharacteristically for a shortstop, however, he was slow. In home runs he topped out at 28 (but was usually in the teens; those 28 homers placed him third in the league, behind Oh and Nagashima), but only twice did he manage double digit steals. For his career Fujita posted a 286/336/435 slash line, and he qualified for the Meikyukai with his 2000th hit in 1983. From 66 through 78 (his age 30 season) he mostly played short. In 1979 he suffered a serious injury; a few years before he’d started missing about 1/4th of the season, but in 79 he appeared in only 18 games due to a torn thigh muscle. Thereafter he was exclusively a first baseman. It’s a shame to shift your shortstop to a position as defensively unimportant as first base, but apparently the injury necessitated it, and based on a casual examination of Hanshin rosters, he doesn’t seem to have been blocking anyone who could have made better use of the roster spot. And his offense was strong enough to justify a spot at first base anyway – he won a batting title in 1981 (with a .358 mark). As one might expect from a shortstop, he was a good fielder at first base (winning a diamond glove award in addition to the batting title), and was selected to the best nine in 1981. Albright thinks well of him, regarding him as Japan’s 37th greatest player.

Fujita’s career started off strong. His rookie season was nothing special, but as a 19 year old sophomore he led the league in hits, doubles, and triples, and was selected to his first (of seven) best nine. I'm guessing that this wasn’t a surprise. Fujita’s high school team reached the Koshien finals, and he was the first player in Koshien history to hit two home runs in the same game. When he became the starting shortstop (as a 19 year old) he replaced hall of famer Yoshio Yoshida.

During 1978, in what is perhaps Fujita’s best-known accomplishment, he went 208 at bats without striking out. This is a record that would stand until Ichiro came along, and went (IIRC) 216 at bats without a K. He is also known for having a central role in the “Violent Tigers Incident”. In 1982, during what had apparently been a tense game, he hit a ball down the third base line that rolled foul. The Tigers’ third base coach claimed that a fielder had touched it before it rolled foul, but the umpires refused to change their call. Two Tiger coaches were much distressed by this, and an argument with the umpire eventually led to the coaches kicking and punching him. (Fines and suspensions were, of course, forthcoming.) As near as I can tell Fujita didn’t do anything wrong, but he was the one who hit the ball that started the whole thing.

After retiring Fujita coached and briefly managed the Tigers. Apparently his managerial stints did not go well. He was extremely harsh and unpopular with his players. The team finished in sixth place both seasons that he was in charge. He has also coached in an independent league, and served as a baseball commentator on TV.

As usual with Tigers players, thehanshintigers.com has a better write up than my meager attempt at biography.

Meikyukai: Yes – Hall of Fame: No

The card is from the 1976 Calbee set.

And a random note for people who like awesome stuff: Jim Allen has a run expectancy table for Japan.