1954 NPB All-Star Game

There were two 1954 NPB All-Star Games and the Pacific League swept the Central League.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 3 at Nishinomiya Stadium in front of 32,167 fans. Charlie Luis became the first foreign player to start in a All-Star Game (Wally Yonamine had played since 1952 but his parents were Japanese so he was not considered a foreigner), and he is still (as of 2023) the only foreign catcher to start in the event; he was 1-for-3. Futoshi Nakanishi's game-winning, 2-run homer in the 6th inning earned him the MVP, and Kazuhiro Yamauchi also blasted a solo shot in the 3rd inning. Starter Takao Kajimoto struck out 3 in his 3 shutout innings, and Sadaaki Nishimura fanned four in 3 innings to get the win. Fumio Fujimura had the only RBI for the CL with a solo homer, while they scored the other run with Nishimura's error.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Central	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	1
Pacific	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	2	X	5	7	4

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Wally Yonamine, CF (Yomiuri Giants)
2. Masayasu Kaneda, LF (Osaka Tigers)
3. Yuko Minamimura, RF (Yomiuri)
4. Tetsuharu Kawakami, 1B (Yomiuri)
5. Mitsuo Uno, 3B (Kokutetsu Swallows)
6. Shigeru Chiba, 2B (Yomiuri)
7. Yoshio Yoshida, SS (Osaka)
8. Jun Hirota, C (Yomiuri)
9. Takumi Otomo, P (Yomiuri)

Backups used

• Hiroyuki Watanabe, RF (Osaka)
• Tatsuro Hirooka, PH (Yomiuri)
• Shigeru Tokuami, PH (Osaka)
• Kenshi Zenimura, CF (Hiroshima Carp)
• Michio Nishizawa, 1B (Chunichi Dragons)
• Satoshi Sugiyama, PH (Chunichi)
• Akira Noguchi, C (Chunichi)
• Fumio Fujimura, PH (Osaka)
• Choei Shirasaka, 2B (Osaka)
• Ryohei Hasegawa, P (Hiroshima)
• Shigeru Sugishita, P (Chunichi)

Manager

• Shigeru Mizuhara

Coaches

• Kenjiro Matsuki
• Shunichi Amachi

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuhiro Yamauchi, LF (Mainichi Orions)
2. Chusuke Kizuka, SS (Nankai)
3. Futoshi Nakanishi, 3B (Nishitetsu Lions)
4. Hiroshi Ohshita, RF (Nishitetsu)
5. Kaoru Betto, CF (Mainichi)
6. Tokuji Iida, 1B (Nankai)
7. Charlie Luis, C (Mainichi)
8. Nobuyasu Morishita, 2B (Nankai)
9. Takao Kajimoto, P (Hankyu Braves)

Backups Used

• Larry Raines, SS (Hankyu)
• Kazuo Horii, LF (Nankai)
• Takashi Kusaka, PH (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
• Kazuo Kageyama, 2B (Nankai)
• Sadaaki Nishimura, P (Nishitetsu)
• Atsushi Aramaki, P (Mainichi)

Manager

• Kazuto Tsuruoka

Coaches

• Osamu Mihara
• Sadayoshi Fujimoto

Umpires

• Nobuaki Nidegawa (Home), Uichi Kanemasa (1B), Saburo Yokozawa (2B), Hidenosuke Shima (3B), Fujio Ueda (LF), Shoichiro Sugimura (RF)

Game 2

Game 2 took place a day later at Korakuen Stadium, with an attendance of 43,727. It was a pitcher's contest, as both sides only scored once in the first 9 innings. Yamauchi's 3rd-inning RBI single gave the PL the lead, but the CL tied it with Fujimura's sacrifice fly in the 6th. In the 10th inning, Yamauchi ended this game with a walk-off single, and he won the MVP as he collected 4 hits while his teammates only had 3.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Central	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Pacific	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	7	0

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yonamine, CF
2. Tamiya, RF
3. Minamimura, RF
4. Kawakami, 1B
5. Uno, 3B
6. Chiba, 2B
7. Yoshida, SS
8. Hirota, C
9. Takehiko Bessho, P (Yomiuri)

Backups used

• Fujimura, PH
• Watanabe, RF
• Nishizawa, 1B
• Sugiyama, PH
• Shirasaka, 2B
• Hirooka, SS
• Tokuami, C
• Zenimura, PH
• Masatoshi Gondo, P (Taiyo-Shochiku Robins)
• Noboru Matsuyama, P (Hiroshima)
• Masaichi Kaneda, P (Kokutetsu)

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Yamauchi, LF
2. Kizuka, SS
3. Nakanishi, 3B
4. Ohshita, RF
5. Betto, CF
6. Iida, 1B
7. Luis, C
8. Morishita, 2B
9. Susumu Yuki, P (Nankai)

Backups used

• Raines, SS
• Kageyama, 2B
• Shigeya Iijima, 1B (Daiei Stars)
• Takuji Kochi, PH (Takahashi Unions)
• Kusaka, PR
• Seiji Sekiguchi, PH (Nishitetsu)
• Hidefumi Kawamura, P (Nishitetsu)
• Yasuo Yonekawa, P (Tokyu Flyers)
• Fumio Takechi, P (Kintetsu)

Umpires

• Shima (Home), Yokozawa (1B), Sugimura (2B), Nidegawa (3B), Kanemasa (LF), Ueda (RF)

Players did not play

• Hiroshi Nakao, P (Yomiuri)
• Taketoshi Ogami, P (Nankai)
• Takeshi Hibino, C (Nishitetsu)
• Atsushi Matsui, C (Nankai)

Sources

• NPB.com box
• Japanese Wikipedia