1968 NPB All-Star Game

There were three 1968 NPB All-Star Games.

Game 1

Game 1 took place July 23 at Kawasaki Baseball Stadium with an attendance of 25,459. It was the first NPB All-Star Game to start and end with a homer. The Pacific League's Art Lopez began the game with a first-pitch dinger off the CL's Gentaro Shimada but Shimada, Yutaka Enatsu, Kentaro Ogawa and Yoshiro Sotokoba blanked the Pacific League the rest of the day. Shinichi Eto ended it in the 10th with a long ball off Shigeo Ishii to win game MVP.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Art Lopez, CF (Tokyo Orions)
2. Kihachi Enomoto, 1B (Tokyo)
3. Masahiro Doi, RF (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
4. Isao Harimoto, LF (Toei Flyers
5. Katsuya Nomura, C (Nankai Hawks
6. Kazuhide Funada, 3B (Nishitetsu Lions)
7. Toshizo Sakamoto, SS (Hankyu Braves)
8. Don Blasingame, 2B (Nankai)
9. Masaaki Ikenaga, P (Nishitetsu)

Backups Used

• Mitsuo Motoi, 2B (Nishitetsu)
• Atsushi Nagaike, RF (Hankyu)
• Fumio Narita, P (Tokyo)
• Shigeo Ishii, P (Hankyu)
• Kenji Koike, SS (Nankai)
• Toshio Yanagida, CF (Nankai)
• Toshiaki Moriyasu, P (Toei)
• Yasuhiro Kunisada, 3B (Nankai)

Manager

• Yukio Nishimoto

Coaches

• Hiroshi Oshita
• Futoshi Nakanishi

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuhiko Kondo, CF (Taiyo Whales)
2. Shozo Doi, 2B (Yomiuri Giants)
3. Sadaharu Oh, 1B (Yomiuri)
4. Shigeo Nagashima, 3B (Yomiuri)
5. Shinichi Eto, LF (Chunichi Dragons)
6. Dave Roberts, RF (Sankei Atoms)
7. Shuhei Ichieda, SS (Chunichi)
8. Isao Ito, C (Taiyo)
9. Gentaro Shimada, P (Taiyo)

Backups Used

• Shiro Takegami, 2B (Sankei)
• Kazuyoshi Yamamoto, RF (Hiroshima Carp)
• Shigeru Takada, PR (Yomiuri)
• Yoshiro Sotokoba, P (Hiroshima)
• Yozaburo Chihara, PH (Chunichi)
• Yukinobu Kuroe, SS (Yomiuri)
• Masahiko Mori, C (Yomiuri)
• Makoto Matsubara, PH (Taiyo)
• Yutaka Enatsu, P (Hanshin Tigers)
• Kazuhiro Yamauchi, PH (Hiroshima)
• Kentaro Ogawa, P (Chunichi)
• Isao Shibata, CF (Yomiuri)

Manager

• Tetsuharu Kawakami

Coaches

• Itsuro Honda
• Sadayoshi Fujimoto

Umpires

• Katsumi Oki, Harunobu Osato, Masataka Ono, Katsuo Takemoto, Yutaka Okada, Taiji Otani

Game 2

Game 2 was held the next day in front of 29,475 at Korakuen Baseball Stadium. The CL won in a higher-scoring affair, led by the 1-2 Yomiuri punch of Isao Shibata and Sadaharu Oh. Shibata was 3 for 4 with a walk, steal, homer, 3 runs and a RBI while Oh was 3 for 4 with two runs. Sohachi Aniya got the win over Keishi Suzuki. Katsuya Nomura was a bright spot for the PL, going 3 for 3 with a walk and a home run.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	7	0
Central	1	0	3	1	0	0	3	0	-	8	13	3

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Lopez, 1B
2. Sakamoto, SS
3. Harimoto, LF
4. Doi, RF
5. Nomura, C
6. Nagaike, CF
7. Funada, 3B
8. Blasingame, 2B
9. Keishi Suzuki, P

Backups Used

• Koike, SS
• Yoshimasa Takahashi, P (Toei)
• Takeo Daigo, PH (Tokyo)
• Tetsuya Yoneda, P (Hankyu)
• Takeo Yoshizawa, C (Kintetsu)
• Motohiko Sato, P (Tokyo)
• Takao Kajimoto, PH (Hankyu)
• Enomoto, 1B
• Kunisada, 3B
• Mutsuo Minagawa, P (Nankai)
• Koshiro Ito, RF (Nishitetsu)
• Yanagida, PH
• Motoi, 2B

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Shibata, CF
2. Oh, 1B
3. Nagashima, 3B
4. Eto, LF
5. Yamamoto, RF
6. Ichieda, SS
7. Takashi Tanaka, C (Hiroshima)
8. Sohachi Aniya, P (Hiroshima)
9. Doi, 2B

Backups Used

• Matsubara, 3B
• Takada, LF
• Roberts, RF
• Kondo, PH
• Tsuneo Horiuchi, P (Yomiuri)
• Masaichi Kaneda, P (Yomiuri)
• Shiroku Ishido, P (Sankei)
• Mori, C
• Kuroe, SS
• Takegami, 2B

Umpires

• Isao Okada, Keigen Sunagawa, Osato, Oki, Otani, Ono

Game 3

The CL had already won the series for the year, but the PL saved face by winning Game 3 on July 25, another extra-inning affair. The CL had tied it in the 9th just as they did in Game 1. 22,866 showed up at Nishinomiya Baseball Stadium. Kenji Koike was named MVP after a 3-for-3 day with a homer and four RBI. Toshiaki Moriyasu got the win over Shimada.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Central	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	14	0
Pacific	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	5	9	2

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Shibata, CF
2. Oh, 1B
3. Nagashima, 3B
4. Eto, LF
5. Yamamoto, RF
6. Ichieda, SS
7. Ito, C
8. Gene Bacque, P (Hanshin)
9. Doi, 2B

Backups Used

• Kondo, CF
• Roberts, RF
• Mori, C
• Takada, PR
• Tanaka, C
• Matsubara, PH
• Sotokoba, P
• Kuroe, PH
• Masatoshi Gondo, P (Hanshin)
• Enatsu, P
• Horiuchi, PR
• Shimada, P
• Chihara, PH
• Takegami, 2B

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Enomoto, 1B
2. Lopez, CF
3. Doi, RF
4. Harimoto, LF
5. Nomura, C
6. Blasingame, 2B
7. Sakamoto, SS
8. Funada, 3B
9. Katsuji Sakai, P (Kintetsu)

Backups Used

• Nagaike, CF
• Yanagida, CF
• Ikenaga, PR
• Motoi, PH
• Koike, SS
• Ito, PH
• Kajimoto, P
• Koichiro Sasaki, P (Kintetsu)
• Suzuki, P
• Sato, P
• Kunisada, PH
• Moriyasu, P

Umpires

• Y. Okada, Takemoto, Sunagawa, Otani, Ono, I. Okada

Sources

• Michael Westbay database
• Information from the now-defunct japanbaseballdaily.com site
• Japanese Wikipedia entry