1981 NPB All-Star Game

There were three 1981 NPB All-Star Games. The Central League won twice while the Pacific League won another.

Game 1

Game 1 took place July 25 at Koshien Stadium, with an attendance of 40,049. Mitsuru Fujiwara won the MVP with his clutch, game-winning RBI single in the 6th inning, and Hiromitsu Ochiai drove in 2 runs with a double. Masayuki Kakefu collected 2 or the 3 RBI for the CL with a single in the 3rd inning, and Jim Lyttle added a solo shot. Yutaka Yanagida was the winning pitcher, and closer Yutaka Enatsu notched a save with a shutout inning.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Makoto Shimada, CF (Nippon Ham Fighters)
2. Hiromichi Ishige, SS (Seibu Lions)
3. Hideji Kato, 1B (Hankyu Braves)
4. Hiromitsu Kadota, LF (Nankai Hawks)
5. Leron Lee, RF (Lotte Orions)
6. Hiromitsu Ochiai, 2B (Lotte)
7. Mitsuru Fujiwara, 3B (Nankai)
8. Masataka Nashida, C (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
9. Manabu Fujita, P (Nankai)

Backups Used

• Yutaka Fukumoto, CF (Hankyu)
• Tony Solaita, PH (Nippon Ham)
• Takayuki Kono, SS (Nankai)
• Michiyo Arito, 3B (Lotte)
• Tomoyoshi Oishi, C (Seibu)
• Mitsuyasu Hirano, PH (Kintetsu)
• Tatsuo Omiya, PH (Nippon Ham)
• Tomohisa Shoji, LF (Lotte)
• Hiroyuki Yamazaki, PH (Seibu)
• Hisashi Yamada, P (Hankyu)
• Yutaka Yanagida, P (Kintetsu)
• Tamotsu Nagai, P (Seibu)
• Shigekazu Mori, P (Seibu)
• Yutaka Enatsu, P (Nippon Ham)

Manager

• Yukio Nishimoto

Coaches

• Keiji Osawa
• Kazuhiro Yamauchi

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Tatsunori Hara, SS (Yomiuri Giants)
2. Taira Fujita, 1B (Hanshin Tigers)
3. Masayuki Kakefu, 3B (Hanshin)
4. Koji Yamamoto, CF (Hiroshima Carp)
5. Kenichi Yazawa, LF (Chunichi Dragons)
6. Jim Lyttle, RF (Hiroshima)
7. Akinobu Okada, 2B (Hanshin)
8. Yoshiharu Wakana, C (Hanshin)
9. Shigeru Kobayashi, P (Hanshin)

Backups Used

• Tadashi Matsumoto, RF (Yomiuri)
• Akinobu Mayumi, SS (Hanshin)
• Kiyoshi Nakahata, PH (Yomiuri)
• Kazuhiro Yamakura, C (Yomiuri)
• Sachio Kinugasa, PH (Hiroshima)
• Daisuke Yamashita, SS (Taiyo Whales)
• Katsuo Osugi, PH (Yakult Swallows)
• Yasushi Tao, LF (Chunichi)
• Tatsuo Komatsu, P (Chunichi)
• Akio Saito, P (Taiyo)
• Hiroaki Fukushi, P (Hiroshima)
• Mitsuo Sumi, P (Yomiuri)

Manager

• Takeshi Koba

Coaches

• Motoshi Fujita
• Shiro Takegami

Umpires

• Mitsuo Matsushita (Home), Kazuo Kuboyama (1B), Yoshiki Matsuhashi (2B), Masatoshi Kato (3B), Shinichiro Miura (LF), Susumu Kobayashi (RF)

Game 2

Game 2 was held July 26 and was held in front of 29,573 fans at Yokohama Stadium for a 10-inning game. Masayuki Kakefu crushed 2 homers - a solo shot in the 9th inning and a sayonara, 3-run homer in the 10th inning off Yanagida and won the MVP; Kakefu didn't have any other walk-off homers in his entire career. Koji Yamamoto also played well as he recorded a game-tying homer in the 9th inning.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Fukumoto, CF
2. Ishige, SS
3. Kato, 1B
4. Ochiai, 2B
5. Lee, LF
6. Arito, 3B
7. Shimada, RF
8. Omiya, C
9. Isamu Kida, P (Nippon Ham)

Backups Used

• Yamazaki, 2B
• Kono, SS
• Shoji, LF
• Kadota, PH
• Oishi, C
• Fujiwara, PH
• Solaita, PH
• Nashida, C
• Hirano, RF
• Yutaro Imai, P (Hankyu)
• Mori, P
• Nagai, P
• Enatsu, P
• Yanagida, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Hara, SS
2. Matsumoto, LF
3. Kakefu, 3B
4. Yamamoto, CF
5. Nakahata, 1B
6. Okada, 2B
7. Lyttle, RF
8. Wakana, C
9. Takashi Nishimoto, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Yazawa, PH
• Yamashita, SS
• Hisaaki Fukushima, C (Taiyo)
• Fujita, PH
• Yamakura, C
• Osugi, PH
• Mayumi, RF
• Kinugasa, PH
• Tao, LF
• Senichi Hoshino, P (Chunichi)
• Manabu Kitabeppu, P (Hiroshima)
• Sumi, P

Umpires

• Noriyuki Fujimoto (Home), Miura (1B), Kobayashi (2B), Matsuhashi (3B), Kuboyama (LF), Shoji Tezawa (RF)

Game 3

Game 3 was held July 28 in Meiji-Jingu Stadium; the attendance was 32,104. Suguru Egawa, Hiromu Matsuoka, Shinichiro Ihara, Mitsuo Sumi, and Tatsuo Komatsu completed a shutout against the CL, and Egawa got the win while collecting 4 strikeouts. Kazuhiro Yamakura's game-winning homer earned him the MVP, and Kakefu recorded another homer in the 6th inning.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Shoji, LF
2. Shimada, CF
3. Kato, 1B
4. Kadota, RF
5. Ochiai, 2B
6. Arito, 3B
7. Ishige, SS
8. Nashida, C
9. Choji Murata, P (Lotte)

Backups Used

• Kono, PH
• Hirano, LF
• Fujiwara, SS
• Lee, PH
• Fukumoto, CF
• Solaita, PH
• Oishi, C
• Yamazaki, PH
• Omiya, C
• Kazumi Takahashi, P (Nippon Ham)
• Masayuki Matsunuma, P (Seibu)
• Fujita, P
• Imai, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Hara, SS
2. Yazawa, LF
3. Kakefu, 3B
4. Yamamoto, CF
5. Nakahata, 1B
6. Lyttle, RF
7. Okada, 2B
8. Yamakura, C
9. Suguru Egawa, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Wakana, PH
• Kinugasa, 1B
• Osugi, PH
• Matsumoto, RF
• Fukushima, PH
• Mayumi, RF
• Yamashita, SS
• Fujita, PH
• Tao, LF
• Hiromu Matsuoka, P (Yakult)
• Shinichiro Ihara, P (Yakult)
• Komatsu, P
• Sumi, P

Umpires

• Tezawa (Home), Kato (1B), Miura (2B), Kobayashi (3B), Matsushita (LF), Fujimoto (RF)

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia entry