1991 NPB All-Star Game

There were two 1991 NPB All-Star Games. Both MVPs same team - first time; next 1995

Game 1

Game 1 was July 23 at the Tokyo Dome, with 44,011 in attendance. The Central League got a five-hit shutout from Hiromi Makihara (W), Tatsuji Nishimura, Genji Kaku and Kenjiro Kawasaki. It was the third year in a row that the first NPB All-Star Game was a shutout, as the Pacific League had turned the feat the prior two years. Hideo Nomo shut out the CL for two innings before Atsuya Furuta was driven in by Takahiro Ikeyama in the third for the game's lone run; Furuta was named Game MVP.

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

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, 2B (Chunichi Dragons)
2. Kaoru Okazaki, 3B (Yomiuri Giants)
3. Takahiro Ikeyama, SS (Yakult Swallows)
4. Hiromitsu Ochiai, DH (Chunichi)
5. Tatsunori Hara, LF (Yomiuri)
6. Norihiro Komada, 1B (Yomiuri)
7. Katsumi Hirosawa, CF (Yakult)
8. Sadaaki Yoshimura, RF (Yomiuri)
9. Atsuya Furuta, C (Yakult)

• Hiromi Makihara, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Yutaka Takagi, 2B (Taiyo Whales)
• Kazunori Shinozuka, 2B (Yomiuri)
• Yasuaki Taiho, DH (Chunichi)
• Kenjiro Nomura, CF (Hiroshima Carp)
• Ryuzo Yamasaki, RF (Hiroshima)
• Akinobu Mayumi, RF (Hanshin Tigers)
• Shinji Hata, LF (Yakult)
• Tatsuji Nishimura, P (Yakult)
• Genji Kaku, P (Chunichi)
• Kenjiro Kawasaki, P (Yakult)

Manager

• Motoshi Fujita

Coaches

• Koji Yamamoto
• Yutaka Sudo

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Makoto Sasaki, RF (Daiei Hawks)
2. Hiromasa Arai, CF (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
3. Kazuhiro Kiyohara, 1B (Seibu Lions)
4. Hiromitsu Kadota, DH (Daiei)
5. Matt Winters, LF (Nippon Ham Fighters)
6. Hiromi Matsunaga, 3B (Orix BlueWave)
7. Yukio Tanaka, SS (Nippon Ham)
8. Tsutomu Itoh, C (Seibu)
9. Kazuyuki Shirai, 2B (Nippon Ham)

• Hideo Nomo, P (Kintetsu)

Backups Used

• Satoshi Nakajima, C (Orix)
• Hatsuhiko Tsuji, 2B (Seibu)
• Takeshi Aiko, 1B (Lotte Orions)
• Kazuhiko Ishimine, DH (Orix)
• Hiromichi Ishige, 3B (Seibu)
• Jim Traber, PH (Kintetsu)
• Fujio Tamura, C (Nippon Ham)
• Takahisa Suzuki, RF (Kintetsu)
• Koji Akiyama, CF (Seibu)
• Kimiyasu Kudoh, P (Seibu)
• Yasumitsu Shibata, P (Nippon Ham)
• Satoru Komiyama, P (Lotte)

Manager

• Masaaki Mori

Coaches

• Akira Ogi
• Shozo Doi

Umpires

• Toshio Azuma, Tadayuki Inoue, Yoshio Maekawa, Fumio Yamamoto, Toru Maeda, Isao Okada

Game 2

The second game was a day later, at Hiroshima Municipal Baseball Stadium; 28,371 were present. The two teams battled to a 3-3 tie, with Hiromasa Arai leading the PL offense (HR, 2 H) and starter Katsuyoshi Murata turning in three shutout frames. For the CL, RF Katsumi Hirosawa came off the bench to go four-for-four with two of their three RBI to take game MVP - it was the first time a team had swept NPB All-Star Game honors (it would next happen in 1995). Koichi Morita led the CL staff with 2 1/3 shutout innings from the 9th through the 11th. The PL bench got so depleted that they had to use Nomo as a pinch-hitter and fellow hurler Kimiyasu Kudoh as a left fielder.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	1
Central	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	12	0

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Arai, RF
2. Ishige, 3B
3. Matsunaga, SS
4. Kiyohara, 1B
5. Winters, LF
6. Akiyama, CF
7. Nakajima, C
8. Tsuji, 2B
9. Katsuyoshi Murata, P (Daiei)

Backups Used

• Sasaki, LF
• Komiyama, P
• Shirai, 2B
• Masaharu Motohara, P (Daiei)
• Kazuhiro Takeda, P (Nippon Ham)
• Ishimine, PH
• Yoshitaka Katori, P (Seibu)
• Suzuki, RF
• Nomo, PH
• Kudoh, LF
• Tamura, C
• Itoh, C
• Traber, 1B
• Nobuyuki Hoshino, P (Orix)
• Kadota, PH
• Hirofumi Ogawa, SS (Orix)
• Tanaka, SS

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Nomura, 2B
2. Okazaki, 3B
3. Ikeyama, SS
4. Ochiai, 1B
5. Hara, LF
6. Hata, RF
7. Yamasaki, CF
8. Mitsuo Tatsukawa, C (Hiroshima)
9. Shinji Sasaoka, P (Hiroshima)

Backups used

• Takagi, 2B
• Furuta, C
• Komada, 1B
• Taiho, LF
• Hirosawa, RF
• Shinji Imanaka, P (Chunichi)
• Yoshimura, PH
• Yutaka Ono, P (Hiroshima)
• Koichi Morita, P (Chunichi)
• Makihara, P
• Masumi Kuwata, P (Yomiuri)
• Tatsunami, SS
• Shinozuka, PH
• Hiroki Nomura, P (Taiyo)
• Takeshi Nakamura, C (Chunichi)
• Mayumi, CF

Umpires

• Osamu Kubota, Satoru Kakizono, Okada, Maeda, Inoue, Azuma

Sources

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