1994 in Japanese Baseball

1994 in baseball
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1994 in Japanese baseball

Nippon Professional Baseball

Standings

Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner.

Central League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	ERA	Manager(s)
Yomiuri Giants	130	70	60	0	0.538	0.0	516	483	0.258	3.41	Shigeo Nagashima
Chunichi Dragons	130	69	61	0	0.531	1.0	535	481	0.258	3.45	Morimichi Takagi
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	130	66	64	0	0.508	4.0	585	584	0.276	4.18	Toshiyuki Mimura
Yakult Swallows	130	62	68	0	0.477	8.0	486	585	0.250	4.05	Katsuya Nomura
Hanshin Tigers	130	62	68	0	0.477	8.0	503	500	0.256	3.43	Katsuhiro Nakamura
Yokohama BayStars	130	61	69	0	0.469	9.0	543	535	0.261	3.76	Akihito Kondo

Pacific League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	ERA	Manager(s)
Seibu Lions	130	76	52	2	0.592	0.0	667	535	0.279	3.81	Masahiko Mori
Orix BlueWave	130	68	59	3	0.535	7.5	601	563	0.285	3.93	Akira Ogi
Kintetsu Buffaloes	130	68	59	3	0.535	7.5	701	619	0.274	4.24	Keishi Suzuki
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	130	69	60	1	0.535	7.5	604	592	0.275	4.10	Rikuo Nemoto
Chiba Lotte Marines	130	55	73	2	0.431	21.0	521	633	0.261	4.50	Soroku Yagisawa, Futoshi Nakanishi
Nippon Ham Fighters	130	46	79	5	0.373	28.5	485	637	0.252	4.62	Keiji Osawa

Leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average		Alonzo Powell	Chunichi Dragons	.324		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	.385
Runs		Kazuyoshi Tatsunami	Chunichi Dragons	90		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	111
Hits		Kenjiro Nomura	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	169		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	210
Doubles		Norihiro Komada	Yokohama BayStars	33		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	41
Triples		Tsuyoshi Shinjo	Hanshin Tigers	7		Mitsuchika Hirai	Chiba Lotte Marines	6
Home Runs		Yasuaki Taiho	Chunichi Dragons	38		Ralph Bryant	Kintetsu Buffaloes	35
Runs Batted In		Yasuaki Taiho	Chunichi Dragons	107		Hiroo Ishii	Kintetsu Buffaloes	111
Stolen Bases		Koichi Ogata Takuro Ishii	Yomiuri Giants Yokohama BayStars	37		Makoto Sasaki	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	37
Walks		Tom O'Malley	Hanshin Tigers	89		Kazuhiro Kiyohara	Seibu Lions	100

Pitching

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
ERA		Genji Kaku	Chunichi Dragons	2.45		Hiroshi Shintani	Seibu Lions	2.91
Wins		Masahiro Yamamoto	Chunichi Dragons	19		Hideki Irabu	Chiba Lotte Marines	15
Winning Percentage		Makoto Kito	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	.762		Taigen Kaku	Seibu Lions	.722
Losses		Takashi Saito	Yokohama BayStars	12		Yukihiro Nishizaki	Nippon Ham Fighters	14
Saves		Hiroshi Ishige Shingo Takatsu	Yomiuri Giants Yakult Swallows	19		Motoyuki Akahori	Kintetsu Buffaloes	24
Save Points		Shingo Takatsu	Yakult Swallows	27		Motoyuki Akahori	Kintetsu Buffaloes	33
Innings Pitched		Masahiro Yamamoto	Chunichi Dragons	214.0		Hideki Irabu	Chiba Lotte Marines	207.1
Appearances		Katsuyuki Furumizo	Hanshin Tigers	61		Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	62
Hits Allowed		Masahiro Yamamoto	Chunichi Dragons	203		Yukihiro Nishizaki	Nippon Ham Fighters	202
Home Runs Allowed		Makoto Kito	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	28		Koji Noda	Orix BlueWave	25
Strikeouts		Masumi Kuwata	Yomiuri Giants	185		Hideki Irabu	Chiba Lotte Marines	239
Base-on-Balls		Kazuhisa Kawaguchi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	93		Hideki Irabu	Chiba Lotte Marines	94

All-Star Game

The NPB All-Star Game featured two games and was a tie, one game to one. The first game was played at Seibu Lions Baseball Stadium and was won by the PL, 8 - 1. The second game was played at Nagoya Stadium and was won by the CL, 7 - 3.

Postseason

In the Nippon Series, the Yomiuri Giants (CL) defeated the Seibu Lions (PL), 4 games to 2. The winning manager was Shigeo Nagashima and the series MVP was Hiromi Makihara.

Award Winners

The winner of the 1994 Sawamura Award was Masahiro Yamamoto of the Chunichi Dragons. He had a 19 - 8 win-loss record, 148 strikeouts, and a 3.49 ERA in 214.0 innings.

Award	League	Player	Team	Position	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W - L	SV	IP	HA	HRA	BB	SO	ERA
Most Valuable Player	CL	Masumi Kuwata	Yomiuri Giants	P	73	7	21	1	7	0	.288	.333	.356	14 - 11	1	207.1	175	16	51	185	2.52
	PL	Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	OF	546	111	210	13	54	29	.385	.445	.549	Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year	CL	Keiichi Yabu	Hanshin Tigers	P	56	1	10	0	2	0	.179	.217	.214	9 - 9	0	181.1	174	12	42	110	3.18
	PL	Hidekazu Watanabe	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	.---	.---	.---	8 - 4	0	95.2	102	7	36	64	3.20

Best Nine

The following players were part of the 1994 Best Nine teams.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Masahiro Yamamoto	Chunichi Dragons		P		Hideki Irabu	Chiba Lotte Marines
Shuji Nishiyama	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		C		Koichiro Yoshinaga	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Yasuaki Taiho	Chunichi Dragons		1B		Hiroo Ishii	Kintetsu Buffaloes
Yutaka Wada	Hanshin Tigers		2B		Junichi Fukura	Orix BlueWave
Akira Etoh	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		3B		Hiromi Matsunaga	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Masahiro Kawai	Yomiuri Giants		SS		Tetsuro Hirose	Nippon Ham Fighters
Glenn Braggs	Yokohama BayStars		OF		Kevin Reimer	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Tomonori Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp				Makoto Sasaki	Seibu Lions
Alonzo Powell	Chunichi Dragons				Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave
			DH		Ralph Bryant	Kintetsu Buffaloes

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 1994.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Masumi Kuwata	Yomiuri Giants		P		Kimiyasu Kudo	Seibu Lions
Shuji Nishiyama	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		C		Tsutomu Ito	Seibu Lions
Norihiro Komada	Yokohama BayStars		1B		Kazuhiro Kiyohara	Seibu Lions
Yutaka Wada	Hanshin Tigers		2B		Hatsuhiko Tsuji	Seibu Lions
Takuro Ishii	Yokohama BayStars		3B		Hiromi Matsunaga	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Masahiro Kawai	Yomiuri Giants		SS		Tetsuro Hirose	Nippon Ham Fighters
Tetsuya Iida	Yakult Swallows		OF		Koji Akiyama	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Tomonori Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp				Makoto Shimada	Nippon Ham Fighters
Tsuyoshi Shinjo	Hanshin Tigers				Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave

High School Baseball

The 76th National High School Baseball Championship featured a total of 4088 schools competing for 49 spots in the finals at Koshien. In the championship game Saga High School (Saga) defeated Shounan High School (Kagoshima) by a score of 8 - 4.

The 66th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 32 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game Chiben Wakayama High School (Wakayama) defeated Joso Gakuin High School (Ibaraki) by a score of 7 - 5.

University Baseball

All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series

The 1994 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series featured 24 schools competing in the tournament at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. In the championship game Komazawa University defeated Kinki University by a score of 5 - 2.

Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention

In the Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention University of East Asia defeated Aoyama Gakuin University.

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League

Season	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Spring	Meiji	Hosei	Keio	Waseda	Rikkio	Tokyo
Fall	Hosei	Meiji	Keio	Waseda	Tokyo	Rikkio

Tohto University Base Ball League

Season	League	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Spring	1	Komazawa	Toyo	Aoyama Gakuin	Asia	Nihon	Rissho
	2	Kokushikan	Senshu	Tokyo Agriculture	Chuo	Kokugakuin	Takushoku
Fall	1	Aoyama Gakuin	Toyo	Komazawa	Nihon	Kokushikan	Asia
	2	Rissho	Chuo	Tokyo Agriculture	Kokugakuin	Senshu	Takushoku

Kansai 6 University Baseball League

Season	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Spring	Kinki	Doshisha	Kwansei Gakuin	Kansai	Ritsumeikan	Kyoto
Fall	Kinki	Kansai	Ritsumeikan	Kwansei Gakuin	Doshisha	Kyoto

International Baseball

At the thirty-second Baseball World Cup in Nicaragua, the Japanese national baseball team won a bronze medal. In the first AAA Asia Baseball Championship in Australia, the Japanese national baseball team won a gold medal. At the seventeenth Haarlemse Honkbalweek in Haarlem, the Netherlands, the Japanese national baseball team won the tournament.

Japanese Players in Other Countries

Italics indicate a Major League appearance

• Tomo Adachi: Bristol Tigers, Appalachian (Detroit Tigers)
• Jim Bowie: Oakland Athletics
• Junki Kouno: Lotte Giants, Korea Baseball Organization
• Jeff McCurry: Carolina Mudcats, Southern (PIT-AA)
• Keith McDonald: Johnson City Cardinals, Appalachian (STL-R)
• Nobuyuki Nakai: Mercuries Tigers, CPBL
• Shigeki Noguchi: Central Valley Rockies, California League (A-Adv)
• Dave Roberts: Jamestown Jammers, New York-Penn (DET-SS)
• Kenichi Sasaki: Central Valley Rockies, California (COL-A-Adv)
• Kazuhiko Shiotani: Bristol Tigers, Appalachian (DET-R)
• Mac Suzuki: Jacksonville Suns, Southern (SEA-AA)
• Toshio Tajima: San Bernardino Spirit, California (1993-A-Adv)
• Minoru Tanaka: Samsung Lions, Korea Baseball Organization

Hall of Fame

The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:

• Tomoo Hirooka, by Special Committee
• Sadaharu Oh, by Sportswriters Committee
• Kaname Yonamine, by Sportswriters Committee