1996 in Japanese Baseball

1996 in baseball
Cuban National League
Japanese baseball
American League
National League
<< 1995 1997 >>

1996 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	77	53	0	0.592	0.0	563	478	0.253	3.47	Shigeo Nagashima
Chunichi Dragons	130	72	58	0	0.554	5.0	641	589	0.278	4.01	Senichi Hoshino
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	130	71	59	0	0.546	6.0	670	597	0.281	4.08	Toshiyuki Mimura
Yakult Swallows	130	61	69	0	0.469	16.0	536	560	0.264	4.00	Katsuya Nomura
Yokohama BayStars	130	55	75	0	0.423	22.0	571	660	0.271	4.67	Akihiko Oya
Hanshin Tigers	130	54	76	0	0.415	23.0	482	579	0.245	4.12	Taira Fujita, Takeshi Shibata

Pacific League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	ERA	Manager(s)
Orix BlueWave	130	74	50	6	0.592	0.0	607	529	0.271	3.55	Akira Ogi
Nippon Ham Fighters	130	68	58	4	0.538	7.0	527	502	0.249	3.49	Toshiharu Ueda
Seibu Lions	130	62	64	4	0.492	13.0	517	521	0.258	3.58	Osamu Higashio
Kintetsu Buffaloes	130	62	67	1	0.481	14.5	555	571	0.255	4.01	Kyosuke Sasaki
Chiba Lotte Marines	130	60	67	3	0.473	15.5	456	525	0.253	3.68	Akira Ejiri
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	130	54	74	2	0.423	22.0	551	565	0.263	4.04	Sadaharu Oh

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	.340		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	.356
Runs		Hideki Matsui	Yomiuri Giants	97		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	104
Hits		Alonzo Powell	Chunichi Dragons	176		Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	193
Doubles		Alonzo Powell	Chunichi Dragons	42		Kazuhiro Kiyohara	Seibu Lions	30
Triples		Koichi Ogata Bobby Rose	Hiroshima Toyo Carp Yokohama BayStars	6		Arihito Muramatsu	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	9
Home Runs		Takeshi Yamasaki	Chunichi Dragons	39		Troy Neel	Orix BlueWave	32
Runs Batted In		Luis Lopez	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	109		Troy Neel	Orix BlueWave	111
Stolen Bases		Koichi Ogata	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	50		Arihito Muramatsu	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	58
Walks		Tomoaki Kanemoto	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	77		Rob Ducey	Nippon Ham Fighters	86

Pitching

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
ERA		Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants	2.36		Hideki Irabu	Chiba Lotte Marines	2.40
Wins		Masaki Saito Balvino Galvez	Yomiuri Giants Yomiuri Giants	16		Kip Gross	Nippon Ham Fighters	17
Winning Percentage		Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants	.800		Nobuyuki Hoshino	Orix BlueWave	.722
Losses		Keiichi Yabu Toshiro Yufune	Hanshin Tigers Hanshin Tigers	14		Hiroki Sakai Kimiyasu Kudoh	Kintetsu Buffaloes Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	15
Saves		Kazuhiro Sasaki	Yokohama BayStars	25		Toshihide Narimoto	Chiba Lotte Marines	23
Save Points		Kazuhiro Sasaki	Yokohama BayStars	29		Motoyuki Akahori Toshihide Narimoto	Kintetsu Buffaloes Chiba Lotte Marines	30
Innings Pitched		Balvino Galvez	Yomiuri Giants	203.2		Eric Hillman	Chiba Lotte Marines	213.1
Appearances		Minoru Kasai	Hanshin Tigers	63		Shigeki Sano	Kintetsu Buffaloes	57
Hits Allowed		Keiichi Yabu	Hanshin Tigers	204		Kimiyasu Kudoh	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	207
Home Runs Allowed		Takashi Saito	Yokohama BayStars	31		Masaru Imazeki Hiroshi Shintani	Nippon Ham Fighters Seibu Lions	23
Strikeouts		Takashi Saito	Yokohama BayStars	206		Kimiyasu Kudoh	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	178
Base-on-Balls		Iori Sekiguchi	Yokohama BayStars	68		Yukihiro Nishizaki	Nippon Ham Fighters	89

All-Star Game

The NPB All-Star Game featured three games and was won by the Pacific League two games to one. The first game was played at Fukuoka Dome and was won by the PL, 7 - 4. The second game was played at Tokyo Dome and was won by the PL, 7 - 3. The third game was played at Toyama Prefectural Baseball Field and was won by the CL, 4 - 2.

Postseason

In the Nippon Series, the Orix BlueWave (PL) defeated the Yomiuri Giants (CL), 4 games to 1. The winning manager was Akira Ohgi and the series MVP was Troy Neel.

Award Winners

The winner of the 1996 Sawamura Award was Masaki Saito of the Yomiuri Giants. He had a 16 - 4 win-loss record, 158 strikeouts, and a 2.36 ERA in 187.0 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	Hideki Matsui	Yomiuri Giants	OF	487	97	153	38	99	7	.314	.401	.622	Did not pitch
	PL	Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	OF	542	104	193	16	84	35	.356	.422	.504	Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year	CL	Toshihisa Nishi	Yomiuri Giants	3B	403	70	109	7	24	17	.270	.333	.370	Did not pitch
	PL	Makoto Kaneko	Nippon Ham Fighters	2B	395	50	103	4	33	15	.261	.307	.337	Did not pitch

Best Nine

The following players were part of the 1996 Best Nine teams.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants		P		Eric Hillman	Chiba Lotte Marines
Shuji Nishiyama	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		C		Koichiro Yoshinaga	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Luis Lopez	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		1B		Atsushi Kataoka	Nippon Ham Fighters
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami	Chunichi Dragons		2B		Koichi Oshima	Orix BlueWave
Akira Eto	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		3B		Norihiro Nakamura	Kintetsu Buffaloes
Kenjiro Nomura	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		SS		Yukio Tanaka	Nippon Ham Fighters
Hideki Matsui	Yomiuri Giants		OF		Arihito Muramatsu	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Alonzo Powell	Chunichi Dragons				Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave
Takeshi Yamasaki	Chunichi Dragons				So Taguchi	Orix BlueWave
			DH		Troy Neel	Orix BlueWave

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 1996.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants		P		Yukihiro Nishizaki	Nippon Ham Fighters
Shuji Nishiyama	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		C		Makoto Takada	Orix BlueWave
Norihiro Komada	Yokohama BayStars		1B		Atsushi Kataoka	Nippon Ham Fighters
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami	Chunichi Dragons		2B		Koichi Oshima	Orix BlueWave
Akira Etoh	Hiroshima Toyo Carp		3B		Toshifumi Baba	Orix BlueWave
Masahiro Kawai	Yomiuri Giants		SS		Yukio Tanaka	Nippon Ham Fighters
Tetsuya Iida	Yakult Swallows		OF		Koji Akiyama	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Koichi Ogata	Hiroshima Toyo Carp				Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave
Tsuyoshi Shinjo	Hanshin Tigers				So Taguchi	Orix BlueWave

High School Baseball

The 78th National High School Baseball Championship featured a total of 4089 schools competing for 49 spots in the finals at Koshien. In the championship game Matsuyama Shogyo High School (Ehime) defeated Kumamoto Technical High School (Kumamoto) by a score of 6 - 3.

The 68th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 32 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game Kagoshima Jitsugyo High School (Kagoshima) defeated Chiben Wakayama High School (Wakayama) by a score of 6 - 3.

University Baseball

All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series

The 1996 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series featured 25 schools competing in the tournament at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. In the championship game Aoyama Gakuin University defeated Kyushu Kyoritsu University by a score of 9 - 4.

Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention

In the Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention Meiji University defeated Tohoku Fukushi University.

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League

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

Tohto University Base Ball League

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

Kansai 6 University Baseball League

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

International Baseball

The Major League All-Stars toured Japan in the fall of 1996. The touring team went 4 - 2 - 2 against Japanese competition.

In the second AAA Asia Baseball Championship in The Philippines, the Japanese national baseball team won a bronze medal. At the eighteenth Haarlemse Honkbalweek in Haarlem, the Netherlands, the Japanese national baseball team placed fourth. At the Olympics in Atlanta, United States, the Japanese national baseball team won a silver medal.

Japanese Players in Other Countries

Italics indicate a Major League appearance

• Takahisa Hoshiba: Visalia Oaks, California (DET-A-Adv)
• Taisuke Ishimaru: Great Falls Dodgers, Pioneer (LAD-R)
• Makoto Ito: Visalia Oaks, California (DET-A-Adv)
• Katsuhiro Maeda: GCL Yankees, Gulf Coast (1996 New York Yankees-R)
• Jeff McCurry: Detroit Tigers; Toledo Mud Hens, International (DET-AAA)
• Keith McDonald: St. Petersburg Cardinals, Florida State (STL-A-Adv)
• Hideo Nomo: Los Angeles Dodgers
• Stephen Randolph: Greensboro Bats, South Atlantic (NYY-A)
• Dave Roberts: Jacksonville Suns, Southern (DET-AA); Visalia Oaks, California (DET-A-Adv)
• Mac Suzuki: Tacoma Rainiers, Pacific Coast (SEA-AAA); Seattle Mariners; Port City Roosters, Southern (SEA-AA)
• Minoru Tanaka: Ssangbangwool Raiders, Korea Baseball Organization
• Shuta Tanaka: GCL Tigers, GCL (DET-R)
• Tsuyoshi Yoda: Memphis Chicks, Southern (SDP-AA)

Hall of Fame

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

• Motoshi Fujita, by Sportswriters Committee
• Sachio Kinugasa, by Sportswriters Committee
• Naotaka Makino, by Special Committee