1997 in Japanese Baseball

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(Redirected from 1997 Pacific League)

1997 in baseball
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1997 in Japanese baseball

Nippon Professional Baseball[edit]

Standings[edit]

Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner.

Central League[edit]

Team G W L T WPCT GB RS RA AVG ERA Manager(s)
Yakult Swallows 137 83 52 2 0.613 0.0 672 503 0.276 3.26 Katsuya Nomura
Yokohama BayStars 135 72 63 0 0.533 11.0 572 548 0.273 3.70 Akihiko Oya
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 135 66 69 0 0.489 17.0 651 653 0.259 4.44 Toshiyuki Mimura
Yomiuri Giants 135 63 72 0 0.467 20.0 550 536 0.251 3.69 Shigeo Nagashima
Hanshin Tigers 136 62 73 1 0.460 21.0 504 575 0.244 3.70 Yoshio Yoshida
Chunichi Dragons 136 59 76 1 0.438 24.0 510 644 0.243 4.33 Senichi Hoshino

Pacific League[edit]

Team G W L T WPCT GB RS RA AVG ERA Manager(s)
Seibu Lions 135 76 56 3 0.574 0.0 656 554 0.281 3.63 Osamu Higashio
Orix BlueWave 135 71 61 3 0.537 5.0 582 544 0.263 3.61 Akira Ogi
Kintetsu Buffaloes 135 68 63 4 0.519 7.5 603 579 0.274 3.79 Kyosuke Sasaki
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 135 63 71 1 0.470 14.0 572 600 0.264 4.26 Sadaharu Oh
Nippon Ham Fighters 135 63 71 1 0.470 14.0 587 610 0.265 4.18 Toshiharu Ueda
Chiba Lotte Marines 135 57 76 2 0.430 19.5 466 584 0.249 3.84 Akihito Kondo

Leaders[edit]

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting[edit]

Statistic Central League Pacific League
Leader Team Number Leader Team Number
Batting Average Takanori Suzuki Yokohama BayStars .335 Ichiro Suzuki Orix BlueWave .345
Runs Koichi Ogata Hiroshima Toyo Carp 103 Ichiro Suzuki Orix BlueWave 94
Hits Luis Lopez Hiroshima Toyo Carp 170 Ichiro Suzuki Orix BlueWave 185
Doubles Luis Lopez Hiroshima Toyo Carp 37 Tuffy Rhodes
Hiroki Kokubo
Kintetsu Buffaloes
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
37
Triples Daisuke Masuda Chunichi Dragons 8 Kazuo Matsui Seibu Lions 13
Home Runs Dwayne Hosey Yakult Swallows 38 Nigel Wilson Nippon Ham Fighters 37
Runs Batted In Luis Lopez Hiroshima Toyo Carp 112 Hiroki Kokubo Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 114
Stolen Bases Koichi Ogata Hiroshima Toyo Carp 49 Kazuo Matsui Seibu Lions 62
Walks Hideki Matsui Yomiuri Giants 100 Ken Suzuki Seibu Lions 90

Pitching[edit]

Statistic Central League Pacific League
Leader Team Number Leader Team Number
ERA Yutaka Ono Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2.85 Satoru Komiyama Chiba Lotte Marines 2.49
Wins Masahiro Yamamoto Chunichi Dragons 18 Fumiya Nishiguchi
Hideo Koike
Seibu Lions
Kintetsu Buffaloes
15
Winning Percentage Daisuke Miura Yokohama BayStars .769 Fumiya Nishiguchi Seibu Lions .750
Losses Tetsuro Kawajiri Hanshin Tigers 14 Tomohiro Kuroki Chiba Lotte Marines 15
Saves Kazuhiro Sasaki
Sun Dong-yeol
Yokohama BayStars
Chunichi Dragons
38 Yasuyuki Kawamoto Chiba Lotte Marines 25
Save Points Kazuhiro Sasaki Yokohama BayStars 41 Motoyuki Akahori Kintetsu Buffaloes 33
Innings Pitched Masahiro Yamamoto Chunichi Dragons 206.2 Tomohiro Kuroki Chiba Lotte Marines 240.2
Appearances Ryuichi Kawahara Yokohama BayStars 66 Takehiro Hashimoto
Yoshitaka Mizuo
Seibu Lions
Orix BlueWave
68
Hits Allowed Masahiro Yamamoto Chunichi Dragons 174 Kip Gross Nippon Ham Fighters 235
Home Runs Allowed Takeo Kawamura Yokohama BayStars 27 Tomohiro Kuroki Chiba Lotte Marines 24
Strikeouts Masahiro Yamamoto Chunichi Dragons 169 Fumiya Nishiguchi Seibu Lions 192
Base-on-Balls Ken Kadokura Chunichi Dragons 96 Hideo Koike Kintetsu Buffaloes 96

All-Star Game[edit]

The NPB All-Star Game featured two games and was a tie, one game to one. The first game was played at Osaka Dome and was won by the PL, 5 - 0. The second game was played at Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium and was won by the CL, 6 - 3.

Postseason[edit]

In the Nippon Series, the Yakult Swallows (CL) defeated the Seibu Lions (PL), 4 games to 1. The winning manager was Katsuya Nomura and the series MVP was Atsuya Furuta.

Award Winners[edit]

The winner of the 1997 Sawamura Award was Fumiya Nishiguchi of the Seibu Lions. He had a 15 - 5 win-loss record, 192 strikeouts, and a 3.12 ERA in 207.2 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 Atsuya Furuta Yakult Swallows C 509 74 164 9 86 9 .322 .413 .446 Did not pitch
PL Fumiya Nishiguchi Seibu Lions P 0 0 0 0 0 0 .--- .--- .--- 15 - 5 1 207.2 187 20 68 192 3.12
Rookie of the Year CL Toshikazu Sawazaki Hiroshima Toyo Carp P 43 1 12 0 6 0 .279 .311 .349 12 - 8 0 156.1 162 23 47 106 3.74
PL Makoto Kosaka Chiba Lotte Marines 2B 499 66 130 1 30 56 .261 .329 .323 Did not pitch

Best Nine[edit]

The following players were part of the 1997 Best Nine teams.

Central League Position Pacific League
Player Team Player Team
Masahiro Yamamoto Chunichi Dragons P Fumiya Nishiguchi Seibu Lions
Atsuya Furuta Yakult Swallows C Tsutomu Ito Seibu Lions
Luis Lopez Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1B Phil Clark Kintetsu Buffaloes
Bobby Rose Yokohama BayStars 2B Hiroki Kokubo Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Leo Gomez Chunichi Dragons 3B Ken Suzuki Seibu Lions
Takuro Ishii Yokohama BayStars SS Kazuo Matsui Seibu Lions
Dwayne Hosey Yakult Swallows OF Tuffy Rhodes Kintetsu Buffaloes
Hideki Matsui Yomiuri Giants Makoto Sasaki Seibu Lions
Takanori Suzuki Yokohama BayStars Ichiro Suzuki Orix BlueWave
DH Domingo Martinez Seibu Lions

Gold Gloves[edit]

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 1997.

Central League Position Pacific League
Player Team Player Team
Masumi Kuwata Yomiuri Giants P Fumiya Nishiguchi Seibu Lions
Atsuya Furuta Yakult Swallows C Tsutomu Ito Seibu Lions
Norihiro Komada Yokohama BayStars 1B Taisei Takagi Seibu Lions
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami Chunichi Dragons 2B Koichi Oshima Orix BlueWave
Tatsuya Shindo Yokohama BayStars 3B Atsushi Kataoka Nippon Ham Fighters
Shinya Miyamoto Yakult Swallows SS Kazuo Matsui Seibu Lions
Tetsuya Iida Yakult Swallows OF Tatsuya Ide Nippon Ham Fighters
Koichi Ogata Hiroshima Toyo Carp Ichiro Suzuki Orix BlueWave
Tsuyoshi Shinjo Hanshin Tigers So Taguchi Orix BlueWave

High School Baseball[edit]

The 79th National High School Baseball Championship featured a total of 4093 schools competing for 49 spots in the finals at Koshien. In the championship game Chiben Wakayama High School (Wakayama) defeated Heian High School (Kyoto) by a score of 6 - 3.

The 69th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 32 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game Tenri High School (Nara) defeated Chukyo University Senior High School (Aichi) by a score of 4 - 1.

University Baseball[edit]

All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series[edit]

The 1997 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series featured 25 schools competing in the tournament at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. In the championship game Kinki University defeated Asia University by a score of 2 - 0.

Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention[edit]

In the Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention Kinki University defeated Hosei University.

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League[edit]

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

Tohto University Base Ball League[edit]

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

Kansai 6 University Baseball League[edit]

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

International Baseball[edit]

In the thirteenth Intercontinental Cup in Spain, the Japanese national baseball team won a gold medal.

Japanese Players in Other Countries[edit]

Italics indicate a Major League appearance

Hall of Fame[edit]

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

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