2001 in Japanese Baseball

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2001 in baseball
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2001 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 140 76 58 6 0.564 0.0 645 531 0.274 3.41 Tsutomu Wakamatsu
Yomiuri Giants 140 75 63 2 0.543 3.0 688 659 0.271 4.45 Shigeo Nagashima
Hiroshima Carp 140 68 65 7 0.511 7.5 619 596 0.269 3.82 Koji Yamamoto
Yokohama BayStars 140 69 67 4 0.507 8.0 560 565 0.267 3.75 Masahiko Mori
Chunichi Dragons 140 62 74 4 0.457 15.0 483 513 0.253 3.48 Senichi Hoshino
Hanshin Tigers 140 57 80 3 0.418 20.5 467 598 0.243 3.75 Katsuya Nomura

Pacific League[edit]

Team G W L T WPCT GB RS RA AVG ERA Manager(s)
Kintetsu Buffaloes 140 78 60 2 0.564 0.0 770 745 0.280 4.98 Masataka Nashida
Daiei Hawks 140 76 63 1 0.546 2.5 741 684 0.273 4.49 Sadaharu Oh
Seibu Lions 140 73 67 0 0.521 6.0 620 584 0.256 3.88 Osamu Higashio
Orix BlueWave 140 70 66 4 0.514 7.0 651 634 0.263 4.11 Akira Ogi
Chiba Lotte Marines 140 64 74 2 0.464 14.0 593 608 0.258 3.93 Koji Yamamoto
Nippon Ham Fighters 140 53 84 3 0.389 24.5 593 713 0.256 4.79 Yasunori Oshima

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 Hideki Matsui Yomiuri Giants .333 Kazuya Fukuura Chiba Lotte Marines .346
Runs Hideki Matsui Yomiuri Giants 107 Tuffy Rhodes Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes 137
Hits Takuro Ishii Yokohama BayStars 171 Michihiro Ogasawara Nippon Ham Fighters 195
Doubles Takuro Ishii Yokohama BayStars 34 Yoshitomo Tani Orix BlueWave 52
Triples Takuya Kimura
Akihiro Higashide
Atsunori Inaba
Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Yakult Swallows
5 Makoto Kosaka
Hiroyuki Shibata
Chiba Lotte Marines
Seibu Lions
8
Home Runs Roberto Petagine Yakult Swallows 39 Tuffy Rhodes Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes 55
Runs Batted In Roberto Petagine Yomiuri Giants 127 Norihiro Nakamura Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes 132
Stolen Bases Norihiro Akahoshi Hanshin Tigers 39 Tadahito Iguchi Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 44
Walks Tomoaki Kanemoto Hiroshima Toyo Carp 128 Frank Bolick Chiba Lotte Marines 107

Pitching[edit]

Statistic Central League Pacific League
Leader Team Number Leader Team Number
ERA Shigeki Noguchi Chunichi Dragons 2.46 Nate Minchey Chiba Lotte Marines 3.26
Wins Shugo Fujii Yakult Swallows 14 Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions 15
Winning Percentage Yusaku Iriki Yomiuri Giants .765 Keisaburo Tanoue Fukuoka Daiei Hawks .650
Losses Shane Bowers
Masahiro Yamamoto
Kei Igawa
Greg Hansell
Yokohama BayStars
Chunichi Dragons
Hanshin Tigers
Hanshin Tigers
13 Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions 15
Saves Shingo Takatsu Yakult Swallows 37 Rodney Pedraza Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 34
Save Points Shingo Takatsu Yakult Swallows 37 Rodney Pedraza Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 38
Innings Pitched Shigeki Noguchi Chunichi Dragons 193.2 Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions 240.1
Appearances Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara Hiroshima Toyo Carp 78 Toshihiro Kase Orix BlueWave 70
Hits Allowed Hiroki Kuroda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 175 Junji Hoshino Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 197
Home Runs Allowed Shugo Fujii
Darrell May
Yakult Swallows
Yomiuri Giants
24 Ken Kadokura
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Hisashi Ogura
Shinichi Kato
Tsutomu Iwamoto
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
Seibu Lions
Orix BlueWave
Orix BlueWave
Nippon Ham Fighters
27
Strikeouts Shigeki Noguchi Chunichi Dragons 187 Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions 214
Base-on-Balls Kei Igawa Hanshin Tigers 89 Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions 117

All-Star Game[edit]

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 - 1. The second game was played at Yokohama Stadium and was won by the CL, 12 - 6. The third game was played at Sapporo Dome and was won by the PL, 8 - 4.

Postseason[edit]

In the Nippon Series, the Yakult Swallows (CL) defeated the Kintetsu Buffaloes (PL), 4 games to 1. The winning manager was Tsutomu Wakamatsu and the series MVP was Atsuya Furuta.

Award Winners[edit]

The winner of the 2001 Sawamura Award was Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Seibu Lions. He had a 15 - 15 win-loss record, 214 strikeouts, and a 3.60 ERA in 240.1 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 Roberto Petagine Yakult Swallows 1B 463 93 149 39 127 4 .322 .466 .633 Did not pitch
PL Tuffy Rhodes Kintetsu Buffaloes OF 550 137 180 55 131 9 .327 .421 .662 Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year CL Norihiro Akahoshi Hanshin Tigers OF 438 70 128 1 23 39 .292 .372 .338 Did not pitch
PL Masanobu Okubo Orix BlueWave P 0 0 0 0 0 0 .--- .--- .--- 7 - 5 14 94.0 68 8 32 93 2.68

Best Nine[edit]

The following players were part of the 2001 Best Nine teams.

Central League Position Pacific League
Player Team Player Team
Shugo Fujii Yakult Swallows P Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions
Atsuya Furuta Yakult Swallows C Kenji Johjima Daiei Hawks
Roberto Petagine Yakult Swallows 1B Michihiro Ogasawara Nippon Ham Fighters
Eddy Diaz Hiroshima Carp 2B Tadahito Iguchi Daiei Hawks
Akira Eto Yomiuri Giants 3B Norihiro Nakamura Kintetsu Buffaloes
Takuro Ishii Yokohama BayStars SS Kazuo Matsui Seibu Lions
Atsunori Inaba Yakult Swallows OF Koichi Isobe Kintetsu Buffaloes
Tomoaki Kanemoto Hiroshima Carp Tuffy Rhodes Kintetsu Buffaloes
Hideki Matsui Yomiuri Giants Yoshitomo Tani Orix BlueWave
DH Frank Bolick Chiba Lotte Marines

Gold Gloves[edit]

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2001.

Central League Position Pacific League
Player Team Player Team
Shigeki Noguchi Chunichi Dragons P Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions
Atsuya Furuta Yakult Swallows C Kenji Johjima Daiei Hawks
Roberto Petagine Yakult Swallows 1B Michihiro Ogasawara Nippon Ham Fighters
Toshihisa Nishi Yomiuri Giants 2B Tadahito Iguchi Daiei Hawks
Akinori Iwamura Yakult Swallows 3B Norihiro Nakamura Kintetsu Buffaloes
Shinya Miyamoto Yakult Swallows SS Makoto Kosaka Chiba Lotte Marines
Norihiro Akahoshi Hanshin Tigers OF Hiroshi Shibahara Daiei Hawks
Hideki Matsui Yomiuri Giants So Taguchi Orix BlueWave
Yoshinobu Takahashi Yomiuri Giants Yoshitomo Tani Orix BlueWave

High School Baseball[edit]

The 83rd National High School Baseball Championship featured a total of 4150 schools competing for 49 spots in the finals at Koshien. In the championship game The Third High School of Nihon University (West Tokyo) defeated Ohmi High School (Shiga) by a score of 5 - 2.

The 73rd National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 34 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game Joso Gakuin High School (Ibaraki) defeated Sendai Ikuei High School (Miyagi) by a score of 7 - 6.

University Baseball[edit]

All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series[edit]

The 2001 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series featured 28 schools competing in the tournament at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. In the championship game Shikoku Gakuin University defeated Nihon University by a score of 2 - 0.

Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention[edit]

In the Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention Komazawa University defeated Josai University.

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League[edit]

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

Tohto University Base Ball League[edit]

Season League First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth
Spring 1 Nihon Aoyama Gakuin Komazawa Asia Chuo Toyo
2 Senshu Kokushikan Rissho Kokugakuin Tokyo Agriculture Juntendo
3 Takushoku Taisho Gakushuin Hitotsubashi Sophia Seikei
4 Shibaura Tech Musashi Tech Tokyo Tech
Fall 1 Komazawa Asia Chuo Nihon Aoyama Gakuin Toyo
2 Senshu Rissho Kokugakuin Kokushikan Takushoku Tokyo Agriculture
3 Juntendo Taisho Seikei Gakushuin Hitotsubashi Shibaura Tech
4 Seikei Musashi Tech Tokyo Tech

Kansai 6 University Baseball League[edit]

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

International Baseball[edit]

At the thirty-fourth Baseball World Cup in Taiwan, the Japanese national baseball team placed fourth. In the fourth AAA Asia Baseball Championship in Taiwan, the Japanese national baseball team won a silver 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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