Akira Owada

Akira Owada (大和田 明)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 167 lb.

• High School Ibaraki High School

• Born March 21, 1934 in Kasama, Ibaraki Japan
• Died March 4, 2001

BR register page

Biographical Information

Akira Owada played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Owada was signed by the Nishitetsu Lions in 1955. He spent the first three years mainly in the NPB Farm Leagues, and only played 68 games combined from 1955 to 1957. He also had a conflict with Lions manager Osamu Mihara. Therefore, the Lions decided to trade Owada to the Hiroshima Carp after 1957 season for cash.

In the first year with the Carp, Owada took a starting outfield spot, and hit .234/.269/.425 with 14 homers. Owada attended the 1959 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-5 in that event. He hit for a cycle on June 20, 1959, and ended up hitting .265/.330/.504 with 23 dingers and a league-leading 34 doubles. He was 5th in homers (8 behind Toru Mori), 6th in hits (23 behind Shigeo Nagashima) and 6th in RBI (8 behind Mori). He also won his only Best Nine award in his career as an outfielder.

Owada was selected into the All-Star Game again the next year, and went 1-for-9 in three games; the only hit was a solo shot off Takao Kajimoto in Game 1. He recorded a .254/.299/.455 batting line with 18 homers in this season. He extended his reliable performance, batting .272/.320/.467 and .253/.286/.373 in the next two years. The Ibaraki native had a career-best .291/.321/.461 batting line in 1963, and ranked 9th in batting average. In the 1963 NPB All-Star Games, Owada appeared in all 3 games but didn't have any hits.

Owada was in the roster of the 1964 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-2. He recorded a .279/.313/.423 batting line in the 1964 season, then hit .238/.261/.343 in 1965. Owada batted .254/.303/.406 in 1966, but slumped to .219/.259/.326 in the next year. The Carp traded him to the Nankai Hawks, then he announced his retirement after hitting .182/.258/.285 in 1968.

Overall, Owada had hit .255/.296/.417 in 14 seasons in NPB.