Bunjiro Sakamoto

Bunjiro Sakamoto (坂本 文次郎)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 151 lb.

• High School Koyo High School

• Born March 15, 1926 in Wakayama, Wakayama Japan
• Died November 25, 1994

BR register page

Biographical Information

Third Baseman Bunjiro Sakamoto was a two-time All-Star in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Sakamoto was signed by the Daiei Stars in 1951, and he was named their starting third baseman as a rookie. He hit .242/.250/.342 in his rookie year, then he had a .226/.268/.367 batting line with 6 triples in 1952. He tied Kazuo Horii, Kozo Kawai and Michihiro Sugawara for 5th in the Pacific League in triples, and he was 8th in doubles (5 behind Tokuji Iida). Sakamoto improved to .280/.321/.361 in 1953, ranking 8th in hits (12 behind Futoshi Nakanishi) and 7th in doubles (24, tied with Noboru Tsunemi). He then hit .260/.278/.416 with a career-high 12 homers in 1954, and he set a NPB record by having 522 assists as a third baseman. It was still the NPB record as of 2023. Sakamoto was 9th in hits (47 behind Larry Raines), 4th in doubles (28, tied with Nakanishi and Kawai) and 2nd in triples (9, tied with Seizo Furukawa).

The Wakayama native was selected into the 1955 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 0-for-2. He ended up hitting .295/.332/.430 with 9 triples, ranking 3rd in hits (2 behind Roberto Barbon and Iida) and 4th in triples (9, tied with Katsuki Tokura and Toshiaki Yamada). Sakamoto then recorded a .271/.304/.377 batting line with 28 doubles in 1956, and he tied Yasumitsu Toyoda, Kohei Sugiyama and Shinya Sasaki for 3rd in doubles. He slumped to .225/.246/.310 in 1957, then Daiei merged with the Mainichi Orions and became the Daimai Orions. Sakamoto struggled in his first season with the Orions as he only batted .246/.268/.333, and his batting line fell to .172/.243/.234 in 1959. He bounced back in 1960, and he hit .256/.270/.372 in 120 games. In the 1960 Nippon Series, he was 2-for-9 and the Taiyo Whales swept the Orions. Sakamoto announced his retirement after having a .216/.249/.304 batting line in 1961, and he became a coach. He coached the Orions from 1962 to 1973 and the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1974 to 1983.

Overall, Sakamoto hit .254/.283/.367 with 1,097 hits, 49 triples and 66 homers in 11 seasons in the NPB. As of 2023, he was 48th in triples in the NPB, tied with Makoto Shimada, Atsunori Inaba, Takashi Toritani and Sosuke Genda.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1956 NPB All Star Game