Fujio Ueda

Fujio Ueda (上田 藤夫)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 141 lb.

• High School Maui High School

• Born March 6, 1912 in Maui, HI USA
• Died February 25, 2003

BR register page

Biographical Information

Fujio Ueda played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Ueda was signed by the Hankyu team in 1937. He hit .212/.346/.249 in the spring season and .159/.281/.220 in the fall campaign of his rookie year. He improved to .218/.301/.227 in spring and .261/.370/.370 in the fall of 1938. He also set the Japanese Professional Baseball League record with 12 assists in a game by a shortstop. In 1939, Ueda recorded a .269/.357/.332batting line with 16 steals.

Ueda batted .246/.334/.298 with 23 steals in 1940, and won the first Best Nine award at shortstop. He set the Japan professional baseball record for a shortstop by making 6 double plays in a game on November 16. Ueda hit .221/.341/.262 in 1941, then slumped to .201/.291/.209 in 1942. Despite his batting being terrible, Ueda still secured a spot in the lineup with his elite shortstop defense. He bounced back to .232/.357/.256 in 1943, then played all 35 games with a .259/.356/.345 batting line in the war-shortened 1944 season. When the league restarted in the 1946 season, Ueda batted .267/.356/.313 with 14 steals. He hit .258/.343/.321 in 1947, then announced his retirement after batting .172/.236/.200 in the 1948 season. Ueda then became a umpire for the Pacific League from 1949 to 1967. He appeared in 2,074 games as an umpire, and also worked 9 Nippon Series and 6 NPB All-Star Game.

Overall, Ueda had hit .237/.335/.283 in 11 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• NPB umpire page
• Japan Wiki