Jiro Ueda

Jiro Ueda (上田 次朗) (Dragon Killer, Joe)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 176 lb.

• School Tokai University
• High School Minabe High School

• Born July 6, 1947 in Tanabe, Wakayama Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Jiro Ueda pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Ueda represented Japan in the 1969 Asian Championship. The Hanshin Tigers drafted him in the first round of the 1969 NPB draft. Ueda joined the rotation as a rookie, and attended the 1970 NPB All-Star Game. He pitched 2 innings, allowed 4 unearned runs in Game 1; then he bounced back and pitched 3 shutout innings with 3 strikeouts in Game 3. Ueda set the NPB rookie record for struck out 15 in a game on April 23 (broken by Isamu Kida in 1980). He ended up 9-8 with a 2.99 ERA. He struggled in 1971 as his ERA rose to 4.40, and he only started 9 games. Ueda bounced back and collected 9 wins with a 3.54 ERA in 1972.

1973 was Ueda's career year. He had 22 wins with a solid 2.22 ERA, and ranked 3rd in both wins and ERA (.19 behind Takeshi Yasuda). He and Yutaka Enatsu, who led the league with 24 wins, became the last teammates to both won 20 games in a NPB season. He was selected into the 1973 NPB All-Star Game, started in Game 2, allowed a run in 2 innings and got the loss; He also pitched a shutout inning in Game 3. Ueda couldn't extend his good performance in 1974. He was 7-13 in 26 starts with a 4.02 ERA. He lowered his ERA to 3.76 in the next year, and got 9 wins in 36 appearances. 1976 was the last 10-wins season in Ueda's career; he went 12-9 with a 3.98 ERA.

Ueda didn't pitched well in 1977, as his ERA was 4.98 in 148 1/3 innings. His ERA got even worse, rising to 5.70 in 1978, and the Tigers moved him out from the rotation in 1979. He was traded to the Nankai Hawks for cash after the 1979 season. Ueda still struggled with the Hawks, his ERA never lower then 4.50 in two seasons with them, and the Hawks released him after the 1981 season. Ueda came back to the Tigers, then announced his retirement after the 1982 season. He was the assistant pitching coach for the Tigers in 1983, ni-gun pitching coach from 1984 to 1987, coached the Fresno Giants in 1988 and pitching coach in 1989 and from 1993 to 1994.

Overall, Ueda was 92-101 with a 3.95 ERA and pitched 1,646 2/3 innings in 13 seasons in NPB.