Kaoru Betto

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Kaoru Betto (別当 薫) (The Gentleman of Baseball)

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Biographical Information[edit]

Kaoru Betto - known as “the Gentleman of Baseball” - was one of the first Japanese power hitters and played in the Nippon Pro Baseball for 10 years.

Betto broke the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League record for average by hitting .500 in 1942 when he played for Keio University. The Osaka Tigers signed the 27-year-old Betto in 1948. He hit .328/.379/.517 with 13 homers in just 89 games in his rookie year, then he fractured his left foot and missed 3 months. The Hyogo native broke out in 1949, as he blasted 39 homers with a .322/.376/.596 batting line. He led the Japanese Professional Baseball League in runs, ranked 5th in BA (.039 behind Makoto Kozuru), 2nd in hits (3 behind Fumio Fujimura), 2nd in homers (7 behind Fujimura), 3rd in RBI (16 behind Fujimura) and 3rd in SLG (.054 behind Fujimura). He won his first Best Nine as an outfielder.

He had a career year in 1950 when the two leagues split. He joined the Mainichi Orions of the Pacific League with his manager Tadashi Wakabayashi, and blasted 43 homers with a .335/.397/.671 batting line and 34 steals. Betto led the league in homers, RBI, runs, hits, total bases and SLG, ranked 2nd in BA (.004 behind Hiroshi Oshita) and 3rd in steals (44 behind Chusuke Kizuka). He won the Best Nine again, and was named the first Central League MVP. He was also the first player to complete a 30-30 season with a .300 batting average. In the first Nippon Series ever - the 1950 Nippon Series, Betto was 12-for-24 with a triple and 6 doubles, and won the first Japan Series MVP.

When the league changed the ball, Betto only blasted 16 homers and 22 steals with a .309/.379/.523 batting line in 1951. He was 4th in BA (.074 behind Hiroshi Oshita), 3rd in homers (10 behind Oshita), 3rd in hits (7 behind Kizuka), 2nd in RBI (20 behind Tokuji Iida) and 7th in steals (33 behind Kizuka). The Hyogo native set the NPB record by stealing second, third and home in a inning on July 26, and also won the Best Nine for the third consecutive year. Betto was also selected to the first NPB All-Star Game - the 1951 NPB All-Star Games, but he went 1-for-10.

The slugger only hit .279/.357/.498 with 18 homers and 40 steals in 1952, and attended the All-Star Game again. He was 2-for-13 with a RBI double in 2 games. Betto led the league in triples with 10, ranked 5th in homers (7 behind Yasuhiro Fukami), 5th in hits (26 behind Iida), 6th in RBI (19 behind Iida) and 3rd in steals (13 behind Kizuka). He hit .305/.378/.509 with 11 homers in 1953, and won his sixth, and last, Best Nine award.

When Tadashi Wakabayashi left the team, the 33-year-old Betto was named player-manager for the Orions. His batting was influenced as he only had a .248/.305/.401 batting line with 11 homers and 34 steals. He still attended the 1954 NPB All-Star Game, but he went 0-for-6 in 2 games. The Orions was 79-57 in that season. He led the Orions to 85-55 in the next season, but he only hit .276/.340/.397 as a batter. Betto then focus on managing, only had 83 more at-bats with the big club, and announced his retirement after the 1957 season. As a manager, he led the Orions until 1959, but never ranked 3rd or mhigher in his 6-year managing career, then he was replaced by Yukio Nishimoto. He was also their batting coach in 1961.

The Kintetsu Buffaloes hired Betto as their new manager from 1962 to 1964, but he never led them left the B-Class. He then served as the manager for the Taiyo Whales from 1968 to 1972 and from 1977 to 1979. He also managed the Hiroshima Carp in 1973. He was 1,237-1,156 as a manager, and became the only manager in NPB history to won more than 1,000 games without a pennant. Betto was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.

Overall, Betto had hit .302/.366/.525 with 155 homers and 186 steals in 10 seasons in NPB.

Related Sites[edit]

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