Kazuo Horii

Kazuo Horii (堀井 数男)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 156 lb.

• High School Nisshin Shogyo High School

• Born December 12, 1923 in Higashiosaka, Osaka Japan
• Died July 24, 2006 in Osaka, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazuo Horii played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Horii was signed by the Nankai club in 1943. He became their starting outfielder in his rookie year and hit .229/.300/.285, and ranked 10th in batting average of the Japanese Professional Baseball League. He played all 35 games in the 1944 season (the season was shortened because of World War II), and recorded a .246/.331/.336 batting line. After the Japanese Baseball League restarted in 1946, Horii batted .293/.339/.398, and won his first League Championship.The Osaka native extended his stable performance in the next three years, batting .284/.325/.347, .262/.344/.351 and .277/.339/.418 respectively from 1947 to 1949.

When the JPBL split into two leagues in the 1950 season, the Nankai Hawks joined the Pacific League. Horii recorded a .281/.317/.370 batting line with 30 steals. He was 6th in swipes (48 behind Chusuke Kizuka) and 7th in RBI (23 behind Kaoru Betto). In 1951, the Osaka native hit .270/.317/.390 with 20 steals, and ranked 3th in RBI, 22 behind Tokuji Iida.

Horii was selected for the 1952 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-8 in two games. He ended up hitting .297/.342/.433 with 23 steals and 12 homers. He ranked 10th in batting (.039 behind Shigeya Iijima), 2nd in hits (11 behind Iida), 6th in runs (33 behind Iida), 2nd in RBI (2 behind Iida) and 9th in homers (13 behind Yasuhiro Fukami). 1953 was Horii's career year. In the 1953 NPB All-Star Game, Horii collected a single off Takumi Otomo in Game 1, and Takehiko Bessho struck him out in Game 2. He shined in Game 3, when he went 2-for-2 with 2 doubles, and drove in two clutch runs against Hideo Fujimoto in the 9th inning. The Pacific League beat the Central League, 3-0, and Horii was named the MVP. He ended up hitting .314/.371/.429 with 20 stolen bases, and won his only Best Nine award as an outfielder.

Horii attended 1954 NPB All-Star Game 1, and went 1-for-2, with a single off Shigeru Sugishita in the 8th inning of that game. He ended up batting .250/.297/.351 with 10 homers in the 1954 season. He hit .260/.306/.366 and played all 143 games in 1955, and ranked 4th in RBI (14 behind Kazuhiro Yamauchi). However, the 1955 season was the last productive one for Horii, as he only played 91, 84 and 24 games respectively from 1956 to 1958. Horii then announced his retirement after the 1959 season. He then coached the Hawks from 1960 to 1967.

Overall, Horii had hit .272/.326/.373 in 16 seasons in NPB.