Kazuo Kasahara

Kazuo Kasahara (笠原 和夫)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 156 lbs.

• School Waseda University
• High School Ichioka High School

• Born June 3, 1920 in Osaka, Osaka Japan
• Died April 10, 1998

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazuo Kasahara played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 10 years.

Kasahara was signed by the Nankai Hawks in 1948, and he hit .296/.374/.435 with 40 doubles in his rookie year. He set the JPBL record for most doubles in a season, and he broke the JPBL record with 100 runs scored (broken by Kaoru Betto in the next year). Kasahara also set the NPB record for most hits by a rookie with 160, and he held it until Shinya Sasaki broke it in 1956. He then recorded a .270/.353/.376 batting line in 1949, and he batted .274/.359/.382 in 1950. Kasahara improved to .366/.418/.507 in 75 games in 1951, then he recorded a .276/.333/.353 batting line in 1952. After hitting .180/.275/.230 in 1953, the Hawks released him and he signed with the Takahashi Unions.

The Osaka native hit .290/.384/.366 in 1954, and he hit .274/.355/.357 in 1955. Kasahara was named as player-manager after Shinji Hamazaki left the team in the middle of the 1955 season, and he led them to a 7-9 record. He only played 36 games in 1956, and his batting line was .267/.353/.400. The Unions was 52-98 in that season, and Kasahara announced his retirement. He was the bench coach of the Daiei Unions in 1957.

Overall, Kasahara hit .286/.365/.391 with 746 hits and 27 homers in 9 years in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio