Kikuji Hirayama

Kikuji Hirayama (平山 菊二)
(Fenceside Magician)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 147 lbs.

• High School Shimonoseki Shogyo High School

• Born September 23, 1918 in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Japan
• Died May 28, 1998

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kikuji Hirayama played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 15 years.

Hirayama played for Hiroshima Railway (now JR West Japan) after high school, and the Yomiuri Giants signed him in 1937. He hit .238/.294/.444 in the spring season, but he slumped to .195/.267/.293 in the fall season. Hirayama struggled again in the spring season in 1938 as his batting line was .125/.125/.188, then he recorded a .282/.378/.408 batting line in the fall season. He broke out in 1939, hitting .307/.360/.393 with 6 triples and 20 steals. He was 3rd in batting in the JPBL, between Nobuo Osawa and Shigeru Chiba. However, Hirayama's batting line fell to .190/.274/.241 in 1940, and he only hit .230/.334/.307 in 1941. He then enlisted into the military and missed the next five years.

After returning to the league, Hirayama hit .234/.290/.336 in 1947 and tied Kazuto Tsuruoka for 2nd in RBI (6 behind Fumio Fujimura). He then had a .272/.318/.379 batting line with a career-high 11 homers in 1947, and he tied Takeshi Miyazaki for 8th in steals. Hirayama robbed Tokuji Iida's home run on November 26, 1948, and that play earned him the nickname "Fenceside Magician". He then had a .273/.316/.394 batting line in 1949, and he went to the Taiyo Whales after the JPBL split into two leagues in 1950.

Hirayama collected a career-high 35 steals with a .274/.332/.375 batting line in the first season with the Whales, and he was 5th in steals in the Central League (39 behind Jiro Kanayama). He missed nearly the entire 1951 season due to foot injury, and he had a .251/.338/.325 batting line in 1952. After hitting .283/.341/.420 in 1953, Hirayama announced his retirement and became a coach. He coached the Whales from 1957 to 1958, and he also scout for them.

Overall, Hirayama hit .256/.318/.355 with 912 hits and 40 homers in 12 years in NPB. As of 2023, he was 81st in triples in NPB history, tying Yasuya Hondo, Jun Hakota, Kaneyama, Akira Owada, Tetsuya Iida and Teppei Tsuchiya.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio