Kiyoshi Morimoto

Kiyoshi Morimoto (森本 潔)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 162 lb.

• School Rikkyo University
• High School Saijo High School

• Born April 13, 1942 in Saijo, Ehime Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Third baseman Kiyoshi Morimoto was a two-time All-Star who hit exactly 16 home runs five different seasons.

Morimoto was on the team that won the 1959 National High School Baseball Championship. He dropped out of college to sign with Sankyo Seiki in the industrial leagues. In 1964, he signed with the Hankyu Braves. He made his debut with the big club in 1965, pinch-hitting for Yusaku Akimoto and striking out against Katsuhiko Maki. He was 0 for 6 with a walk on the season. In 1966, he hit .218/.268/.327 in 241 plate appearances over 90 games; he backed up Daryl Spencer at 3B and Taira Sumitomo at 2B. His first hit came off Noboru Makino and his first dinger against Keishi Suzuki.

The Saijo native became the starting third baseman in 1967 as Spencer moved to 1B. He produced at a .258/.309/.355 clip; his 15 double play grounders were third in the Pacific League behind Katsuya Nomura and Carl Boles. In the 1967 NPB All-Star Games, he hit second and started at the hot corner each game for the PL. He went 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBI in a win in game 1, was 0 for 3 with a walk and a run in a game 2 win and was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run in a game 3 win. It was the first time the PL swept a 3-game All-Star Game series; they would repeat the feat seven years later. Hankyu was starting its run of greatest success, making their first Japan Series. In the 1967 Japan Series, he hit .348/.400/.478 with a homer but Hankyu fell in six games to the Yomiuri Giants, starting a trend. Mitsuhiro Adachi won the Fighting Spirit Award as the top player on the losing team but Morimoto had Hankyu's top OPS. He was a few innings shy of the first home run by Hankyu ever in a Japan Series as Toshizo Sakamoto homered earlier in game 4.

Morimoto slumped to .226/.293/.335 in 1968. In the 1968 Japan Series, he was 3 for 18 with a double and a walk as Hankyu again fell to Yomiuri in six. In 1969, he batted .249/.314/.393 with 16 homers and 40 walks to 38 whiffs. He was 9th in the PL in RBI (64, between Kihachi Enomoto and Koji Okamura), tied Art Lopez for 5th in double play grounders (13) and was 10th in walks (between Kiyoshi Yano and Nomura). He was 6 for 22 with four walks but only two RBI and no runs in the 1969 Japan Series; deja vu - Yomiuri over Hankyu in six.

Kiyoshi hit .256/.340/.390 with 16 HR, 71 RBI and 55 BB to 38 K in 1970. He placed 10th in RBI (between Hiroyuki Yamazaki and Lopez), tied Yutaka Fukumoto for 6th in walks, tied Nomura and Masayoshi Higashida for 4th in double play grounders (12) and was 4th in sacrifice flies (7). Hankyu had an off-year, falling to .500. The team rebounded in 1971, and Morimoto's batting line was .284/.362/.444 with 65 runs and another 16 homers. He was 3rd in doubles (25, behind Hideji Kato and Yoshinori Hirose, tied for 5th in sacrifice flies (7) and 10th in walks (53, between Mitsuo Motoi and Michiyo Arito). He hit .235/.381/.294 in the 1971 Japan Series as Hankyu only lasted five games this time against the dynastic Giants.

Morimoto had his best OPS in 1972 (.279/.382/.476) and hit 17 homers, also a career high. He had 55 walks to 31 Ks. He tied Kato and George Altman for 9th in walks, tied Katsuo Osugi for third in intentional walks (9) and tied for 4th with six sacrifice flies. He made his second All-Star team. In game 2 of the 1972 NPB All-Star Games, he hit 5th and went 1 for 2 with a walk before being replaced by Arito in a 4-0 win. He was 0 for 3 in game 3, a 1-0 loss, before Clarence Jones pinch-hit for him. In the 1972 Japan Series, he had two hits (both doubles) in 18 at-bats and drew four walks as Hankyu lost to the Giants in five. It was the 5th time in six years Hankyu had lost the Series to Yomiuri.

In 1973, Morimoto produced at a .277/.375/.427 clip. He batted .278/.365/.462 with 27 doubles, 16 homers, 55 walks and 61 RBI in 1974. He tied Wes Parker for second in the PL in doubles, was 7th in walks, tied for 7th in double play grounders (12), ranked 8th in OBP (between Kato and Parker), was 9th in slugging (between Don Buford and Masashi Takenouchi) and was 10th in OPS (between Arito and Parker). Only Shunji Nishimura made more errors in the PL than Morimoto's 20 (regardless of position). Arito made the Best Nine instead. Morimoto became the 78th player in NPB history to 100 career homers when he took Naoki Takahashi deep May 19; he had never made the league's top 10 in dingers, instead being a consistent mid-level threat.

The veteran hit .219/.313/.310 in 1975 with only five homers, his lowest total in nine years. In the 1975 Japan Series, he picked it up a notch and batted .286/.400/.429 with a homer off Yoshiro Sotokoba as Hankyu finally won their first Japan Series, beating the Hiroshima Carp. In 1976, he batted .228/.301/.390 with his 5th 16-dinger campaign. He tied Buford and Toshio Kato for second in the league with 9 hit-by-pitch. He became the 96th NPB player to 1,000 hits when he got #1,000 off Keishi Suzuki. During the 1976 Japan Series, he hit .167/.231/.333 with a crucial game 7 homer off Clyde Wright as Hankyu beat Yomiuri.

After the season, he was dealt with Yataro Oishi, Yoshinori Toda and Kenji Komatsu to the Chunichi Dragons for Kinji Shimatani, Masato Osumi and Mitsuo Inaba. Backing up Yasunori Oshima in 1977, he hit only .172/.274/.283 in 49 games. Backing up Morimichi Takagi at 2B and Oshima at 3B in 1978, he rebounded somewhat to .213/.321/.386 with 10 HR in 240 PA. He was 4 for 47 with a double and 7 walks in 1979, then retired.

In 1,450 NPB games, Morimoto had batted .248/.328/.388 with 496 runs, 572 RBI and 146 home runs. He had nearly as many walks (510) as strikeouts (523). Through 2011, he was tied for 69th in NPB history in double play grounders (138, even with Bobby Marcano and Akihiro Yano) and tied for 69th with 45 sacrifice flies (even with Altman, Shinjiro Hiyama, Koji Minoda, Shimatani, Toru Sugiura, Yoshitomo Tani and Kazuhiro Wada).

He later was a radio commentator.

Sources

• Old Japan Baseball Daily website
• Michael Eng's database
• Japanese Wikipedia entry