Kiyoshi Oishi

From BR Bullpen

Kiyoshi Oishi (大石 清)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 9", Weight 165 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Kiyoshi Oishi was a three-time All-Star pitcher in his Nippon Pro Baseball career.

Oishi ran into controversy in an exhibition game as a rookie, hitting Keiji Osawa twice with pitches; Ozawa threw his bat at Oishi, who promptly flung into the dugout of Osawa's Nankai Hawks. Oishi was 9-10 with a 3.28 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 173 innings as a rookie for the Hiroshima Carp in 1959. The teenager was sixth in the Central League in whiffs (between Yasushi Kodama and Motoshi Fujita) and led the CL with two balks.

In 1960, the right-hander emerged as Hiroshima's ace, going 26-13 with a 2.56 ERA in 60 games (39 starts). He had nearly half of the team's 62 wins. He was second in the CL in wins (3 behind Ritsuo Horimoto), tied for 7th in losses, 9th in ERA (between Genichi Murata and Masaichi Kaneda), tied Masaaki Koyama for third in pitching appearances, was 4th with 39 starts, ranked 4th with 16 complete games, tied for 6th with three shutouts, was 3rd with 341 IP (behind Horimoto and Koyama), allowed the third-most hits (265, behind the same two hurlers), gave up the most runs (108) and earned runs (97, 2 ahead of Koyama as in runs), tied for 5th with 18 home runs allowed, led with 107 walks (13 more than Kaneda), was third with 215 whiffs (behind Kaneda and Koyama), led with 19 intentional walks (3 ahead of Kaneda) and tied Koyama for second with 11 hit batsmen (one shy of Noboru Akiyama). He also tied Kiyoshi Doi for second with 16 sacrifice hits, trailing only Yoshio Yoshida. In the 1960 NPB All-Star Game 2, he relieved Minoru Murayama in the 4th with the CL holding a 2-0 lead over the PL but allowed two hits (to Kazuhiro Yamauchi and Yasumitsu Toyoda) while retiring Isao Harimoto and Takao Katsuragi. He was relieved by Akiyama and would be charged with one run in the CL's 5-4 win. In Game 3, he relieved Gentaro Shimada in the 4th with a 6-0 deficit and tossed two shutout, hitless, walkless innings, fanning one, before giving way to Hajimu Tatsumi. The CL lost the game, 6-5.

Oishi remained superb in 1961 (27-18, 2.44 in 59 G) but missed the All-Star team. The rest of the Hiroshima staff was 31-49. Oishi was again second in the league in wins (8 behind Hiroshi Gondo) and also finished 9th in ERA (between Koyama and Yasuhiko Kawamura), 4th in games pitched (between Minoru Nakamura and Kaneda), 4th in losses, 3rd in starts (36, behind Gondo and Koyama), 3rd in complete games (21, after Gondo and Kaneda), was second in innings (346 1/3, 83 behind Gondo), was second with 271 hits allowed (50 shy of Gondo), was second with 25 gopher balls (two fewer than Kaneda), led with 100 walks (14 more than Takao Osaki), allowed the most runs (113, 16 more than Gondo or Akiyama), gave up 94 runs (the most, 12 ahead of Akiyama) and was third with 243 strikeouts (trailing Gondo and Kaneda).

In 1962, the youngster was 20-18 with a 2.82 ERA in 58 games (37 starts) and also hit .232 with 12 runs and 8 RBI. He was again on a lot of leaderboards: wins (tied for 7th with Minoru Kakimoto), losses (1st, one over Gondo, Kakimoto and Kaneda), games pitched (6th), starts (5th), complete games (21, 5th), shutouts (3, tied for 10th), innings (331 1/3, 5th, between Kaneda and Kakimoto), hits allowed (265, tied for 3rd with Kaneda), runs allowed (104, 4 behind Hiroshi Gondo), earned runs (99, 1st, five more than Gondo), homers allowed (30, 4 more than Gondo), walks (100, 1st, 20 ahead of Kaneda), hit batsmen (13, 2nd, 2 shy of Kakimoto) and strikeouts (209, 5th, between Gondo and Akiyama). He relieved Murata in the 4th of 1962 NPB All-Star Game 1 with a 5-0 deficit and shut out the PL for the next three innings (3 H, 1 BB, 4 K) before Kaneda finished off a 7-0 loss; he was clearly the CL's ace hurler that day. In Game 2, though, he relieved Kakimoto in the 9th with a 4-3 lead and gave up two runs to blow it.

Oishi slumped to 10-22, 4.16 in 1963. He again led the league in losses (five more than anyone else) but was not among the win leaders, tied Kakimoto and Kiyotake Suzuki for 9th with 48 games pitched, was 4th in hits allowed (221), gave up the most runs (114, six more than Koyama, despite not making the top 10 in innings pitched; a couple pitchers worked more than 100 more innings), allowed the most earned runs (101, 5 more than runner-up Kenichi Ryu), served up the most homers (35, 6 more than Gondo), was 8th with 75 walks (between Yoshiaki Ito and Hidetoshi Ikeda), led with 10 intentional walks and was 9th with 115 strikeouts (between Takashi Suzuki and Kunio Jonouchi).

He rebounded in 1964 and made his last All-Star team. In 1964 NPB All-Star Game 1, he relieved Fujita in the 5th with a 0-0 game and allowed a Teruyuki Takakura hit in a shutout inning; Kaneda replaced him in the 6th and the CL went on to a 1-0 win. In Game 3, he relieved Makoto Inagawa in the 3rd with a 5-1 deficit already and allowed 3 hits and one run in two innings in a 10-2 blowout loss. For the season, he was 17-15 with a 2.92 ERA. He finished 10th in the league in ERA, tied Shigeyuki Takahashi for 7th in wins, was 4th in losses, ranked 8th with 51 games pitched, tied Ikeda for 9th with 30 starts, was 6th in complete games (15), ranked ninth with three shutouts, was 6th in innings (261 2/3, between Jonouchi and Akiyama), allowed the 8th-most runs (93, between Akiyama and Gene Bacque), was 7th in earned runs (85), served up the 5th-most home runs (25), was 8th with 74 walks (between Ito and Shiro Hanzawa) and was 6th with 143 strikeouts (between Takahashi and Ito). He also hit all three of his career home runs, though his .131 average was a drop-off after three straight seasons over .200.

Oishi, like many Japanese pitchers of that high-workload era, was injured at that point and his arm never returned fully. At age 25, he was already past his prime. He was 2-8 with a 3.53 ERA in 1965 and 2-7 with a 4.30 ERA in 1966. He was then traded to the Hankyu Braves for another Oishi, Yataro Oishi.

His first season with Hankyu, he was an effective reliever (5-8, 2.59 in 47 G) in 1967. He was 10th in the PL in games pitched. In the 1967 Japan Series, he made three appearances and was the Braves' top pitcher (1 R in 5 IP) but they fell to the Yomiuri Giants as part of Yomiuri's nine straight Japan Series titles. He had a 10-3, 2.70 record in 48 games in 1968. In the 1968 Japan Series, he pitched four contests, with a 9.95 ERA (highest on the staff) against Yomiuri and he got the loss in the decisive game 6. He was still productive (6-4, 3.18 in 43 G) in 1969. He allowed 3 runs in 4 1/3 IP in the 1969 Japan Series. He struggled in 1970 (18 H, 8 R in 8 2/3 IP) and retired at age 30.

For his career, he had gone 134-126 with a 3.00 ERA in 516 games (226 starts), with 88 complete games and 13 shutouts. He allowed 1,830 hits and 670 walks in 2,157 1/3 IP while striking out 1,381. He hit .174/.199/.213 with 43 runs and 36 RBI. Despite his short career, he was on numerous NPB career leaderboards through 2011: games pitched (tied for 70th with Hiroshi Nakao), complete games (83rd, between Toshihide Hatafuku and Junzo Sekine), extra-inning games pitched (12, tied for 50th), wins (tied for 58th with Shozo Watanabe and Kazuhiko Endo), ties (15, tied for 47th with several, including Yataro Oishi), losses (tied for 61st with Takenori Emoto), innings (70th, between Hisao Niura and Murata), hits allowed (89th, between Shozo Watanabe and Naoyuki Shimizu), homers allowed (206, 77th), walks (tied for 65th with Minoru Kasamatsu), intentional walks (74, 12th), hit batsmen (67, tied for 60th), strikeouts (61st, between Naoki Takahashi and Koji Uehara), earned runs allowed (719, between Shizuo Shiraishi and Shigeru Kobayashi) and RA (90th, between Giichi Hayashi and Miyoshi Nakagawa).

Oishi then became a coach. He coached for the Braves (1972-1974), Kintetsu Buffaloes (1975-1976), Carp (1977-1981), Nippon Ham Fighters (1985-1987), Hanshin Tigers (1988-1994), Fighters again (1995-1997 and Buffaloes again (1999). He also worked as a baseball commentator at times.

Sources[edit]

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