Kiyoshi Yano

Kiyoshi Yano (矢野 清)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Yawatahama High School

• Born July 3, 1940 in Ozu, Ehime Japan
• Died November 20, 2014

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kiyoshi Yano played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 10 years.

Yano was signed by the Hankyu Braves in 1959, and he spent his first three seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues, only having 20 appearances with the big club. He played 66 games in 1962, but his batting line was .149/.232./248. He then hit .192/.230/.275 in 78 games in 1963, so he mainly stayed in the ni-gun for the next four seasons; he had 83 at-bats combined with the top team. Yano broke out in 1968, hitting .301/.395/.625 with a career-high 27 homers. He was 5th in homers in the Pacific League (between Atsushi Nagaike and Isao Harimoto), 9th in RBI (between Toshio Yanagida and Harimoto) and would've been 5th in batting (between Kihachi Enomoto and In-chun Baek) if he had qualified. In the last game of the 1968 season, he crushed a walk-off home run against Fumio Narita to help the Braves rob the PL pennant from the Nankai Hawks. Yano then blasted a game-winning solo home run against Masaichi Kaneda in 1968 Nippon Series Game 1. He was 1-for-21 in the rest of the series, and the Braves lost to the Yomiuri Giants in 6 games. He was then selected into the 1969 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 1-for-1 in Game 2 before crushing a solo shot against Kazumi Takahashi in Game 3. Although he still crushed 25 homers in 1969, his batting line fell to .194/.287/.458. He was 4th in homers, between Masahiro Doi and Art López. Yano then suffered from a tenosynovitis in 1970, and he announced his retirement. He then became a scout for the Braves.

Overall, Yano hit .227/.305/.445 with 244 hits and 64 homers in 10 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1969 NPB All Star Game