Kiyoyuki Nagashima

From BR Bullpen

Kiyoyuki Nagashima (Bean) (長嶋 清幸)

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 5' 7", Weight 178 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Kiyoyuki Nagashima was a center fielder who played 18 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball and was once MVP of the Japan Series.

Nagashima was signed by the Hiroshima Carp as an undrafted free agent and made his NPB debut at age 18; he was 4 for 11 with a double and a homer in 1980. In 1981, he went 9 for 32 with two walks. He was a frequently-used bench player in 1982 and hit .263/.299/.359 in 178 plate appearances over 79 games. The next year, he switched his uniform number from 66 to 0, the first player in NPB history to wear 0.

Kiyoyuki did well with his historic new number, batting .295/.332/.444 with 13 home runs in 1983; he played all 130 games that year. He won a Diamond Glove Award, joining Terufumi Kitamura and Tadashige Matsumoto in being picked as the best defensive outfielders in the Central League. In 1984, Nagashima hit .276/.341/.478 with 26 doubles and 13 dingers. He tied Seiji Kamikawa and Sadaaki Yoshimura for fourth in the CL in two-baggers. On September 15 and September 16, he hit sayonara home runs in consecutive games. He won another Diamond Glove, joining Kaname Yashiki and Ryuzo Yamasaki this time. He then starred in the 1984 Japan Series, going 9 for 27 with a double, three home runs (including a grand slam) and 10 RBI to help power the Carp to a 7-game win over the Hankyu Braves. That tied the Series record for RBI.

In 1985, the Shizuoka native produced at a .291/.370/.450 clip with 15 home runs and 14 steals in 21 tries. He again played in every game. For the only time in a five-year period, he did not win a Diamond Glove; Yamasaki, Yashiki and Ken Hirano took the honors instead. The next year, the Hiroshima center fielder fell to .268/.316/.415 offensively, though he did have 29 doubles and 24 swipes (caught 7 times). He tied Yutaka Takagi for 5th in the CL in steals and tied Carlos Ponce, Kiyoshi Nakahata and Warren Cromartie for sixth in doubles. He joined Yashiki and Hirano in winning the Gold Glove (the Diamond Glove having been renamed to match its American counterpart) in the CL outfield. In the 1986 Japan Series, he again starred, homering in games 6 and 7 against the Seibu Lions (Hiroshima's only offense both days), though he was 3 for 28 with a double and three walks the rest of the Series. The Carp lost in eight games (game 1 having been a 14-inning tie).

Nagashima hit .288/.333/.450 with 15 home runs in 1987. He had five triples, tying Takagi and Yashiki for the league lead. He, Yashiki and Yamasaki won Gold Gloves that year, his fourth and final Gold Glove. His offensive production fell in 1988 (.230/.308/.352) and recovered somewhat in 1989 (.259/.331/.364, only 5 HR). He batted .277/.343/.421 in 1990, his 11th season and last as a starter.

Hiroshima dealt Nagashima to the Chunichi Dragons for Kazutoshi Yamada and Shigeki Oto. He hit .286/.355/.448 in 52 games for the 1991 Dragons. In 1992, he eked out a .240/.306/.366 line in 78 games.

The Dragons then traded him to the Chiba Lotte Marines; he only had 80 plate appearances and 40 games for the 1993 Marines, hitting poorly (.162/.240/.235). Chiba Lotte sold him to the Hanshin Tigers, where he spent his final four seasons as a player. He had a productive 1994 (.310/.392/.478 in 70 G), joining Akinobu Mayumi as the team's most-used pinch-hitters. In 1995, he put up a .243/.352/.257 batting line off the bench. He was 7 for 34 with three doubles, a home run and four walks in 1996 and 0 for 6 in 1997 to end his playing career.

Overall, Nagashima had batted .271/.332/.414 with 207 doubles, 107 home runs and 94 steals (caught 54 times) in 4,543 plate appearances over 1,477 games in NPB. He had 477 runs and 448 RBI.

After his playing career ended, Nagashima coached (mostly in the minors and mostly as a hitting coach) for the Tigers (1998-2003), Dragons (2004-2006), Samsung Lions (2009) and Chiba Lotte Marines (2010- ).

Sources[edit]

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