Koji Yamamoto (02)

Koji Yamamoto (山本 功児)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.

• School Hosei University
• High School Sanda Gakuen High School

• Born December 25, 1951 in Sakai, Osaka Japan
• Died April 23, 2016 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Koji Yamamoto has played, coached and managed in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Yamamoto was drafted by the Nankai Hawks in the third round of the 1969 NPB draft after high school, but he refused to signed and went to Hosei University. He played for Honda Suzuka after college, and represented Japan in the 1975 Intercontinental Cup, winning Silver. The Yomiuri Giants then drafted him in the 5th round of the 1975 NPB draft. The Giants already had superstar Sadaharu Oh in first base, so Yamamoto was moved to outfield. He hit .273/.294/.333 in his rookie year, then improved to .277/.296/.394 in 1977. The Osaka native started 51 games as the right outfielder in 1979, and recorded a solid .291/.316/.414 batting line with 5 homers. However, he was unable to repeat that performance, and only batted .234/.287/.331 in 1980.

When Oh retired after the 1980 season, Yamamoto lost the competition with Kiyoshi Nakahata for the starting first baseman spot. Although he had outstanding defense, his terrible batting was the main factor that caused his failure. He only hit .240/.299/.352 and .220/.286/.409 respectively in the next two years. He attended the 1982 NPB All-Star Game, and went 1-for-2 in 3 games; the hit was a double off Motoyasu Kaneshiro in Game 3. Yamamoto bounced back and hit .282/.336/.462 in 1983, and the Giants traded him to the Lotte Orions for Sogen Miyake after this season.

Yamamoto was moved back to first base after being traded, and he recorded a career year in the 1984 season. He recorded a .301/.362/.445 batting line with 10 homers, and won the first NPB Gold Glove Award as a first baseman. Yamamoto was selected into the 1985 NPB All-Star Game, and went 2-for-3. He ended up hitting .293/.336/.412 with 10 dingers, and won the Gold Glove Award again. His batting declined to .262/.307/.367 in 1986, but Yamamoto came back and hit .319/.371/.438 in 1987. He also blasted the first pinch-hit-pinch-hit grand slam of the Pacific League on June 13. The 37-year-old veteran announced his retirement after only hit .226/.359/.340 in the 1988 season.

Yamamoto was the hitting coach of the Orions from 1989 to 1994 and from 1995 to 1996. He managed the Lotte's minor team from 1997 to 1998. The Chiba Lotte Marines hired him as their manager from 1999 to 2003, but he still unable to led the Marines advanced to the postseason, and he resigned after the 2003 season.

Overall, Yamamoto had hit .277/.328/.407 with 64 homers in 13 seasons in NPB. He was 324-352-14 as a manager. He is not to be confused with contemporary slugger Koji Yamamoto.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1982 NPB All-Star Game
• 1985 NPB All-Star Game