Kunimitsu Yanoura

Kunimitsu Yanoura (矢ノ浦 国満)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 145 lb.

• High School Tochiku High School

• Born February 23, 1941 in Manchuria

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kunimitsu Yanoura played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 9 years.

Yanoura was signed by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1960, and he was named their starting shortstop as a rookie; his first NPB hit was off Masayuki Dobashi and his first homer against Haruki Mihira. He hit .256/.292/.349 in his rookie year, then he recorded a .227/.248/.331 batting line in 1961. Yanoura improved to .273/.304/.417 with a career-high 10 homers in 1962, and he was 10th in the Pacific League in doubles (25, 13 behind Kazuhiro Yamauchi and Hiroharu Okajima). He was selected into the 1963 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 0-for-2. He ended up hitting .273/.336/.378 with 16 steals in 1963, and he was 8th in steals (tied with Koichi Iwashita).

In 1964, Yanoura hit .286/.323/.421 and he led the league with 7 triples. He ranked 9th in batting, between Iwashita and Norifumi Kido. Yanoura was also selected into the 1964 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 0-for-1 with a walk. He slumped to .212/.251/.340 in 1965, and the Buffaloes sent him to the Sankei Swallows. He then attended the 1966 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 1-for-3, with a double against Kiyohiro Miura in Game 2. Yanoura hit .225/.258/.343 in 1966, and his batting line was .229/.281/.306 in 1967. The Swallows then traded him to the Yomiuri Giants, but he only played 7 games for them and he announced his retirement after being with the Tokyo Dragons of the short-lived Global League.

Overall, Yanoura hit .249/.288/.361 with 846 hits and 57 homers in 9 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1966 NPB All Star Game