Makoto Shimada

Makoto Shimada (島田 誠)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 149 lb.

• School Kyushu Sangyo University
• High School Nogata Higashi High School

• Born September 3, 1954 in Nakama, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Makoto Shimada played 15 seasons and won 6 Gold Gloves in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Shimada was signed by the Nippon Ham Fighters in 1976, and soon appeared with the big club in his rookie year. He was often used as pinch-hitter in 1977, and hit .229/.280/.299 in 76 games. Shimada improved to .294/.340/.356 with 19 steals in 1978, and secured a starting outfielder spot.

The speedy outfielder extended his solid performance in 1979, and recorded a .276/.350/.421 batting line with 55 steals. He ranked 2nd in steals in the Pacific League, only 5 behind all-time steals leader Yutaka Fukumoto. Shimada was also selected into the 1979 NPB All-Star Games, but only went 1-for-7. He attended the All-Star Game again in the next summer, and went 1-for-5. The Fukuoka native ended up hitting .306/.381/.415 with 42 steals in 1980, and led the league in triples with 7. He was 7th in hits (26 behind Leron Lee) and 4th in swipes (16 behind Fukumoto).

Shimada had a career year in 1981 as he hit .318/.384/.400 with 41 steals, and won his first Diamond Glove Award and Best Nine. He was 2nd in batting (.008 behind Hiromitsu Ochiai), 5th in hits (7 behind Mitsuru Fujiwara) and 2nd in steals (12 behind Fukumoto). He was also selected to the 1981 NPB All-Star Games, and went 3-for-11. In the 1981 Nippon Series, Shimada went 4-for-25 and the Fighters were beaten by the Yomiuri Giants.

The Fukuoka native remained productive in 1982, hitting .286/.353/.411 with 6 homers and 34 steals. He won his second Diamond Glove, and attended the 1982 NPB All-Star Game; he went 0-for-1 with a walk. Shimada improved to .303/.389/.448 with 47 steals in 1983, and won his third Diamond Glove and second Best Nine. He was 10th in batting (.029 behind Ochiai), 4th in hits (5 behind Steve Ontiveros) and 3rd in swipes (13 behind Daijiro Oishi). He slumped to .271/.365/.369 with 31 steals in 1984, but still won his fourth Diamond Glove.

Shimada bounced back soon, and blasted a career-high 18 homers with a .281/.372/.449 batting line in 1985. He was selected into the 1985 NPB All-Star Game, and 3-for-12 with 2 steals. He was 8th in steals (19 behind Hiromi Matsunaga), 8th in hits (29 behind Greg Wells) and won his fifth Diamond Glove. Shimada struggled in 1986 as he only hit .241/.298/.344 with 20 steals. He bounced back with a .263/.310/.337 with 14 steals in 1987, and won his sixth, and last, Gold Glove.

The 1987 season was his last productive season, because he suffered a injury and only hitting .219/.307/.271 in 1988. Since Yoshihiro Suzuki shined in 1989, Shimada lost his starting spot and he only played 94 games in that season. He recorded a .264/.342/.311 batting line in just 51 games in 1990, then the Fighters traded him to the Daiei Hawks for Chisen Sakaguchi. Shimada only played 16 more games for the Hawks, then announced his retirement after the 1991 season. After retiring, Shimada became the fielding and base running coach for the Hawks from 1997 to 2006, and served as bench coach for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2010.

Overall, Shimada had hit .279/.352/.385 with 1,504 hits and 352 homers in 15 seasons in NPB. He retired as the Fighters' career leader in steals.

Related Sites

• NPB bio
• Wiki Japan