Masahiro Doi

Masahiro Doi (土井 正博)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 178 lb.

• High School Daitetsu High School

• Born December 8, 1943 in Kashiwara, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masahiro Doi was a 15-time All-Star in Japan's Pacific League. He was a left fielder, first baseman and DH.

Doi was a high school drop-out who began his career with the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1962, hitting only .231/.258/.310 with 16 steals in 24 tries at age 18. By 1963, he was Kintetsu's cleanup hitter and a PL All-Star. For the season, he hit .276/.305/.410 with 33 doubles and 74 RBI. He led the league in two-baggers and paced all of Nippon Pro Baseball as he had 3 more than another youngster, Central League leader Sadaharu Oh.

Masahiro batted .296/.340/.510 with 28 home runs and 98 RBI in 1964. He made his second All-Star team and was 6th in the PL in average. He led with 168 hits, one ahead of Yoshinori Hirose. Doi fell to .271/.320/.445 with 24 home runs in 1965 while leading the PL with 9 times hit by pitch. He made his third straight All-Star squad.

Again an All-Star in 1966, Doi produced at a .275/.332/.467 rate with 27 doubles and 21 homers. He was 10th in the league in average, right behind Daryl Spencer and Mike Krsnich. In 1967, All-Star Doi hit .323/.386/.567 with 28 circuit clouts and 93 RBI. He led the league with 147 hits, 3 ahead of Katsuya Nomura and finished second in average behind Isao Harimoto. He had a 25-game hitting streak from September 7 to October 17. He was 7 RBI behind Nomura, the league leader. Doi also made the Best Nine for the first time, selected alongside Harimoto and Atsushi Nagaike as one of the top 3 flyhawks in the Pacific League.

The Osaka native remained hot in 1968, batting .309/.406/.491 with 20 homers and 80 RBI. He made the All-Star team for the 6th year in a row and led the league with 7 sac flies. He was third in average behind Harimoto and George Altman. He again made the Best Nine, joining Harimoto and Altman as the outfielders picked.

Kintetsu's big bopping continued in 1969 by hitting .300/.382/.523 with 27 homers, 76 runs and 72 RBI. He was 7th in the league in average and again made the All-Star team. Doi only played 73 games in 1970 and slumped to .280/.358/.424. He was suspended for a month due to illegal gambling.

Doi rebounded and then some in 1971, producing at a .309/.395/.603 rate with 40 home runs and 113 RBI in 127 games. He hit 8 sacrifice flies, leading the league, and was an All-Star for the 8th time. He was 8th in the PL in average, tied Nagaike for second in homers, one behind Katsuo Osugi and was 7 RBI behind leader Hiromitsu Kadota.

Doi hit .300/.393/.554 with 30 home runs in 1972, somehow missing an All-Star selection. The 28-year-old tied Yozo Nagabuchi for 7th in the league in average. He improved his batting line to .316/.417/.563 in 1973 with 29 home runs and made his 9th All-Star team. The veteran slugger was third in the circuit in average behind Hideji Kato and Harimoto.

In 1974, Doi hit .277/.391/.499 with 29 homers and made his 10th All-Star squad. He drew five walks on May 24 to tie the league record.

Doi was traded to the Taiheiyo Club Lions in 1975 for Hiroaki Shibaike and Yutaka Yanagida. An All-Star again, he fell to .260/.352/.491 with his new club, but smacked 34 home runs and drove home 82. That gave him his only home run title, beating out Kato by two.

The right-handed hitter continued to slide backwards in 1976, hitting .259/.340/.450 for the Lions with 25 long balls. He was an All-Star for the 12th time. Missing the All-Star team in 1977, Doi declined to .248/.340/.435 with 24 home runs. He drew 57 walks, tying teammate Mitsuo Motoi for the PL lead.

Doi had a comeback in 1978 at age 34. He batted .303/.380/.513 with 26 home runs. From May 14 to May 22, he homered in six games in a row, tying the all-time PL mark. He was 9th in the league in average that season. He made his 13th All-Star team and made the Best Nine for the third and last time, this time as a designated hitter.

Masahiro fell back a bit in 1979 at .270/.360/.472 with 27 home runs, making his 14th All-Star team. An All-Star for the last time in 1980, the old-timer still cranked out 23 homers and hit .284/.371/.484.

In 1981, age caught up to Doi at 37 and he hit only .200/.283/.246 in 61 games. Retiring, he became a coach with the Lions.

Overall, Doi played 2,449 games in Nippon Pro Baseball. He had 2,452 hits in 8,694 at-bats with 1,105 runs, 309 doubles, 465 home runs, 1,400 RBI and 972 walks while only striking out 777 times. The lone negatives were defense and speed (78 SB, 87 CS). His career batting line was .282/.358/.481.

Through 2009, Doi ranks 11th in NPB history in homers (between Koichi Tabuchi and Tuffy Rhodes), 9th in hits (between Shigeo Nagashima and Hiromitsu Ochiai), 12th in RBI (between Tomoaki Kanemoto and Tetsuharu Kawakami), 22nd in runs, 9th in total bases (4,178, between Kanemoto and Ochiai), 13th in walks (between Kazuhiro Yamauchi and Nagashima), 11th in intentional walks (106), tied for 16th in times hit by pitch (95, even with Kenji Johjima), 11th in sacrifice flies (78), 6th in doubles play ground into (235), 8th in games played, 8th in at-bats and 8th in plate appearances.

Source: Japanbaseballdaily.com