Masanobu Yamaguchi

Masanobu Yamaguchi (山口 政信)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 151 lb.

• High School Nisshin Shogyo High School

• Born May 5, 1916 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan
• Died March 22, 1976

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Masanobu Yamaguchi spent nine years in Nippon Professional Baseball, playing for the Osaka Tigers/Hanshin (1936–1938, 1942-1943, 1946–1947), and Hiroshima Carp (1950–1951). He possessed little power, but made up for that with great speed and a good eye at the plate, winning one stolen base title and twice leading the league in walks.

He began his career with Hokkaido Tsuchiya Kensetsu in the industrial leagues. When the Japanese Professional Baseball League was formed, he signed with Osaka and hit .333/.410/.564 in the spring of 1936 with 10 runs in 13 games. In more regular action, he hit .234/.349/.271 in the fall. He produced at a .262/.461/.399 clip in the spring of 1937, with 48 runs, 60 walks and 29 steals in 54 games. He was second in the JPBL in OBP (.006 behind Kenjiro Matsuki), tied Masao Nishimura and Matsuki for second in runs (one behind Isamu Fujii), was second with 44 RBI (3 behind Masaru Kageura), led in walks (7 over Koichi Yamashita) and led in steals (5 more than Matsuki).

He kept up his success in the fall campaign - .274/.427/.352, 41 R, 48 BB, 14 SB in 48 G. He was second in runs (two behind Yoshio Takahashi), 4th in OBP (between Minoru Yamashita) and Norikazu Mizutani), tied for 10th in hits (49), 5th in swipes and again first in walks (two over Mizutani and Takahashi). Though he never had that level of success again, he reached double-digit steals twice more (in the fall of 1938 with 17 and 1943 with 13) and walked nearly 100 more times in his career than he struck out, with 324 BBs to only 228 whiffs.

In the spring of 1938, Yamaguchi hit .299/.464/.342 in the spring with 36 walks in 33 games. He was 8th in the loop in average (between Fumio Fujimura and Hisanori Karita), second in OBP (.029 behind Kaichi Masu), 5th in runs (23) and second in walks (3 behind Nishimura). He faded to .260/.390/.321 in the fall season, tying for 4th with 12 steals (in 37 games) and tying Goro Kobayashi for 10th with 28 walks.

He served in the Japanese military from 1939-1941. Returning to the Tigers (now renamed Hanshin), he hit .228/.359/.283 in 1942. He batted only .176/.312/.238 in 1943 though he stole had speed (13 BB, 5 CS), tying for 10th in the league in swipes. He was then re-drafted into the Japanese armed forces again. When World War II ended, the team had returned to the Osaka Tigers name. He hit .159/.197/.175 in 28 games in 1946 and .168/.325/.211 in 43 games in 1947 then was away from NPB for two years.

When the Central League formed in 1950 and teams expanded, he got another shot, now with Hiroshima and hit .258/.328/.341 as their #4 outfielder. He produced at a .255/.318/.351 clip in another part-time role in 1951 and retired for good.

Overall, he batted .242/.368/.319 with 101 stolen bases in 512 career games. Through 2011, he was 74th in NPB history in OBP, between Hiroshi Oshita and Toshio Kurosawa.