Masao Nishimura

Masao Nishimura (西村正夫)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 4", Weight 123 lb.

• School Kansai University
• High School Takamatsu Shogyo High School

• Born September 1, 1912 in Takamatsu, Kagawa Japan
• Died November 8, 2002

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masao Nishimura was the right fielder and leadoff man for the Hankyu club when it formed in 1936. He hit .387/.533/.484 in the spring season and .223/.342/.255 in the fall. In 1937, he hit .277/.410/.318 with 43 walks and 48 runs in 54 spring games and .205/.336/.231 in the fall.

Nishimura hit .285/.460/.333 with 39 walks in 35 games in the spring of 1938. He led the JPBL in free passes. He fell to .191/.350/.245 in another rough fall season. When the league went to a full-year season in 1939, he hit .230/.374/.260 with 70 walks in 87 games. He batted .237/.353/.269 in 1940, .188/.347/.194 in 1941 and .159/.278/.159 in 1942.

Succeeding Toshiharu Inokawa as manager, he saw limited action as a player through 1950 for Hankyu. As a manager, he was 31-51-2 in 1943, 19-15-1 in the war-shortened 1944, 51-52-2 in 1946 and 18-21-2 in 1947 before getting canned.

Hankyu brought Nishimura back in 1953 after five seasons of Shinji Hamazaki. The team went 66-70-4 in 1954, 80-60-2 in 1955 and 88-64-2 in 1956. Despite the team's steady rise, he was replaced by Sadayoshi Fujimoto. He was 353-333-15 as a manager in NPB and had hit .231/.372/.263 with 324 walks in 505 games as a player.

After ending his managerial career, Nishimura scouted for Hankyu.

Source: Japanbaseballdaily.com