Masumi Isegawa

Masumi Isegawa (伊勢川 真澄)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 154 lb.

• High School Kokawa High School

• Born June 30, 1921 in Kinokawa, Wakayama Japan
• Died July 26, 1996

BR register page

Biographical Information

Catcher Masumi Isegawa was a two-time All-Star in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Isegawa was signed by the Lion team in 1940, and he hit .141/.181/.141 in 57 games as a backup behind Shuzo Hirota in his rookie year. He was named their starting catcher in 1941, and he led the Japanese Professional Baseball League with 85 games played while hitting .185/.262/.232. He still struggled at the plate as his batting line was .163/.204/.211 in 1942, then he was enlisted into the military and missed three seasons. Isegawa returned to his original team (now its name was the Pacific) in 1946, and he hit .230/.285/.307 with 17 doubles. He improved to .257/.287/.322 in 1947, then he jumped to the Kinsei Stars with his manager Sadayoshi Fujimoto.

The Wakayama native recorded a .230/.268/.307 batting line in 1948, then he hit .249/.284/.306 in 1949. When the JPBL split into two leagues in 1950, Isegawa's batting line enhanced to .296/.337/.463 and he also crushed a career-high 13 homers. He was 10th in batting in the Pacific League, between Junji Nakatani and Kaname Miyazaki. Isegawa then hit .261/.282/.305 in 1951, and he had a .250/.291/.348 batting line in 1952 while leading the league in double play grounders. He was also selected into the 1952 NPB All-Star Games, but he didn't appear in either of the games.

Isegawa jumped to the Hankyu Braves in 1953 attended the 1953 NPB All-Star Games; he was 0-for-2. He ended up hitting .228/.274/.283 in 1953, then Takeshi Yamashita took his starting spot in 1954. Isegawa's batting line was .206/.272/.233 in 1955, then he hit .240/.298/.372 in 53 games in 1956. He only had 56 at-bats combined in the next two seasons, then he announced his retirement in 1958. He coached the Braves from 1959 to 1968.

Overall, Isegawa hit .231/.275/.302 with 919 hits and 37 homers in 15 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1953 NPB All Star Game