Minoru Murayama

From BR Bullpen

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Minoru Murayama (村山 実)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 9", Weight 182 lbs.

BR register page

Biographical Information=[edit]

Minoru Murayama pitched 14 years in Nippon Pro Baseball. He was considered the best pitcher ever in the history of the Hanshin Tigers.

Murayama dominated the Kansai 6 University Baseball League in 1956, and completed all games in the Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship to help Kansai University become the first University from Kansai to win it. However, he suffered a severe left shoulder injury, and he nearly couldn't pitch in the 1957 and 1958 seasons. One of the staff members of the Osaka Tigers, Giichi Tanaka, helped Murayama recuperate in those two years. Therefore, although the Yomiuri Giants paid four times more than the Tigers, Murayama still joined the Tigers after he graduated from university in 1959.

The Hyogo native dominated the Central League as a rookie. He went 18-10 with a 1.19 ERA, led the league in ERA and WHIP; his 0.75 WHIP was the CL record until 2023 when Shoki Murakami broke it. He was 6th in wins (9 behind Motoshi Fujita), 2nd in Ks (19 behind Masaichi Kaneda) and won the Sawamura Award as a rookie. His 1.188 ERA was the lowest ever among the Sawamura Award winners. However, he lost the NPB Rookie of the Year Award to Takeshi Kuwata, who broke the NPB record by blasting 31 homers as a rookie and led the league in homers. He also completed a no-hitter on May 21 with 14 strikeouts.

Murayama suffered gastroenteritis and only went 8-15 with a 2.52 ERA in 1960. He started 1960 NPB All-Star Game 2, going 3 innings with 5 strikeouts and didn't allow any runs. He was selected into the 1961 NPB All-Star Game, and pitched 2 1/3 innings with 2 runs. Murayama ended up 24-13 with a 2.27 ERA in 1961, ranked 3rd in wins (11 behind Hiroshi Gondo), 6th in ERA (.57 behind Gondo) and 4th in Ks (89 behind Gondo).

The ace of the Tigers found his elite pitching form again in 1962, as he went 25-14 with a 1.20 ERA and took back his second CL ERA title. He was 2nd in wins (5 behind Gondo), 2nd in strikeouts (5 behind Masaaki Koyama) and won his his first Best Nine. He also beat Shigeo Nagashima and his teammate Koyama to win his only CL MVP. In the 1962 Nippon Series, Murayama pitched 6 of the 7 games for the Tigers. He relieved Masaaki Koyama in the 9th inning of Game 1, pitched 1/3 inning and got the win thanks to Yoshio Yoshida's walk-off double. He started in Game 2 and remained perfect until Katsutoyo Yoshida hit a single in the 8th inning. He still shutout the Toei Flyers with 9 Ks and won over Masayuki Dobashi. He pitched again in Game 3, allowed 2 runs in 5 innings and ended up no-decision. After the rest, Murayama appeared in Game 5, but he allowed 4 runs in 4 innings and the Tigers lost. He was the starter again in Game 6, but Motohiro Ando beat him as he allowed 4 runs in 4 innings. In the last game of the series, when Koyama pitched 10 innings and allowed only a run, Murayama relieved him to remain in the series. However, he gave up a solo shot to Akio Saionji in the 12th inning, and the Flyers won it all. While he had four of their six decisions and both their wins, he did not pitch their most innings as Koyama worked four more.

Murayama slumped to 11-10 with a 2.79 ERA in 1963 because of his tenosynovitis. He still made it onto the CL roster for the 1964 NPB All-Star Game, started in Game 1 and pitched 3 shutout innings. Although Murayama still collected 22 wins in the 1964 season, his ERA rose to 3.32 - the worst in his career. In the 1964 Nippon Series, Murayama started three games - G1, G4 and G7, but lost them all. Although he completed the Game 4 with 4 earned runs, he still lost to Tadashi Sugiura and the Nankai Hawks. This was his last appearances in Nippon Series, and he never won any title in his whole career (Hanshin only has won one in the first 72 years of the Japan Series).

The talented righty was hit by a comebacker from Yoshinori Tsuji in the beginning of the 1965 season, and he found a special way to hold the ball which may improve his forkball. He bounced back with his new forkball, and collected a career-high 25 wins and a solid 1.96 ERA. He led the league in wins, complete games, shutouts, innings and strikeouts, while he ranked 2nd in ERA (.12 behind Masaichi Kaneda). He won his second Best Nine and Sawamura Award. He allowed two runs in the 1965 NPB All-Star Game 1, and got the loss.

Murayama still ruled the league in 1966, and he attended the 1966 NPB All-Star Games again; he started 3 shutout innings in Game 2. Murayama ended up 24-9 with a 1.55 ERA, led the league in wins, complete games, shutouts, innings, WHIP and strikeouts. He won the Best Nine and the Sawamura Award again, and became the third pitcher to win more than 3 Sawamura awards in NPB history, following Shigeru Sugishita and Kaneda. No one has won more through 2023. However, he lost the ERA title to Tsuneo Horiuchi, who only pitched 2/3 as many innings with a 1.39 ERA.

The Hyogo native suffered a blood circulation injury due to overuse in 1967, and he only went 13-9 with a 2.79 ERA in this season. He still appeared in 1967 NPB All-Star Game 3, and he started 3 shutout innings. Murayama couldn't handle his injury in 1968, as his ERA rose to 4.91 before the All-Star Game. He came back and recorded a 11-game winning streak in August and September. He ended up 15-8 with a 2.73 ERA in this season, ranked 6th in wins (10 behind Yutaka Enatsu), 7th in ERA (.80 behind Yoshiro Sotokoba) and 6th in Ks (249 behind Enatsu). The Tigers assigned Murayama as a player-coach in 1969, and his performance wasn't negatively influenced. He was 12-14 with a 2.01 ERA in this season, ranked 2nd in ERA (.20 behind Enatsu), 9th in wins (10 behind Kazumi Takahashi) and 5th in strikeouts (102 behind Enatsu).

Murayama succeeded Tsuguo Goto to become the new manager of the Tigers in 1970, and he led the Tigers had a .611 winning percentage, only 2 wins behind the Yomiuri Giants. As a pitcher, he had a historic season in 1970. Murayama was 14-3 with 118 strikeouts, and lowered his ERA to an incredible 0.98. No other player ever had recorded a ERA lower than 1 after the War, and he also led the league in winning percentage.

However, Murayama suffered a tuberculosis in 1971 which limited him into 19 games with a 2.71 ERA. He was only 4-6 with a 3.61 ERA in the next season, and Murayama decided to retire after the 1972 season. The Tigers then retired his number 11. Murayama was also the Tigers' manager from 1988 to 1989, but he never led the team to a more than .450 winning percentage, and he left the team after the 1989 season. Murayama was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Overall, Murayama was 222-147 with a 2.09 ERA and 2,271 strikeouts, pitched 3,050 1/3 innings in 14 years in NPB. His 0.95 career WHIP was still the NPB record as of 2023.

Related Sites[edit]

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