Motoo Ando

Motoo Ando (安藤 統男)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 154 lbs.
• School Keio University
• High School Tsuchiura First High School

• Born April 8, 1939 in Ashiya, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Motoo Ando played and managed in the Nippon Pro Baseball.

Ando was signed by the Hanshin Tigers in 1962. Because Hideshi Miyake was injured in September, Ando took over the starting third baseman as a rookie, and played all 7 games in the 1962 Nippon Series; he was 1-for-9 and the Toei Flyers beat the Tigers. Ando was the main backup infielder in 1963, hitting .204/.269/.223 with 18 steals. He only played 59 games in the next year with a .237/.263/.316 batting line. In the 1964 Nippon Series, Ando went 2-for-5 with a two-run shot off Mutsuo Minagawa in Game 5, but the Tigers were beaten by the Nankai Hawks, in 7 games again.

The Hyogo native set the NPB record for having 3 walk-off hits as a pinch-hitter, and ended up hitting .229/.280/.291 in 107 games in 1965. He slumped to .194/.234/.254 in 1966, so he lost his spot, only having 170 at-bats combined in the next two years. Since Yoshio Yoshida was old, Ando took some chances from him, and played 86 games with a .244/.303/.402 batting line in 1969. He finally won the starting second base spot from Kingo Motoyashiki in 1970, and had a career year. He was selected to the 1970 NPB All-Star Games, and went 3-for-6. Ando ended up hitting .294/.348/.418 with a league-leading 32 sacrifice bunts, ranked 2nd in batting (.031 behind Sadaharu Oh) and won his only Best Nine award as a second baseman.

However, the 1970 season was the last productive season for Ando. He struggled in 1971 with a terrible .123/.211/.167 batting line due to an Achilles tendon injury, and Yukitoshi Noda took his spot. Ando recovered in 1972, but his batting line was still .206/.258/.282. He only played 36 games in 1973 with a .120/.185/.120 batting line, then announced his retirement after this season.

After retiring, Ando became the defense coach for the Tigers from 1974 to 1975 and from 1978 to 1980. He also coached for their minor league team in 1976, and managed them in 1977 and 1981. The Tigers hired him as their new manager in 1982. In his first game as a manager, Ando was ejected by umpire Masato Tomoyose and became the first manager ever to be tossed out in their first game. His Tigers also were involved in the Violent Tiger Incident, and Ando apologized for the scandal for the Tigers. The Tigers were only 65-57 in this season, and missed the pennant for 18 consecutive years.

The Tigers still had many elite players, such as Kazuyuki Yamamoto or Masayuki Kakefu. But they struggled and fell to the B-Class with a .496 winning percentage in 1983. The Tigers gave Ando an ultimatum - if he was unable to won the pennant in the next season, he would be fired. However, Ando couldn't control his team, and only had a 53-69 record in 1984. In the last game of this season, because Kakefu and Masaru Uno of the Chunichi Dragons were chasing the CL home run leader, Ando requested that starter Chikafusa Ikeda walk Uno in all his appearances. In the 9th inning, after Uno was walked, Kenichi Yazawa's clutch hit helped the Dragons tid the game and Ikeda lost his 10th win. The Tigers lost to the Dragons, and audiences were resentful and threw bottles and lunch boxes into the field. Ando left the team after this season, and his manager career ended.

Overall, Ando had hit .221/.277/.303 with 457 hits and 33 homers in 12 seasons in NPB. He was 178-189-21 as a manager.

Related Sites

• Stats at japanesebaseball.com
• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio