NPB Comeback Player of the Year Award

The NPB Comeback Player of the Year Award created for a player who was once a star, but had to come back from either injury or ineffectiveness to reclaim his status. This award would not be given in every seasons, and no player has won it twice. It was first given in 1974. The Pacific League only has had a winner 6 times since it was created, while the Central League has had 35 winners.

Award Winners

Central League

Year	Winner	Team
1974	Kozo Ishioka	Yakult Swallows
1975	Sohachi Aniya	Hanshin Tigers
1976	Kazuhide Funada	Yakult Swallows
1977	Keishi Asano	Yomiuri Giants
1978	Osamu Nomura	Yokohama Taiyo Whales
1979	Toshiyuki Mimura	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
1980	Kenichi Yazawa	Chunichi Dragons
1981	Taira Fujita	Hanshin Tigers
1984	Takamasa Suzuki	Chunichi Dragons
1986	Tsunemi Tsuda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
1987	Toru Sugiura Hisao Niura	Yakult Swallows Yokohama Taiyo Whales
1988	Shuzo Arita	Yomiuri Giants
1989	Takayoshi Nakao Takashi Nishimoto	Yomiuri Giants Chunichi Dragons
1990	Sadaaki Yoshimura Kazuhiko Endo	Yomiuri Giants Yokohama Taiyo Whales
1992	Akimitsu Ito	Yakult Swallows
1993	Kenjiro Kawasaki	Yakult Swallows
1994	Toshikatsu Hikono	Chunichi Dragons
1996	Shinichi Kato	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
1997	Tomohito Ito	Yakult Swallows
1998	Takashi Saito	Yokohama BayStars
1999	Shoji Toyama	Hanshin Tigers
2000	Hitoshi Taneda	Chunichi Dragons
2001	Toshihide Narimoto	Hanshin Tigers
2002	Tomonori Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
2003	Masafumi Hirai Ken Suzuki	Chunichi Dragons Yakult Swallows
2004	Hiroki Kokubo	Yomiuri Giants
2008	Keiichi Hirano	Hanshin Tigers
2012	Kan Otake	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
2015	Shohei Tateyama	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
2017	Hitoki Iwase	Chunichi Dragons
2018	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Chunichi Dragons

Central League

Year	Winner	Team
1980	Hiromitsu Kadota	Nankai Hawks
1985	Choji Murata	Lotte Orions
1991	Kazuyoshi Ono Kazuyuki Shirai	Kintetsu Buffaloes Nippon Ham Fighters
1998	Tatsuji Nishimura	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
2001	Koki Morita	Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes