Noboru Inoue

Noboru Inoue (井上 登)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 162 lb.

• High School Okazaki High School

• Born May 26, 1934 in Gamagori, Aichi Japan
• Died May 5, 2012 in Nagoya, Aichi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Noboru Inoue was a five-time Best Nine pick in a 14-season career in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Inoue debuted with the Nagoya Dragons club in 1953, going 3 for 20. Nagoya was renamed the Chunichi Dragons in 1954. Inoue hit .270/.316/.311 with 22 steals in 28 tries as the Dragons' regular second baseman that year. He was 4 for 15 with a triple, walk, run and a RBI in the 1954 Japan Series, one of the better Dragons hitters as they beat the Nishitetsu Lions. It was Chunichi's only Japan Series title of the 20th Century.

In 1955, Inoue hit .284/.328/.382 with 25 doubles. He was 7th in the Central League in average, between Makoto Kozuru and Kazuo Yoshida. He made the Best Nine as the top second baseman in the league. He hit .271/.311/.405 in 1956, again placing 7th in average (between Akitoshi Kodama and Toshio Miyamoto) and winning Best Nine honors. He produced at a .249/.307/.408 rate with 17 home runs, 16 steals (in 26 tries), 60 runs and 61 RBI in 1957. He took home the Best Nine for the third straight year.

Noboru had his best batting line - .280/.321/.462 in 1958 - with 25 doubles, 18 home runs, 26 swipes (caught 7 times) and 63 runs. He was 6th in the CL in average, between Shigeru Fujio and Tatsuro Hirooka. He was also only four homers behind leader Shigeo Nagashima. He again was named to the Best Nine. In 1959, the Aichi native slumped to .227/.289/.316 with 16 steals in 20 tries.

Inoue rebounded to .257/.320/.435 with 27 doubles, 15 home runs, 16 steals in 17 attempts, 64 runs and 64 RBI for Chunichi in 1960. He was four doubles behind CL leader Teruo Namiki and made his final Best Nine at 2B. He hit .293/.353/.391 with 25 doubles in 1961 and was 4th in average behind Nagashima, Kazuhiko Kondo and Katsumi Fujimoto.

Moving to the Nankai Hawks in 1962 (in a trade for Haruo Handa, Yosuke Terada and Shigeo Hasegawa), the veteran hit .289/.321/.405 with 7 triples and 18 steals in 25 tries. He batted .257/.299/.420 with 14 home runs in 1963 and .268/.336/.400 in a part-time role in 1964. In the 1964 Japan Series, the 30-year-old was 1 for 4 with a walk as a backup outfielder when Nankai beat the Hanshin Tigers for the title. He played behind Shozo Higuchi, Yoshinori Hirose and Motoaki Horigome.

Inoue was at .274/.319/.458 with 8 home runs in 179 at-bats in 1965. In 1966, he struggled, going 12 for 88 with two doubles and 6 walks. He did not play in the 1966 Japan Series, which Nankai fell to the Yomiuri Giants. He returned to Chunichi in 1967 and went 3 for 14 with a double to end his playing career.

In 1,506 NPB games, Inoue had batted .265/.315/.392 with 111 home runs, 562 runs, 570 RBI and 151 steals (in 224 tries). He later was a coach (1970-1980) and baseball commentator.

Source: Japanbaseballdaily by Gary Garland