Norifumi Kido

Norifumi Kido (城戸 則文)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Tokiwa High School

• Born March 5, 1939 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Norifumi Kido played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 18 years.

Kido was signed by the Nishitetsu Lions in 1957, and he spent his first two seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues, only playing 37 games with the big club. He led the minor Western League in homers and RBI, so he was named the starting third baseman in 1959 after Futoshi Nakanishi was injured. He hit .257/.304/.366 in 1959, and he also led the Pacific League with 8 triples. His batting line was .249/.289/.343 in 1960, and he qualified for the batting title for the first time in his career in 1961; he only hit .198/.248/.267. He then hit .211/.245/.303 in 1962.

The Fukuoka native bounced back in 1963, hitting .262/.304/.374 with 8 homers. In the 1963 Nippon Series, Kido was 9-for-24 and led the series in batting average. The Lions were still beaten by the Yomiuri Giants in 7 games. He then had his career year in 1964, and he was selected into the 1964 NPB All-Star Games. Kido only appeared in Game 2, and he was 1-for-2, with an infield single against Gene Bacque. He ended up hitting .284/.333/.414 with a career-high 12 homers, and he led the league in strikeouts with 99. He also ranked 9th in hits (23 behind Masahiro Doi) and 10th in batting (between Yoji Tamatsukuri and Stan Palys).

Kido had a .245/.309/.362 batting line in 1965, and he lost his spot as Kazuhide Funada shined in 1966. He only got 117 at-bats in that season while batting .237/.291/.325, then the Lions traded him to the Sankei Swallows for cash. Kido then hit .249/.315/.356 and .257/.298/.382 respectively in the next two seasons. He struggled in 1969 as his batting line falling to .204/.234/.243, and that was his last season as the starting shortstop. The Swallows then used him as an infield utility man. Kido's batting line was .163/.186/.202 in 1970, .238/.276/.344 in 1971 and .210/.265/.333 in 1972. He bounced back a little in 1973 with a .243/.243/.278 batting line, then he slumped to .173/.242/.209 in 1974 and he announced his retirement. He coached the Lions from 1978 to 1980 and from 1988 to 1992.

Overall, Kido hit .238/.284/.334 with 1,065 hits and 66 homers in 18 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1964 NPB All Star Game