Shigeo Ishii

Shigeo Ishii (石井 茂雄)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lb.

• High School Katsuyama High School

• Born May 6, 1939 in Maniwa, Okayama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shigeo Ishii pitched for 22 years in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Ishii dropped out of high school to sign with the Hankyu Braves. He allowed five runs in 18 innings as a rookie in 1958 and was 0-1 with a 4.53 ERA in 25 games (4 starts) in 1959. In 1960, he went 2-2 with a 3.07 ERA and .215 opponent average. He had a 1-1, 5.40 record in 1961. Seeing increased work, he was 4-9 with a 4.28 ERA in 47 games (19 starts) in 1962.

The 24-year-old went 17-17 with a 2.92 ERA in 1963, finishing 9th in the Pacific League in ERA. He had his busiest year in 1964, throwing 325 innings over 62 games (33 starts, 18 of those complete games). He was 28-15 with a 2.85 ERA. He led the PL in hits allowed (304), runs allowed (122) and earned runs allowed (103) but nearly made the top 10 in ERA and was two wins shy of leader Masaaki Koyama. He also made his first PL All-Star squad.

For the 1965 Braves, Ishii worked 302 innings and was 21-17 with a 2.83 ERA. He led the PL in runs (115) and earned runs (95) while making his second All-Star team. On May 21, he hit three doubles and a triple - for his career, he had a typically low average and OBP for a pitcher (.190 and .217 respectively) but he slugged .286 with 50 extra-base hits in 784 at-bats, showing some power when he made contact.

The right-hander fell to 10-13 with a 2.76 ERA in 189 1/3 innings in 1966. In 1967, Ishii was 9-4 though his ERA rose to 3.74. In the 1967 Japan Series, he gave up seven hits and three runs in four innings as the Braves fell to the Yomiuri Giants - they would drop the next two Series to the Giants as well. Shigeo was 11-14 with a 2.94 ERA in 1968 and made his last All-Star team. On August 13, he became the 45th NPB hurler to win 100 games. He was 0-1 with a 4.66 ERA in the 1968 Japan Series, dropping game four in relief; he had started the opener and got a no-decision.

In 1969, the Okayama native turned in a 12-6, 3.10 campaign. He was roughed up for eight hits, five walks and five runs (four earned) in five innings in the 1969 Japan Series. Ishii was 16-12 with a 3.22 ERA in 1970 and struck out his 1,000th batter. He was .01 shy of the PL's top 10 in ERA. Moving more to relief, he was 7-7 with a 3.28 ERA in 1971. In the 1971 Japan Series, Hankyu lost to Yomiuri again and Ishii retired all three batters he faced. He ended his 15-year run with Hankyu in 1972, going 5-4 with a 4.11 ERA.

Moving to the Taiheiyo Club Lions, the veteran hurler was 12-13 with a 3.35 ERA in 1973 followed by seasons of 8-11, 4.23 (1974, 9-9, 4.92 (1975, 5-9, 4.04 (1976, 5-11, 5.24 (1977 and 5-8, 4.24 (1978. He ended his career with his old rivals of Yomiuri, going 2-2 with a 3.69 ERA in 1979.

Ishii pitched 705 games in his career (417 starts), won 189, lost 185 and had a 3.46 ERA. After baseball, he ran a snack bar. As of 2010, Ishii ranked among NPB's all-time leaders in wins (28th, between Hiromu Matsuoka and Tokuji Kawasaki), losses (11th, between Katsuji Sakai and Takehiko Bessho), games pitched (11th, between Yutaka Ono and Keishi Suzuki), innings (3,158, 20th between Masahiro Yamamoto and Mutsuo Minagawa), hits allowed (3,081, 11th between Victor Starffin and Yamamoto), homers allowed (309, 18th), runs allowed (1,404, 8th, between Hisashi Yamada and Choji Murata) and earned runs allowed (1,219, 12th between Yamamoto and Matsuoka).

Source: Japan Baseball Daily