Sohachi Aniya

Sohachi Aniya (安仁屋 宗八)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Okinawa High School

• Born August 17, 1944 in Naha, Okinawa Japan

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Biographical Information

Sidearmer Sohachi Aniya pitched for 18 years in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Aniya played for Ryukyu Tobacco in the industrial leagues after high school. He began his pro career with the Hiroshima Carp in 1964, going 3-8 with a 3.51 ERA. He improved to 9-13, 3.00 in 1965 with a .224 opponent average. He made his first Central League All-Star team.

Sohachi was 8-14 with a 3.72 ERA in 1966. On July 31, he had a no-hitter with one out to go when Yukinobu Kuroe got to him. The right-hander had a 8-16, 2.99 record in 1967. Hiroshima was 47-83, partly explaining his poor record with an above-average ERA (it was a pitcher-friendly season; he didn't even make the league's top 10 in ERA).

In 1968, Aniya appeared 57 times for the Carp (32 starts), going 23-11 with a 2.07 ERA and a .197 average, only 218 hits in 313 1/3 innings. He walked just 55 to give him a .87 WHIP and he struck out 237. He made his second All-Star team and finished second to Yoshiro Sotokoba in ERA. He was two wins shy of leader Yutaka Enatsu.

The Okinawa native fell to 10-9, 3.52 in 1969 and 10-14, 3.61 in 1970. His 84 earned runs allowed in '70 led the CL. Aniya only pitched 12 games (one start) in 1971, going 2-2 with a 3.41 ERA. He returned to regular action in 1972 and was 8-10 with a 3.17 ERA and .224 opponent average. He became the 42nd NPB pitcher to strike out 1,000 when he got Shinichi Etoh on May 27. In his 10th season, 1973, the veteran posted a 5-5, 3.42 record. He was 4-4 with a 3.98 ERA in 1974.

The off-season before Hiroshima, the perennial cellar-dwellers, finally won a CL pennant, the club traded their long-time hurler to the Hanshin Tigers. He went 12-5 with a 1.92 ERA, .220 opponent average and .95 WHIP. He was named to his third and last All-Star team, was named NPB Comeback Player of the Year Award and led the league in ERA, a good .41 ahead of runner-up Hiromu Matsuoka. On August 14, he became the 65th NPB hurler to 100 wins. It would be 13 years until another CL hurler, Yutaka Ono, had an ERA under 2.

An effective full-time reliever for the Tigers in 1976, Aniya went 10-4 with 10 saves, a 2.26 ERA and .217 opponent average. In 1977, the 32-year-old went 4-5 with two saves, a 3.88 ERA and .228 opponent average. He was 3-2 with a save and a 3.39 ERA in 1978 and 0-2, 5.00 in limited action in 1979. Hanshin then sold him back to the Carp.

The hard-drinking hurler tossed four shutout innings for the Carp in 1980. He faced two batters in the 1980 Japan Series, walking one and striking out another, as the Carp won a title, Aniya's only Japan Series pennant of his long career. He pitched one inning in 1981, allowing two homers and four runs and called it a career.

Aniya pitched in 655 NPB games, going 119-124 with 22 saves and a 3.08 ERA. 34 of his wins, over a quarter, came against the Yomiuri Giants, the top team in the CL during his career. Aniya threw a fastball, shuuto, curveball and slider.

After his playing career ended, Sohachi was pitching coach and later minor league manager for the Carp and also was a baseball commentator.

Source: Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland