Tadayoshi Okuma

Tadayoshi Okuma (大熊 忠義)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 162 lb.

• School Kindai University
• High School Naniwa Shogyo High School

• Born September 8, 1943 in Dalian, Liaoning Empire of Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Tadayoshi Okuma played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Okuma was signed by the Hankyu Braves in the 1964. He spent the first four years of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues, and only had 94 at-bats combined with the top team. Okuma finally took the starting leftfielder spot from Gordie Windhorn in 1968, and hit .285/.346/.481with 15 homers. He led the league in hit-by-pitches with 13 and ranked 8th in both hitting (.051 behind Isao Harimoto) and runs (13 behind George Altman). Since Kiyoshi Yano joined the big club, Okuma was moved to center and hit .263/.328/.393 with 12 dingers in the 1969 season. In the 1969 Nippon Series, Okuma started all six games and went 8-for-23 with 2 RBI against the Yomiuri Giants. He came back to left fiend the next year with a .240/.288/.403 batting line.

1971 was Okuma's career year. He hit .307/.393/.485 with a career-high 15 homers. This is the first and the only time his batting line was above .300, and it ranked 9th in the Central League (.036 behind Shinichi Eto). Okuma went 5-for-20 in the 1971 Nippon Series, but the Braves were beaten by the Giants again (in the middle of their historic 9 straight titles). Okuma slumped to .231/.337/.382 in 1972, but he shined in the 1972 Nippon Series, when he blasted a pinch-hit solo shot off Kazumi Takahashi in Game 5. The Osaka native bounced back and hit .276/.333/.352 in 1973, and recorded a .245/.315/.356 line in 1974. Okuma was still a productive player for the team with his elite defense, and hit .261/.331/.371 in 1975. Okuma was 7-for-26 with 5 RBI in the 1975 Nippon Series, and won his first Nippon Series Title.

Okuma was selected into the 1976 NPB All-Star Game, crushed a solo home run off Hisao Niura in Game 2, but went 0-for-3 in the rest of the games. He ended up hitting .278/.330/.368 with a league-leading 19 sacrifice bunts in the 1976 season. In the 1976 Nippon Series, he went 9-for-28 and won the Nippon Series again, defeating the Giants. Okuma hit .251/.310/.388 in 1977, and won his only Diamond Glove Award in his career as an outfielder. He was 6-for-21 in the 1977 Nippon Series, and won the Nippon Series Title for the third consecutive season. However, the 1977 season was Okuma's last productive season. He was hit by Choji Murata on the head in the early 1978 season, and he couldn't recover from that injury in the rest of his season. Okuma only played 118 games after he was injured, and announced his retirement after the 1981 season. He was the defense coach for the Braves from 1982 to 1989, and served as the hitting coach from 1991 to 1993. He was also the manager for the Braves' minor team in 1990. Okuma then transferred to the Hanshin Tigers, became their defense coach from 1997 to 1998.

Overall, Okuma had hit .260/.326/.390 with 101 homers in 18 seasons in NPB.