Takashi Tanaka

Takashi Tanaka (田中 尊)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 143 lb.

• High School Takamatsu Commercial High School

• Born April 11, 1936 in Takamatsu, Kagawa Japan
• Died May 12, 2006 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Takashi Tanaka caught in Nippon Pro Baseball for 16 years.

Tanaka was signed by the Nankai Hawks in 1955, and he spent his first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues. The Hawks then traded him to the Hiroshima Carp, and he was 5-for-35 in 1957. Tanaka took the starting catcher spot from Masakazu Kawahara in 1958, and he played 94 games with a .195/.226/.274 batting line. His batting line was .236/.287/.276 in 1959, and he had a .225/.281/.277 batting line in 95 games in 1960. Tanaka's batting average was never above .210 after the 1960 season, but he still held the starting catcher spot for the next decade.

With his elite defense, Tanaka played 112 games in 1961 despite his batting line falling to .209/.260/.232. He then hit .190/.239/.222 in 1961, and he nearly repeated his performance in the next three seasons; his batting lines were .205/.250/.233, .202/.240/.231 and .204/.254/.250 respectively. Tanaka was selected into the 1966 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 0-for-1 in Game 1 while having a 0-for-2 record as the starting catcher in Game 3. He hit .206/.246/.234 in 1966, then he record a .208/.236/.226 batting line in 1967. Although his batting line fell to .144/.207/.152 in 1968, Tanaka still managed to attend the 1968 NPB All-Star Game; he was 0-for-2. When two catcher prospects, Shoji Kubo and Shiro Mizunuma, joined the team in 1970, Tanaka started to serve as a player-coach, and he hit .118/.183/.118 in 56 games in 1970. Tanaka had 106 at-bats while hitting .167/.221/.167 in 1971, then he announced his retirement in 1972. Tanaka held the team record for most games played as a catcher until Yoshiyuki Ishihara broke it in 2016. He then coached the Carp from 1972 to 1988.

Overall, Tanaka hit .196/.242/.230 with 619 hits and 8 homers in 16 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1968 NPB All Star Game