Takeshi Shibata

Takeshi Shibata (柴田 猛)

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

• High School Koyo High School

• Born August 11, 1944 in Wakayama, Wakayama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Takeshi Shibata was a bench player in 11 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball and later coached and managed.

Signed by the Nankai Hawks as an outfielder after a tryout preceding the 1963 season, he made it to NPB in 1966, playing 7 games and not batting once. He went 0 for 2 in 17 games in 1967. Moving to catcher in 1968, he saw almost no playing time as a backup to legendary Katsuya Nomura: 1 G, 0 PA in 1969, 0 for 11 with a RBI in 1969 and 2 for 4 with a walk, 3 runs and 2 RBI in 1970.

Seeing somewhat more time in 1971, he went 6 for 27 with a double, two walks, two steals, three runs and two RBI in 33 games. He was 2 for 8 with a steal and a run in 21 games in 1972 and 3 for 7 with 2 doubles, a walk, run and 2 RBI in 12 games in 1973. He did not play in the 1973 Japan Series, which Nankai dropped to the Yomiuri Giants. When Nomura was hurt in 1974, Shibata saw the only regular action of his career, hitting .218/.305/.293 in 154 plate appearances over 66 games; he had his lone career homer. He was 2 for 7 with a run and 2 RBI in 19 games in 1975. Sold to the Hiroshima Carp, he was 1 for 10 for them in 1976, as a third-string backstop.

In 209 games in NPB, he had 209 at-bats (237 PA), 19 runs, 24 RBI, 10 doubles, one home runs, 17 walks and 3 steals in 3 tries. He hit .215/.295/.278 and made 12 errors in 169 games at C and 21 in the OF.

He coached for Hiroshima (1977-1981) then moved to the Hanshin Tigers as a coach in 1982. He and former teammate/fellow coach Ikuo Shimano were the key participants in the Violent Tiger Incident that summer, attacking umpires Wataru Washiya and Isao Okada. They were suspended indefinitely, to be reinstated the next summer. He remained with Hanshin for 1984 then coached for Nankai (1985-1988, the Orix Braves (1989-1990, the Hawks again (now the Daiei Hawks, (1991-1992), the Yakult Swallows (1995) and Hanshin once more (1996). He replaced Fujita (the batter whose foul led to the Violent Tiger Incident) as skipper of Hanshin late in '96, going 6-7. He was not retained for the next year, replaced by Yoshio Yoshida. Shibata worked in the front office of the Chunichi Dragons and Yomiuri then coached in Taiwan for the China Trust Whales in 2006-2007.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland
• Michael Eng's database
• Japanese Wikipedia entry
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki