Takuji Kochi

Takuji Kochi (河内 卓司)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 145 lb.

• School Keio University
• High School Hiroshima Kokutaiji High School

• Born April 26, 1920 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Japan
• Died June 28, 2016

BR register page

Biographical Information

Takuji Kochi played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 7 years.

Kochi was signed by the Mainichi Orions in 1950, and he hit .286/.332/.383 with 28 steals as one of their starting outfielders in his rookie year. He led the Pacific League in at-bats and CS, ranking 9th in steals (tied with Junji Nakatani), 3rd in hits (between Tokuji Iida and Chusuke Kizuka), 7th in runs (tied with Shigeya Iijima) and 4th in doubles (25, tied with Yutaka Tagawa, Masaharu Takita and Hiroshi Saito). However, he also committed 59 errors that season. Kochi was the first batter in the first Nippon Series - the 1950 Nippon Series, and he was 1-for-6 in that game. He had a 5-for-22 record in the whole series, and he won his only title as the Orions beat the Shochiku Robins in 6 games; Kochi scored the winning run in Game 6.

The Hiroshima native hit .284/.323/.382 in 1951, then his batting line declined to .235/.314/.281 in 1952. He stole three bases in an inning on August 16, 1952, and he was the 4th PL runner to do it. On June 29, he became the only player ever in NPB history to be involved in two triple plays in a game as a runner. Kochi hit .245/.319/.310 in 1953, then he jumped to the newly founded Takahashi Unions in 1954. He recorded a .275/.326/.298 batting line with 22 steals in 1954. Kochi also attended the 1954 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 1-for-1 with an infield single against Masayasu Kaneda in Game 2. His batting line was .269/.325/.312 in 1955, but he only had 89 at-bats with a .258/.305/.281 batting line in 1956. Kochi announced his retirement after the 1956 season.

Overall, Kochi hit .268/.323/.330 with 604 hits and 11 homers in 7 seasons in the NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1954 NPB All Star Game