Teruo Namiki

Teruo Namiki (並木 輝男)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 170 lb.

• High School The Third High School of Nihon University

• Born November 15, 1938 in Setagaya, Tokyo Japan
• Died September 1, 1988

BR register page

Biographical Information

Teruo Namiki played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Namiki was signed by the Osaka Tigers in 1957, then soon became an everyday outfielder. He started in the opening day of the 1957 season, becoming the first player straight from high school to started in the opening day in his first year in Central League history. Namiki ended up hitting .250/.307/.393 with 8 homers and a league-leading 8 hit-by-pitches in his rookie year. Namiki batted .250/.332/.370 in 1958, but struggled in 1959 with a .190/.247/.278 batting line.

Namiki was named the cleanup hitters in 1960, and he recorded the best stats in his career. He hit .306/.377/.499 with 11 homers, led the league with 31 doubles and won the Best Nine award for the first time in his career. He was selected into the 1960 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-2. Namiki was 4th in batting (.028 behind Shigeo Nagashima), 5th in hits (21 behind Nagashima), 4th in runs (16 behind Toshio Naka), 5th in swipes (27 behind Naka) and 8th in RBI. He slumped and hit .257/.310/.353 with 6 dingers in the 1961 season.

Namiki attended the All-Star Game again in the next summer, and went 0-for-3 in that event. He recorded a .290/.356/.436 batting line with 10 homers in 1962, and won the Best Nine again. In the 1962 Nippon Series, Namiki was 4-for-27 with 2 RBI, and the Tigers lost to the Toei Flyers. The Tokyo native extended his stable performance, batting .273/.349/.451 and .230/.301/.349 respectively in the next two years. He recorded a 6-for-24 in the 1964 Nippon Series, but the Tigers lost again. Namiki recorded .223/.303/.382 and .235/.285/.296 lines in 1965 and 1966. He transferred to the Tokyo Orions, but missed all of the 1967 season because of a right foot injury. He announced his retirement after the 1968 season. Namiki was the batting coach for the Tigers from 1985 to 1987, then became a broadcaster.

Overall, Namiki had hit .255/.323/.391 in 12 seasons in NPB.