Atsushi Nagaike

Atsushi Nagaike (長池 徳士) (also coached as Tokuji Nagaike) (Mr. Braves)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 180 lbs.
• School Hosei University
• High School Muya High School

• Born February 21, 1944 in Naruto, Tokushima Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Atsushi Nagaike played 14 years for the Hankyu Braves in Nippon Pro Baseball. He was called Mr. Braves.

Nagaike won the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League batting title while playing for Hosei University in 1964. He was on the Japanese team in the 1964 Olympics exhibition. The Braves drafted him the first round of the 1965 NPB draft. In his rookie year, Nagaike couldn't handle inside pitches due to his poor flexibility. The hitting coach for the Braves, Noboru Aota, then helped him develop a weird batting posture. Before batting, Nagaike would place his jaw on his left shoulder and pull his arms back. The young outfielder broke out with his special posture, hitting .281/.351/.487 with 27 homers in 1967, and won his first Best Nine award. Nagaike also became the third player to blast a homer in 4 consecutive at-bats on June 4. Although he was only 1-for-13 in 3 games in the 1967 NPB All-Star Games, the only hit was a clutch 3-run homer off Kentaro Ogawa in Game 2, and he won MVP in that game. He was the main cleanup hitter of the Braves in the 1967 Nippon Series, but he only went 4-for-23 and the Braves was beaten by the dynastic Yomiuri Giants in six games.

The 24-year-old extended his elite slugging in 1968. He had a 1-for-8 record in the All-Star Game, and ended up hitting .238/.325/.467 with 30 homers. He ranked 4th in homers (4 behind Katsuya Nomura) and 5th in RBI (21 behind George Altman). In the 1968 Nippon Series, he went 6-for-16 with 3 homers and 8 RBI. The Braves lost to the Giants again, and Nagaike won the Fighting Spirit award as the top player on the losing squad.

The Tokushima native became one of the most outstanding players in 1969. He attended the All-Star Game for the third consecutive year, and went 2-for-12 with a triple and 2 RBI. Nagaike ended up collecting a league-leading 41 homers with a .316/.388/.622 batting line. He led the league in homers, RBI, runs, slugging, total bases and OPS, and also ranked 4th in batting (.017 behind Isao Harimoto). He won his second Best Nine award, and collected the first Pacific League MVP of his career. He ended Nomura's 9-year streak of home run titles. Nagaike also played well in the 1970 Nippon Series. He went 6-for-23 with 2 homers, and had a walk-off hit off Kazumi Takahashi in Game 2. The Braves still lost to the Giants for the third consecutive year in 6 games, and he became the first player to win the Fighting Spirit award in two consecutive series.

Nagaike suffered an Achilles' tendon injury in 1970, so he missed a month and only hit .309/.386/.559 with 28 homers. He still attended the 1970 NPB All-Star Games, went 4-for-6, with a solo shot off Hiroshi Kito, and won MVP in Game 1. He was 0-for-5 in the next two games. The slugger bounced back in the next season, and set the NPB record with a 32-game hitting streak (Yoshihiko Takahashi would top the mark, but Nagaike still holds the PL record as of July 2023). He was selected into the 1971 NPB All-Star Game, went 0-for-3 in Game 1, and collected 3 hits, a homer off Yataro Oishi and 4 RBI in Game 2 to win the MVP. Nagaike ended up hitting .317/.409/.618 with 41 homers, led the league in runs and walks, ranked 2nd in homers (1 behind Katsuo Osugi), 4th in hits (4 behind Osugi), 4th in batting (.020 behind Shinichi Eto) and 2nd in RBI (6 behind Hiromitsu Kadota). He won his fourth Best Nine award, and won the Pacific League MVP again. The Braves won the pennant again, but they encountered the then-unbeatable Giants and lost in 5 games. Although Nagaike was 4-for-17 with 5 RBI, and a homer off Kazumi Takahashi, he still was unable to win the Nippon Series title in his fourth try.

The talented outfielder struggled in the beginning of the 1972 season, only collecting 12 homers while his home run king competitor Osugi had 27 before the All-Star Game. Nagaike bounced back and crushed 15 homers in September to break the NPB monthly record. In the last game of the season, he still trailed Osugi by a homer, and he blasted 2 homers versus the Lotte Orions to get his second home run king t itle. He also led the league in slugging and ranked 3rd in RBI (2 behind Osugi). He won his fifth Best Nine award, and led the Braves to win his fifth pennant. In the 1972 Nippon Series, even though Nagaike blasted 3 homers, the invincible V9 Giants still beat them in 5 games.

1973 season was still a MVP-candidate season for Nagaike. He was selected into the 1973 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-5. The Tokushima native crushed 43 homers with a .313/.460/.624 batting line in this year, and won his sixth, and last, Best Nine award as an outfielder. He led the league in homers and RBI, ranked 4th in batting (.024 behind Hideji Kato) and 2nd in hits (2 behind Yutaka Fukumoto). He extended his solid batting and hit .290/.347/.518 with 27 homers in 1974. He led the league in RBI, ranked 3rd in homers (11 behind Clarence Jones) and 5th in hits (28 behind Fukumoto). He blasted a homers with 3 RBI in the Climax Series in that year, and won the Fighting Spirit award as his team was swept by the Lotte Orions.

Nagaike was still productive in 1975 and was selected into the 1975 NPB All-Star Game for the 9th consecutive year. He was 0-for-7 in 3 games. The veteran recorded a .270/.338/.500 batting line with 25 homers in this year, and won the first Best Nine award as a designated hitter. He blasted 2 homers in the Climax Series, and won the MVP. In the 1975 Nippon Series, Nagaike was 5-for-23 and finally won his first Nippon Series title, beating the Hiroshima Carp.

The 32-year-old slumped to .238/.292/.372 with 12 homers due to a knee injury in 1976. The Braves finally beat the Giants in the 1976 Nippon Series, but Nagaike was only used as a pinch-hitter. His spot was taken by Yasuhiro Takai in 1977, and he never played more than 60 games in the next three seasons. Nagaike announced his retirement after the 1979 season, and became a coach. He was the batting coach for the Braves from 1980 to 1982, for the Seibu Lions in 1985, and for the Nankai Hawks from 1987 to 1988. He then transferred to the Yokohama BayStars and served as bench coach from 1993 to 1995, and worked for the Chiba Lotte Marines as the same position from 1997 to 1998.

Overall, Nagaike had hit .285/.361/.534 with 1,390 hits and 338 homers in 14 seasons in NPB.

Realted Sites

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan