Tomoo Hirooka

Tomoo Hirooka (広岡 知男)

• School Tokyo Imperial University
• Born August 24, 1907 in Osaka, Osaka Japan
• Died January 5, 2002 in Tokyo Prefecture Japan

Biographical Information

Tomoo Hirooka was the leading hitter for his alma mater Tokyo Imperial University. He became a journalist in 1932 for Asahi Shimbun. His most noted accomplishment during his journalism career was an exclusive interview with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1957. He became the president of the paper in 1967. From 1991 to 1997, he was the president of the Baseball Federation of Japan. In that capacity, he was instrumental in getting baseball into the Olympics along with his successor Eiichiro Yamamoto.

Hirooka was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.