Toshiaki Tokuhisa

Toshiaki Tokuhisa (徳久 利明)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 1", Weight 202 lbs.

• High School Kochi Shogyo High School

• Born December 8, 1942 in Tosashimizu, Kochi, Japan
• Died March 13, 1998 in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Toshiaki Tokuhisa played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 8 years.

Tokuhisa was signed by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1961, and he soon joined their rotation as a rookie. He went 15-24 with a 3.26 ERA in his rookie year and won the PL Rookie of the Year Award. However, since Kintetsu was very weak that season (they had a record-setting 103 losses), Tokuhisa also led the Pacific League in losses and set the NPB record with a 6-game losing streak before collecting his first career win as a high school graduate. He also became the first pitcher in NPB history to give up five walk-off homers in a season.

The Kochi native struggled in 1962 due to an eye injury, but he bounced back soon after recovering. He was 20-15 with a 2.93 ERA in 1963, ranked 2nd in wins (8 behind Kazuhisa Inao) and 6th in complete games (14 behind Inao). He pitched no-hit ball for 8 2/3 innings on June 16, but Kenichiro Okamoto's double stopped him from getting the feat. Tokuhisa was 13-23 with a 3.43 ERA in 1964, but he led the league in losses again due to Kintetsu's poor lineup. He was also selected into the 1964 NPB All-Star Game, pitched 3 shutout innings with 3 strikeouts in Game 1, then recorded another shutout inning with 3 Ks - against Shozo Shigematsu, Eiji Fujii and Shinichi Eto - in Game 3.

Tokuhisa appeared in the 1965 NPB All-Star Games and pitched 2 shutout innings in both Game 2 and Game 3. He was 10-16 with a 2.96 ERA in 1965, but slumped to 7-9 with a 3.43 ERA in 1966. Tokuhisa was injured again in 1967 as he only went 1-0 with a 4.29 ERA, then he jumped to the Nishitetsu Lions. He still struggled in 1968 as he only pitched 8 games with the big club, then he announced his retirement after this season.

Overall, Tokuhisa was 67-90 with a 3.27 ERA, struck out 597 and pitched 1,127 1/3 innings in 8 years in the NPB.

Related Sites

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio