Toshihide Hatafuku

Toshihide Hatafuku (畑福 俊英)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.
• School Senshu University
• High School Yokote High School
• Born January 31, 1913 in Akita Prefecture Japan
• Died May 23, 1981

BR register page

Biographical Information

Toshihide Hatafuku pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball for five seasons.

Before pro baseball came to Japan, Hatafuku was on a team that toured the US and Canada in 1935. He was with Tokyo Kyojin in 1936, going 1-1 with a 3.98 ERA in the spring season, the first for the Japanese Professional Baseball League. He allowed three homers, one behind co-leaders Fumio Fujimura and Akira Noguchi. In the fall campaign, he was 0-1 with a 1.78 ERA in six games.

With the Eagles in 1937, Hatafuku went 19-32 with a 3.50 ERA in 435 innings between the spring (12-11, 3.58 ERA) and fall (7-21, 3.43 ERA). He walked 214 batters and had just 180 strikeouts. In the spring season, he led the league in losses (8 more than Kuranosuke Furuya), tied Noguchi for second in complete games (behind Eiji Sawamura), tied for third with 3 shutouts, was 4th in IP (between Sawamura and Hisashi Kondo), led in hits allowed (215, 19 more than Noguchi), allowed the most runs (138, 47 more than #2 Shigeru Morii), gave up the most earned runs (91, 26 more than Minoru Tanaka), yielded the most home runs (6, two more than Hachiro Maekawa) and tied Hiroki Kinoshita for 3rd with 119 walks. In the fall season, he was 6th in wins, tied Kondo and Morii for second in losses (4 behind Noguchi), was 3rd with 16 complete games (behind Noguchi and Yoshio Kikuya), tied for second with 3 shutouts (one behind Victor Starffin), was 3rd with 196 innings (behind Noguchi and Kikuya), allowed 186 hits (second, 37 behind Noguchi), allowed the most runs (104, one more than Noguchi), gave up the most earned runs (78, two more than Noguchi), tied Noguchi for the most home runs allowed (11) and was second with 95 walks (28 shy of Kikuya).

After not playing from 1938 to 1940, Hatafuku went 7-14 with a 2.59 ERA for Kurowashi in 1941, tying Tokuji Kawasaki and Starffin for 9th with 13 complete games. He tied for 4th with 5 homers allowed, was 8th with 61 runs given up and was 8th with 44 earned runs surrendered. He went 3-18 with a 2.23 mark for Yamato in 1942, not cracking the top 10 in ERA in a pitcher-friendly ERA (1.68 was 10th), was 5th in losses, was 8th with 19 complete games, was 10th with 80 runs allowed, ranked 8th with 60 earned runs and was second in home runs allowed (one behind Akira Kawamura).

He went 11-10 with a 2.13 ERA for the same team in 1943. He finished 9th in ERA (between Yoshio Tenpo and Eiji Katayama), tied for 10th in wins, tied for 8th with four shutouts, tied with Juzo Sanada for 6th with 196 hits allowed and tied Hachiro Miwa for 10th with 71 runs allowed.

Overall, he was 41-76 with a 2.78 ERA in 167 games (136 starts). He had 89 complete games and 16 shutouts. In 1,107 2/3 innings, he allowed only 943 hits, but walked 536 batters to 373 whiffs. At the plate, he hit .193/.260/.260 with 90 hits in 466 at-bats. Through 2011, he was 82nd in NPB annals in complete games (between Takumi Otomo and Kiyoshi Oishi), tied for 45th with 13 extra-inning games pitched and 82nd in ERA (between Masatoshi Gondo and Makoto Inagawa).

After his pro career ended, he played and managed in the industrial leagues.