Toshio Kurosawa

Toshio Kurosawa (黒沢 俊夫)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 150 lbs.

• School Kansai University
• High School Yao High School

• Born June 10, 1914 in Osaka Prefecture Japan
• Died June 23, 1947 in Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Toshio Kurosawa played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 8 years.

Kurosawa was signed by the Nagoya Kinko when they were founded in 1936, and he hit .313/.421/.375 in the spring season while his batting line was .247/.385/.281 in the fall season. He improved to .295/.438/.365 in the spring season in 1937, and he ranked 3th in batting in the JPBL (between Susumu Nakane and Masaru Kageura). Kurosawa's batting line was .279/.402/.436 in the fall season in 1937, and he was enlisted into the Army and missed two years. Kurosawa returned in 1940, but he slumped to .225/.321/.272. He then hit .197/.280/.224 for the Taiyo club after Kinko merged with them in 1941, and his batting line was .190/.287/.235 in 1943. Kurosawa tied for 3rd in RBI with Haruyasu Nakajima in 1943.

The Osaka native went to the Tokyo Giants after his team dissolved in 1944, and he batted .348/.447/.452 with 4 triples. He led the league in OBP, SLG, triples and total bases, ranking 2nd in hits (1 behind Toshiaki Okamura) and 5th in RBI (tied with Masami Nakamura). He then hit .308/.413/.392 in 1946, and he was 8th in batting (between Shigeya Iijima and Jiro Noguchi). However, Kurosawa only played 26 games in 1947, and he passed away due to typhoid fever. The Giants retired his number 4, and it was the first number to be retired in NPB history.

Overall, Kurosawa hit .259/.368/.329 with 459 hits and 23 triples in 8 years in NPB. He stole home 10 times in his career, and it was the second most in NPB history (1 behind Wally Yonamine).

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio