Yasuhiro Fukami

Yasuhiro Fukami (深見 安博)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 160 lbs.

• School Chuo University
• High School Hotoku Gakuen High School

• Born November 26, 1919 in Kobe, Hyogo Japan
• Died April 9, 1972

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yasuhiro Fukami played in the Nippon Pro Baseball for 8 years and once led the league in homers.

Fukami was signed by the Nishitetsu Lions after he played for the Nishi-Nippon Railroad in the Industrial League in 1950. He became the everyday outfielder for the Lions soon, and hit .279/.366/.493 with 22 homers. He was 5th in hoers (21 behind Kaoru Betto) and 9th in RBI (28 behind Betto), but lost the PL ROY to Atsushi Aramaki who led the league in wins. The young slugger slumped to .239/.316/.410 in 1951.

When superstar Hiroshi Oshita requested a trade, the Lions offered Fukami and Toshiaki Ogata to win the competition for Oshita in 1952. After going to the Tokyu Flyers, Fukami broke out and hit .294/.353/.554 with 23 homers. His overall stats were .292/.351/.547 with 25 homers, and he became the only player ever to play for two different teams and won the home run king title. He also led the league in slugging, ranked 3rd in RBI (5 behind Tokuji Iida), 7th in hits (32 behind Iida) and 8th in runs (35 behind Iida).

The Hyogo native couldn't had any productive season after 1952, as he slumped to .200/.292/.419 in 1953. Fukami still managed to attend the 1953 NPB All-Star Game, but he went 0-for-1 with a walk. He transferred to the Takahashi Unions in the next season and bounced back a little with a .266/.343/.415 batting line, then changed team again to the Nankai Hawks after the 1954 season. Fukami batted .274/.318/.373 with 5 homers in 1955, but he only played 26 more games for the Hawks in the next two seasons. He announced his retirement after the 1957 season, and became a coach. Fukami was the batting coach for the minor team of the Lions from 1961 to 1963, and worked for their big club as batting coach in 1964 and bench coach in 1965. He also managed the minor league team for the Hiroshima Carp from 1968 to 1969 and worked for their big club as batting coach in 1970.

Overall, Fukami had hit .261/.335/.457 with 85 homers and 475 hits in 8 seasons in NPB.

Related Sites

• NPB site
• 1953 NPB All-Star Game
• Wiki Japan