Yasuhiro Takai

Yasuhiro Takai (高井 保弘)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 198 lb.

• High School Imabari Nishi High School

• Born February 1, 1945 in Imabari, Ehime Japan
• Died December 13, 2019 in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yasuhiro Takai has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Takai played for Nagoya Nissan in the industrial leagues, where he drew notice due to his homers that broke the tiles of roofs on nearby houses. He was signed by the Hankyu Braves in 1964. He debuted on June 8, 1966, and collected his first major league hit from Noboru Makino on August 16. He shined in the NPB Farm Leagues, led the league in homers and RBI two times, and won the batting title in 1967. However, his terrible defense let Takai to being used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter in the major league (he played over 300 games at first base during his career). He only had 169 at-bats combined from 1966 to 1971. Tokai was named the main pinch-hitter in 1972, and he recorded a .271/.379/.531 with 15 homers. He was selected into the 1974 NPB All-Star Game, and pinch-hit for Hiroyuki Yamazaki in the 9th inning of Game 1. He blasted the first pinch-hit walk-off home run in NPB All-Star Game annals when he went yard off Hiromu Matsuoka and won the MVP of that game. He batted .278/.385/.511 in this year, and broke the NPB record for most pinch-hit home run in a season with 6 (broken by Yasunori Oshima in 1976). He also broke the NPB record for most career pinch-hit homers when he reached 14 that year.

When the Pacific League added the designated hitter in the 1975 season, Takai gained more at-bats, and batted .256/.291/.400 with 6 homers. He hit .244/.339/.476 with 15 homers in 1976. The Ehime native replaced Atsushi Nagaike and became the starting DH for the Braves in 1977. He recorded a .277/.341/.404 batting line, and won his first Best Nine award as a designated hitter. Takai improved and batted .302/.362/.517 with a career-high 22 homers in 1978. He also ranked 7th in homers and RBI (77, 17 behind Robert Marcano). In the 1978 Nippon Series, Takai crushed a solo shot off Takeshi Yasuda and collected 3 hits in Game 1, but went 0-for-13 in rest of the series. Takai hit a career-best .324/.397/.556 with 21 homers in 1979. He was 7th in batting average, 5th in slugging and 4th in OPS. He struggled in the 1980 season as his batting line fell to .188/.285/.347, and Kenichiro Kawamura replaced him. Takai batted .235/.358/.478 in 1981, then announced his retirement after hitting .146/.186/.244 in the 1982 season.

Overall, Takai had hit .269/.346/.465 and 130 homers in 16 seasons in NPB. He was the NPB record holder for most career pinch-hit home runs with 27. He later was a radio baseball commentator.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1974 NPB All-Star Game
• 1977 Nippon Series
• Obituary at the Japanese Baseball Card Blog