Yoji Tamatsukuri

Yoji Tamatsukuri (玉造 陽二)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Mito Daiichi High School

• Born August 17, 1936 in Mito, Ibaraki Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yoji Tamatsukuri played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Tamatsukuri was signed by the Nishitetsu Lions in 1955, and he hit .225/.368/.268 in 71 games in his rookie year. He improved to .297/.370/.385 with 18 steals in 1956, and he would have ranked 5th in the Pacific League in batting (between Katsuki Tokura and Kohei Sugiyama) if he qualified. In the 1956 Nippon Series, he was 8 for 20, while collecting 3 steals in Game 3, and he won his first Nippon Series title as the Lions beat the Yomiuri Giants in 6 games. Tamatsukuri slumped to .236/.303/.300 in 1957, and Teruyuki Takakura took his leadoff spot. He then recorded a .251/.309/.332 batting line in 1958, and he hit .254/.290/.337 in 1959.

The Mito native was qualified for batting title for the first time in his career in 1960, and he hit .263/.320/.382 with 16 steals. He hit 8 triples in this season, and he tied Mamoru Tanaka for 3rd in triples. Tamatsukuri then collected 17 swipes with a .260/.325/.357 batting line in 1961, and he improved to .281/.341/.367 with 20 steals in 1962. He was 8th in steals (between Hiroharu Okajima and Kingo Motoyashiki) and 2nd in caught stealing (8 behind Okajima) in 1962. Tamatsukuri then hit .262/.339/.342 with a career-high 23 steals in 1963, and he ranked 4th in steals (between Akio Saionji and Hachiro Yamamoto). In the 1963 Nippon Series, he was 9-for-29 in 7 games, but the Giants still beat the Lions.

Tamatsukuri was selected into the 1964 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 1-for-5, with a single against Gene Bacque in Game 2. He ended up hitting .284/.347/.375 with 10 steals in 1964, leading the league in CS, ranking 3rd in hits (between Yoshinori Hirose and Kihachi Enomoto) and 6th in doubles (8 behind Hirose). Tamatsukuri's batting line was .268/.330/.322 in 1965, and he was 6th in hits (21 behind Katsuya Nomura). However, he slumped to .225/.289/.303 in 1966, and he announced his retirement after hitting .247/.302/.311 in 1967.

Overall, Tamatsukuri hit .263/.327/.346 with 1,282 hits, 47 triples and 158 steals in 13 seasons in the NPB. As of 2023, he was 56th in triples in NPB, tied with Seiji Sekiguchi, Yasumitsu Toyoda, Enomoto, Kenjiro Nomura, Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Saburo Hirai.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1964 NPB All Star Game