Yoshiaki Kanemura

Yoshiaki Kanemura (金村 義明)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 187 lbs.

• High School Hotoku Gakuen High School

• Born August 27, 1963 in Takarazuka, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yoshiaki Kanemura played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 18 years. In South Korea, he is known as Eui-myeong Kim.

Kanemura was drafted by the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Hankyu Braves in the first round of the 1981 NPB draft, and the Buffaloes won the lottery. He spent his first two seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues, only playing 45 games combined with the big club. Kanemura attended the All-Star Game of the Farm Leagues in 1982, and he became the first player to hit for a cycle in the All-Star contest. He was a backup third baseman for Kintetsu in 1984, and he hit .170/.266/.266. Kanemura only played 42 games in 1985.

The Hyogo native hit for a cycle on July 17 in the next season, and he secured the starting third baseman spot. He hit .275/.335/.513 with a career-high 23 homers and 67 RBI in 1986. Kanemura slumped to .243/.300/.367 in 1987, then bounced back and recorded a .288/.377/.471 batting line in 1988. He fractured his left hand in 1989, so he only played 81 games in that season.

Kanemura was selected into the 1990 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 1-for-6 ,with a RBI single against Masaki Saito in Game 1. He ended up hitting .274/.382/.481 with 17 homers in 1990, then he had a .270/.342/.420 batting line with 16 homers in 1991. Kanemura batted .260/.355/.427 in 1992, but he suffered from injury in 1993 and Koichi Oshima took his spot. Kanemura recovered in 1994 and he hit .299/.344/.453. He then announced that he would become a free agent.

The Chunichi Dragons signed him, but Kanemura struggled in Nagoya, and he only hit .177/.244/.266 and .175/.267/.200 respectively in the next two seasons. The Dragons then traded him to the Seibu Lions for Kazuyoshi Ono. Kanemura came back and hit .306/.421/.476 in 1997, but he only played 66 games over the next two seasons, and he announced his retirement after the 1999 season.

Overall, Kanemura had hit .258/.337/.416 with 939 hits and 127 homers in 18 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1990 NPB All Star Game