Yutaka Tagawa

Yutaka Tagawa (田川 豊)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 136 lbs.

• School Hosei University
• High School Goko High School

• Born November 30, 1918 in Kure, Hiroshima Japan
• Died August 22, 1981

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yutaka Tagawa played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 9 years.

Tagawa was signed by the Kinki Great Ring in 1946, and he hit .341/.425/.427 with 7 triples in his rookie year. He set the JPBL record for highest batting average by a rookie, and he was 2nd in batting average in the league (.006 behind Masayasu Kaneda). Tagawa then slumped to .247/.314/.313 in 1947, and he jumped to the Taiyo Robins in 1948. His batting line was .242/.292/.293 in 1948, and he crushed a career-high 12 homers with a .287/.363/.417 batting line in 1949. When the JPBL split into two leagues, Tagawa joined the Kintetsu Buffaloes, and he recorded a .280/.361/.410 batting line in 1950.

The Kure native's batting line was .260/.340/.328 in 1951, and he played all 108 games with a .277/.355/.346 batting line in 1952. Tagawa jumped to the Daiei Stars in 1953, and he had a .244/.333/.335 batting line for them. After hitting .227/.287/.261 in 1954, Tagawa announced his retirement and became an umpire. He worked as an umpire for 24 years, and he worked in 1960 NPB All-Star Game‎, 1961 NPB All-Star Game , 1962 NPB All-Star Game , 1963 NPB All-Star Game‎, 1969 NPB All-Star Game‎ and 1973 NPB All-Star Game. His 954 career hits were the most among umpires.

Overall, Tagawa hit .267/.342/.350 with 954 hits and 25 homers in 9 years in NPB. As of 2023, he was 75th in triples in NPB history, tying Akiteru Kono, Jinten Haku, Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Ken Hirano and Norifumi Nishimura.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio