Atsuya Furuta

Atsuya Furuta
Catcher/Manager
Born: (1965-08-06) August 6, 1965 (age 59)
Kawanishi, Hyōgo, Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
debut
April 11, 1990, for the Yakult Swallows
Last appearance
October 9, 2007, for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Career statistics
Batting average.294
Home runs217
Hits2,097
RBIs1,009
Teams
As player

As manager

  • Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2006–2007)
Career highlights and awards
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction2015[1]
Medals
Men's Baseball
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul Team
Asian Baseball Championship
Silver medal – second place 1999 Seoul Team
Intercontinental Cup
Silver medal – second place 1989 San Juan Team

Atsuya Furuta (古田 敦也, b. August 6, 1965) is a Japanese former baseball player and player-manager for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball club in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Drafted in the 2nd round in 1990, Furuta became a leader for the Swallows as a catcher and became the first player-manager in Japanese baseball in 29 years, since Katsuya Nomura in 1977. In addition to his skills on the field, he is also known for leading a successful two-day strike in 2004 as the head of the Japanese baseball players union.[2]

He remains one of the most prominent figures in Japanese baseball because of his leadership both on and off the field. In June 2007, Furuta removed himself from the active roster so he could focus on managing the floundering Swallows. He retired as player and manager in the same season.

  1. ^ "Three Hall of Famers for 2015 Elected: FURUTA, Atsuya," Archived 2020-07-26 at the Wayback Machine The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Japan). Accessed April 6, 2015.
  2. ^ [1] Why Japanese fans love baseball strikes by Robert Whiting