Kazuto Tsuruoka

Kazuto Tsuruoka
鶴岡 一人
Infielder / Manager
Born: (1916-07-27)July 27, 1916
Kure, Hiroshima, Japan
Died: March 7, 2000(2000-03-07) (aged 83)
Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
JBL debut
March 28, 1939, for the Nankai Club
Last NPB appearance
October 12, 1952, for the Nankai Hawks
JBL/NPB statistics
Batting average.295
Home runs61
Hits790
RBIs467
Stolen bases143
Teams
As player

As manager

  • Great Ring/Nankai Hawks (1949–1968)
Career highlights and awards
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1965
Election methodSelection Committee for the Players

Kazuto Tsuruoka (鶴岡 一人, Tsuruoka Kazuto, July 27, 1916 – March 7, 2000), also known as Kazuto Yamamoto, was a Japanese former professional baseball infielder and manager in the Japan Baseball League (JBL) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Tsuruoka played for the same franchise in 1939, and from 1946 to 1952, which during his career changed names from the Nankai Club to Kinki Great Ring, and ultimately to the Nankai Hawks. (Tsuruoka did not play professional baseball from 1940 to 1945.) In 1939 he won the JBL home run title with 10. Returning to the JBL after World War II, in 1946 he won the JBL Most Valuable Player Award, repeating the feat in 1948. His team won the JBL championship both those years.

In 1949, he was named player-manager of the Hawks. His playing career ended after the 1952 season, but he stayed on as the team's manager through the 1968 season, guiding the team to Japan Series championships in 1959 and 1964. His managerial record overall was 1773–1140, for a winning percentage of .609.

Tsuruoka was elected by the Selection Committee for the Players to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.[1]

Awards
Preceded by Japanese Baseball League MVP
1946
1948
Succeeded by
  1. ^ "Hall of Famers List | The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum". english.baseball-museum.or.jp. Retrieved 2020-04-14.