*anese baseball player and coach

Takehiro Ishii (石井 丈裕, born October 25, 1964) is a *anese former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the *an national baseball team in 1988, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Seibu Lions and the Nippon-Ham Fighters from 1989 to 1999.

Along with Shigeru Sugi*a (1954) and Tsuneo Horiuchi (1972), he is one of only three players in NPB history to have won the Most Valuable Player Award, the Eiji Sawamura Award, and the *an Series MVP in the same season.

Biographical Information

Ishii attended Waseda Jitsugyo High School and Hosei University.

Ishii played for the *anese national baseball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Baseball World Cup. He led all pitchers in the 1988 Cup in strikeouts (32 in 27-1/3 IP), beating out the likes of Andy Benes, Ben McDonald, Charles Nagy, Jim Abbott, Hideo Nomo and Orlando Hernández. Ishii went 3–0 with a save and a 0.99 ERA. He allowed only two walks and 15 hits. He joined Abbott as the tourney's All-Star pitchers. He tried to save the semifinals after Hideo Nomo faltered in the 8th but allowed a single, triple, and a balk without retiring anyone in the loss to Cuba that eliminated *an.

Ishii pitched for the Seibu Lions from 1989 through 1997, and the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 1998 and 1999. Going 15–3 with a 1.94 ERA in 1992, he was named Most Valuable Player of the Pacific League, also winning the Eiji Sawamura Award. To cap it off, he compiled a 2–0 record with 2 complete games, allowing 1 earned runs 19 innings, with 18 strikeouts in the 1992 *an Series, winning the MVP Award as the Lions defeated the Yakult Swallows 4-games-to-3.

Ishii finished his playing career in 2001 with the Taipei Gida of the Taiwan Major League.

He is currently a coach with the Saitama Seibu Lions.

References

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Takehiro Ishii at B-R Bullpen