*anese baseball player and managerBaseball player

Tetsuharu Kawakami (川上 哲治, Kawakami Tetsuharu, March 23, 1920 – October 28, 2013) was a *anese baseball player and manager, known for his red bat, and his nickname 打撃の神様 (dageki no kamisama,, "the God of Batting/Hitting").

He was a professional player for 18 years, winning the batting *le five times, two home run crowns, three RBI *les, and had six *les for the most hits in a season. He was the MVP of the 1953 *an Series. He was the first player in *anese pro baseball to achieve 2,000 hits and was named the league's MVP three times. As manager of the Yomiuri Giants from 1961 to 1974, he led the Giants to nine consecutive championships.

Kawakami was inducted into the *anese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.

Contents

• 1 Biography
  • 1.1 Player
  • 1.2 Manager
• 2 Filmography
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Biography

Player

Born in Hitoyoshi, *amoto, he played for *amoto Tech (*amoto) in the 1937 Summer Kōshien. *amoto advanced to the championship game, but lost. After the game, Kawakami grabbed a handful of dirt from the playing field of Kōshien Stadium and put it in his uniform pocket as a memento. This became known as the original scooping of "the dirt of Kōshien" (甲子園の土 Kōshien no tsuchi?). Since then, as a memento of their fleeting time on the hallowed grounds of Kōshien, players from the losing teams take home a pouch of the precious soil.

Kawakami played for Tokyo Kyojin/Yomiuri Giants between 1938 and 1958 (though he missed the years 1943–1945 when he served in the *anese military). Kawakami signed with the Giants as a pitcher/first baseman, and actually pitched in 39 games between 1938 and 1941, compiling 11 wins against 9 losses, with an excellent 2.61 ERA. He converted full-time to first base in 1942.

In 1951, he struck out only 6 times, which is the *anese single-season tie record. In 1954, Kawakami hit the first cycle in Yomiuri Giants' franchise history.

Manager

As manager of the Giants from 1961 to 1974, he was known for his ruthless, tough-love style, but he led the Yomiuri Giants to nine consecutive championships.

Filmography

Tetsuharu Kawakami appeared in three films:

• 人生選手 (1949)
• 川上哲治物語　背番号１６ Kawakami Tetsuharu monogatari sebangō 16 (1957) — a bio-pic where he played himself
• ＢＩＧ−１物語　王貞治 (1977)

In addition, Kawakami is referred to by name in the baseball game scene from film director Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog (1949); a.k.a. Nora Inu.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference